Hummingbird Shooter

Step 4 The Heart of the Release

The heart of this project is called a remote bulb release, or an air release. Most 35mm SLR's and more "serious" film cameras' shutter release buttons were drilled and tapped for cable release mechanisms, which could be screwed into the hole, and used to trip the shutter.

The mechanism shown here, uses that feature--it consists of simply a rubber bulb, about 20 feet of air-tight rubber hose, and a piston assembly on the other end. The piston mechanism is fitted with the same threads and release pin that cable releases were, so that when the bulb is squeezed, the pin extends from the piston housing, triggering the shutter. (In this photo, the bulb is squeezed, and the pin is extended from the piston housing--a little hard to see, though)

These are common on e-bay for around $5 plus shipping.

Although most digital cameras don't have the drilled and tapped hole, I reasoned that the piston exerts enough force to press the release button, if the piston/pin could be mounted directly over the shutter button, and that's how this project works.

Next step is to fabricate a mechanism to align the piston/pin directly over the shutter button.

Comments

[Soupraok]

what do you type in ebay to find this?

[Makescreenname]

Sorry for the delay in responding.  Try searching ebay with something like "air release", or "pneumatic release", "air remote shutter release", "pneumatic shutter release", something with those terms.  Specify the photographic equipment or cameras/equipment categories. 

Happy shooting!

[Crucio]

I'd like to know the search terms too, please.

[Phil B]

I bought one of these in a camera store a couple of decades ago. It would be a squeeze bulb (pneumatic) remote shutter release, or some variation of that phrase.

[woodgeek]

air cable shutter release will get a lot of hits.