Or perhaps it is an increase in confidence on the part of the manufacturer...a faith-lift...
Ouch.
But painful as that pun might have been, the subject of today's column is not. We're looking at the Hahnel cable releases.
Cable release? That's rather old-fashioned, isn't it? Like, who actually uses a cable release any more? Well, Leica and Fujifilm for one, and probably a lot more if we were but to investigate. And what we mean is, a wired remote control for your camera. Wired - not using your mobile phone or tablet, and not relying on additional technology, radio connections, or electric power. Simple cables with simple switches to simply fire your camera.
When needed? A lot more times than you might think. There are any number of occasions when we are shooting down amongst the shaky shutter speeds, and do not realise how much damage we have done to our own shot. The tripods we use can give us a false sense of security as the shutter speeds drop - particularly if they are the lightweight travel models. We love the tiny things and the fact that they use up so little of our travel weight allowance...but if we shake them every time we trigger off the camera, they are just false security.
The classic cable release was a braided outer tube with a central wire core and appropriate connections to the camera on one end - and a plunger at the other. Sometimes there was a locking mechanism that allowed the shooter to fix the shutter open once the " B " setting had been selected. It made up for the loss of a " T " setting on some shutters. The average cable release was a flimsy sort of thing and rarely lasted a decade. Of course there were professional exceptions, but every camera bag that was ever thrown away seemed to have a cable release - and a packet of lens tissues - left somewhere inside. Also an end-flap from a Kodak film...
The users who made most of the cable release were the studio shooters, landscapists, and macro shooters. Sometimes the flat-copy photographer had a setup that included a cable release. Otherwise, it was one of those stocking-filler accessories that you got because it was what the shop sold...
That's unfair to most of us - as alluded before, a lot of our work actually improves when we use a cable release. Surprisingly, even if the camera is just perched on a tabletop or a pile of books, the cable release can allow that one chance of stillness that records as a sharp shot.
Okay, Hahnel have been making electric switch cable releases for the last decade. They were flimsy to start with but have beefed up a lot. The principle hasn't changed - a control box with a momentary switch and a lock button - a 2 metre extension cable, and a dedicated cable end for the camera socket. These dedicated ends change with different makes, and sometimes the manufacturer has changed their socket during the run of the cameras. Hence you get several end cables with both of the Hahnel releases pictured here - just match up to your camera and keep the other for a spare.
Do they work. Yes, they do. Are they better quality than some of the no-name stuff you see on eBay? Yes, they are. I have a busted eBay special that only works when you gently support the cable at a certain angle - it is going on bin-night when I get myself one of these proper Hahnel ones.
A light bit of amusement: The control box has a rubber non-slip grip. I've researched the question and no-one has ever had a problem with slippage...The green pad indicates Fujifilm and the grey indicates Canon.
