You Must Have a Remote Release for your Camera
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A simple wired remote release. This Vello unit sells for less than $8 USD from B&H
Hi folks. I’m hoping that you are all well. I’ve stepped back a bit from gear for a while to hopefully emphasize that gear does not make photos or videos, that gear is merely a tool in the hands of a creative. This is possibly just tilting at windmills based on the endless Internet bullcrap about how this new piece of gear will change your photography forever. None of it will and if you believe that, to paraphrase a southern US comic, you may be an idiot.
Good tools do make life easier, and that is a fine thing indeed, and very often when diagnosing a problem or challenge, I find that user induced camera shake is a common root cause.
How Do We Fix This?
Step one, don’t touch the camera. If that seems overly simplistic, that is true. As Einstein said, everything should be made as simple as possible and no simpler. Not touching the camera at time of shutter release will eliminate user induced camera shake. It won’t fix an unstable platform, or poor choice of shutter speed for the situation, but it can take YOU out of the problem equation.
Three Simple Solutions
The cheapest, read FREE, solution is built in to your camera and is called the self timer. Back in the olden days, these were mechanical devices, basically tiny clockworks that would release the shutter after a period of time. Look at today and they are all electronic and don’t actually press anything, they simply close an electronic circuit with no physical movement whatsoever. All cameras have self timers (or more correctly I know of no interchangeable lens camera that does not have a self timer). They typically have one of about ten seconds to allow you to run about to get into the frame, which are rarely used in the flood of annoying selfies, and one of about two seconds. This latter self timer is a perfect release tool to eliminate user induced camera shake. Set it on, prepare your image, release the shutter and don’t touch the camera. Two seconds later your camera goes off. Simple, finished, done. If you are still seeing micro shake, the issue is more likely the camera mount, or environmental issues like a strong wind. It is possible that vibration due to mirror slap can cause micro shake, particularly on very high megapixel sensors where the individual pixels are very small, but this is readily handled by increasing via settings the delay between mirror drop and shutter release. If you are shooting mirrorless, this problem can never exist.
The next cheapest solution, usually around $30 is the remote cable release. Unlike the old cable releases that actuated a plunger which would press the shutter, the current crop are all electronic. You press the button, a circuit is closed and the camera goes click. You can buy these from your camera manufacturer and be guaranteed to overpay enormously, or you can get a third party one that works for your camera. Your money, your choice. The circuit closing is actually simply shorting two contacts electrically, so any McMarketing or camera store BS that the one for $70 is much better than the one for $25 would be better applied to the purchase of usable fertilizer instead of the fertilizer being spewed at you. There are a limited number of cable release interfaces out there and there is definitely at least one, probable half a dozen that fit your camera. Just buy one and move on, but carry it with you. Leaving it on a shelf when you go out to make images is of course a complete waste of time.
The most expensive solution, which could hit around $100 for an off brand device is the remote radio release. This is almost exactly the same as the cable release but uses radio signals from a transmitter to a receiver on the camera that is connected via a cable to the remote release port. The advantage of radio is that you can be up to 100m away from the camera and still release it. This is ideal when you want the camera in a place where you cannot be, either for safety reasons or because your presence will scare away, or make hostile, your subject. Often these releases come as kits that double as wired releases and many include intervalometers, and time delay release functions. While this used to be crazy expensive, the chips to do this are extremely cheap now (you can buy an accurate digital watch for $5) so there is no reason at all to spend the ridiculous money on a brand name radio release. I have used and owned a variety from Hahnel, Cactus and others and every one of them has worked perfectly from the word go. The only thing to look for in this space is ease of use without a manual. Too many features may mean too many menus on a very small display and user interfaces designed as instruments of torture. Keep it simple.
Conclusions
There is no reason for user induced camera shake these days. There is no reason to have twist yourself into a double pretzel, to quote podcast co-host Gordon. You don’t have to lie in a swamp or climb into a tree to make photographs. A good remote release, coupled with a solid camera mount and your eye will make a great combination so you can focus on story, gesture and elements to make the image more than a snapshot.
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I'm Ross Chevalier, thanks for reading, watching and listening and until next time, peace.
