Tom Abrahamsson's MiniSoftRelease

[Stephen23]

Has anyone got experience of the Tom Abrahamsson MiniSoftRelease? I think I can see what it does, but does it make that much difference?

Stephen

 

[markinlondon]

It allows for a smoother release and maybe gets you one stop slower, Stephen. But I find two drawbacks.

1. If, like me, you wind on after shooting you will get pictures of the inside of your bag. The fix for this is to change the habit of a lifetime so I gave up on the Softie.
2. It unscrews itself quite easily. A dab of blue Loctite fixes this, allow it to set before screwing into the release.

 

[rxmd]

What does it do? Is it just a big button that screws into the shutter release?

Philipp

 

[Ash]

its mainly for people with big fingers, who can't reach the normal shutter release easily 😀

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I'd like a really useful aftermarket accessory: a helium gas kit to fill the inside of the camera with helium and thus lighten it for carrying.

 

[Stephen23]

Thanks for the opinion Mark. The superglue trick sounds a bit drastic though!

 

[mr_phillip]

I'm a huge fan of Tom's softrelease buttons, I use them on my Bessa R2 and on my M6. They turn the shutter button into something of a hair-trigger, allowing hand-held exposures at very slow shutter speeds. I find that I can take pictures down to 1/4 of a second, even 1/2 with wider lenses, and they still come out pin-sharp. They also allow more comfortable and, for me at least, intuative shooing, as you can fire the shutter with the joint of your finger rather than the tip – as you would when squeezing a trigger for instance.

It's true that you will certainly fire off a shot of the inside of your camera bag at some point, but film costs pennies, catching sharp images that you would otherwise miss is priceless.

 

[ElrodCod]

It doesn't change the amount of pressure required to release the shutter. It's just a button extension.

 

[rxmd]

OK. So basically you could make one from a dead cable release and a bit of plastic.

 

[markinlondon]

Thanks for the opinion Mark. The superglue trick sounds a bit drastic though!

Not superglue, Stephen but blue Loctite. If you allow to set it won't dribble down into the camera but packs the threads enough to give a firmer hold a bit like a liquid plumbers' tape. I agree superglue would be a bit OTT. Nail varnish would be OK. I did this after searching for my black softie on the floor of the Shaw theatre with the house lights down :bang:

 

[mjflory]

Has anyone got experience of the Tom Abrahamsson MiniSoftRelease? I think I can see what it does, but does it make that much difference?

Stephen

I put one on my CL before embarking on a 14-roll trip and it just made shooting a bit more comfy. I have medium-sized fingers, but I think the MiniSR makes the shutter feel a little closer -- less of a reach, if that makes sense. It stayed on throughout the trip. I don't wind on before putting the camera in my bag, so that wasn't a problem. It's nicely made and looks great on the CL.

-- Michael

 

[dberger]

Has anyone got experience of the Tom Abrahamsson MiniSoftRelease? I think I can see what it does, but does it make that much difference?

Stephen

For me, the MiniSoftRelease on the Bessa, and the regular SoftRelease on Leicas and other cameras, raise the shutter release enough so that I can use my knuckle to squeeze the release. I find this is better (i.e., steadier and more comfortable) than pushing the release with my finger tip. This may sound weird, but you have to try it to feel what I mean.

I remember reading some Contax II/III literature, in which the extreme right-side position of the shutter release was toted as a feature, because it allowed your knuckle (or the fleshy part behind it) to fall naturally on the release -- so you could squeeze off a shot. The same is true for the Contarex. I think the SoftReleases let you do something similar for other cameras.

Cheers,

David

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

Hi,

For me the main advantage is that I can keep the tip of my finger on the speeddial of my M6 and fire the shutter whitout having to move my fingertip.
It looks so simple but the softie is one of the best inventions since the Leica M3.

Cheers,

Michiel Fokkema

 

[BillBingham2]

I have a MSR on all of my Bessas and IMHO, they do make a difference. They change the angle of your finger on the release a bit higher. I have my first regular Softie to try it.

On my Leica Ms, I use a Nikon AR-9. Bit of a different style, convex vs. concave and a bit shorter. I grew up on with an AR-1 on my Nikons/Nikkormats and so for me the feel is fine.

B2 (;->

 

[froyd]

Knucklehead

Knucklehead

For me, the MiniSoftRelease on the Bessa, and the regular SoftRelease on Leicas and other cameras, raise the shutter release enough so that I can use my knuckle to squeeze the release.

David, I don't get it😕 . How exactly do you use the knnuckle to fire off a shot? Sounds intriguing...

 

[kaiyen]

I think that the "knuckle" part means the underside. That would be one interesting technique to use the top, or what we usually interpret by "knuckle" to fire the shutter.

I liked the softie (not mini) on my canonet. But I lost is _twice_ as it unscrewed itself. Then I lost it for good (as far as I can tell) a third time. But, everyone knows that it doesn't screw itself all the way down in a canonet, so that's a camera-specific issue.

I'm not sure it made a huge difference because I didn't test it out in those extreme, slow-shutter situations. But I know that I have to push that canonet shutter down pretty deep into its recess to fire it, and having an extension on top helps with that.

allan

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Do you actually use your knuckle, not fingertip?

Or do you rest your fingertip on the release and flex the knuckle joint?

 

[Stephen23]

Things are getting a tad orthopeadic methinks...

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

If my phone is voice-operated why do I have to fingertip or knuckle my camera?

 

[Stephen23]

Do you not use your dictaphone?