Cable release threads

[gt1]

How far do most cable releases screw into the camera? I have a generic cable and on my Mamiya 7 it just barely

screws in. I'm really afraid of stripping the outer thread. On my Mockba 5 it screws in a touch further but I'm

worried on that one to.

[patrick j dempsey]

Depends on the screw. Most cable release threads are conical but I believe some cameras use specialized cylindrical threads. If this is a really cheap cable release it could be that the threads are cut to the wrong pitch or that it was designed for a specific camera with a weird thread pitch.

[gt1]

Actually, I have two, both fairly cheap, one with a lock that and the other without. The one without a lock I picked up at Freestyle last weekend and it's the one that barely screws into the cameras, not that the other one screws in much farther. I'll take a little closer look at them tonight.

[craig_supplee]

I believe these threads are cut with a tapered die. The more you insert the die, the smaller the taper gets at the business end. I seem to recall that the cable releases of several years ago fit better into the shutter release. As with a lot of things, they have probably loosened up the tolerances for faster machining time. Sounds trivial on these items but it all adds up.

[michael_briggs2]

The modern standard shutter release thread (setting aside digital cameras with the range of interfaces) is a taper thread. (The old American cable release thread was straight.) It takes very few turns for the taper thread to lock up. All quality camera releases have the male taper thread; most cameras have the female taper. I have seen some sockets (some but not all recent Copal shutters) that "cheat" but using a straight male thread. The female taper thread will still lock into it, but will only engage with a small number of threads. It takes very little metal to support the shutter activation force of a few ounces so you won't strip the thread but it is probably best not to lift the camera by the cable release.