Soft Release?

CVBLZ4 said:
Hey Scarpia, did you get the mini or regular?
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BTW, I found this info via the web in case others are interested. I assume you place with the check your preference of regular or mini and color. etc.
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I'm pretty sure it is the regular. Incidentally, I inherited on of the concave kind when I bought a Spotmatic at a yard sale. It remains on the Spotmatic.
Kurt M.
 
Hi DMR,
Thank you for the perceptive "washer" explanation. The washer by itself is not a bad idea, as if I understood the meaning it leaves you the freedon of inserting a cable release whithout peeling off the washer.

I propose you to try again the washer, but this time with a small piece of leather between it and the sutter button. For the trial you do not need to cut it, just put any available piece above the shutter button and your washer on top, the whole thing sustained just by simple hand pressure.

In case you become in-love with the new feeling, I will gladly tell you how to proceed, step by step.

Cheers,

Ruben
 
I have a generic soft release the joe was kind enough to send me and I like it quite a lot! Won't fit on my FED 5C as it hits the advance lever before it will depress enough to fire the shutter. Works very well on my Kiev 4a and my "new" fake contax. It also worked nicely on my Zorki 3m. Which leads me to a warning of sorts:
I was carrying my Z3 in an inside coat pocket this past winter and the camera fired while in the pocket--which I didn't notice! Which meant I ended up changing the shutter speed while the camera was NOT wound on. :bang: :bang: :bang:
Trust me you don't want to do this!
I now carry whichever camera I'm using either in my hand or around my neck or when it's in a bag, I am very conscious of how it is sitting and that there is nothing that might trip the shutter.
Except for that small caveat, I dig these things alot!
Rob
 
rbiemer said:
I ended up changing the shutter speed while the camera was NOT wound on. Trust me you don't want to do this!
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Uh, stupid question ... why don't you want to do that? Is this for a particular camera? I daresay I do that all the time.
 
Among FSU cameras there is an across the board warning to change shutter speeds ONLY when the shutter is cocked ... as in AFTER YOU HAVE WOUND THE FILM. If you change shutter speeds without the shutter being cocked, to be brief, things could and probably will get cog-locked (pardon the southern slang.) There are many nice FSU cameras turned into paperweights for this reason.

There are a few models that were improved design to get around this slight annoyance, but don't ask me which ones they are. They are few and far between, I think. Just play it safe and assume every FSU you get needs to be wound on before changing shutter speeds. Once you get used to it, it's no big deal.

Rob ~ as for the accidental firing of the shutter due to the soft-release, yeah, I know that's going to happen. The shutter releases on the Zorki 4 and 3M that I plan on using it on already sit up pretty high, so I'm kind of expecting it. Still I think it'll be worth the occasonal lost frame. And THANKS for the tip to double check that before changing shutter speeds. Lost frames I can deal with .... jammed Zorkis ...... noooooooooooo!!!
 
CVBLZ4 said:
Just play it safe and assume every FSU you get needs to be wound on before changing shutter speeds.
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But such an assumption is likely to break, say, a Moskva: the speed there should be set *before* the shutter is cocked.

Regarding the softreleases, could anyone enlighen what do they do? That is, I understand that they somehow should reduce camera shake, but how exactly it is achieved?
 
varjag said:
But such an assumption is likely to break, say, a Moskva: the speed there should be set *before* the shutter is cocked.
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The reason I'm asking this is that when I received my GIII the shutter speed dial was jammed, and when I took the shutter speed ring off, it was obvious that it had been forced as the tab was bent out of square. I've never heard of this before and I wanted to be sure I'm not doing something terribly wrong.

I've always been in the habit of setting the shutter speed before or after winding/cocking. I'll often reset it a few times to tweak the exposure.

I learned to not leave the camera in a cocked/wound state any more than necessary. I don't really know if this is 100% necessary, but that's the rule I've tried to follow.

Regarding the softreleases, could anyone enlighen what do they do? That is, I understand that they somehow should reduce camera shake, but how exactly it is achieved?
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I'm very curious about this myself. I'm trying to be able to shoot more reliably at 1/30 and even 1/15, which is kind of my goal. I've been trying to use a more consistent even pressure on the shutter, as opposed to a quick snap, and it seems to be easier to do this with a larger surface to press on. I'm still not sure if or how much it helps. I tried just a washer on it, yeah, yeah, a kludge, and I do want to try a soft-soft release with a leather (or rubber, I can't think of anything leather I have that I want to cut up to make a leather ring) ring under the metal surface.
 
dmr436 said:
Uh, stupid question ... why don't you want to do that? Is this for a particular camera? I daresay I do that all the time.
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I should've been more explicit,dmr436, sorry. I see that several other folks have stepped up and explained more fully.
Varjag, Thanks for that addendum!
Perhaps the way to state this is something like:
Don't change shutter speeds on FSU 35mm cameras unless the shutter is cocked.
I have the habit of advancing the film immediately after tripping the shutter. So now I'm instilling the secondary habit of checking that before I change shutter speeds.
I haven't noticed that the releases make that much difference for me with camera shake, I use them because they are abit more comfortable and apparently reduce the force required to push the shutter. The theory is that by reducing the effort required, one gets a smoother release. Much as a better trigger pull on a weapon makes for more accurate shooting.
 
soft release? I have never heard of such a thing. looked on e-bay – they just look like ordinary buttons. How do they work/help?
 
But such an assumption is likely to break, say, a Moskva: the speed there should be set *before* the shutter is cocked.
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My bad, of course varjag. You're absolutely right. My mind was on the 35mm FEDs, Zorkis, etc. only. And as much as I've read and have been fighting Moskva GAS lately, it's hard to believe I didn't think of them... I have read that very warning: set speed before cocking the shutter. No doubt true on others as well. I need to do more homework!! THANKS V-man for catching that!
 
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