Shutter release cable is an essential photography accessory that will help you get tack sharp photos. It is an inexpensive tool that should be in your camera bag if you want to take professional-looking images in certain situations.
What is a shutter release cable?
As the name suggests shutter release cable is a cable that plugs into the side of a camera and has a trigger on the other end. The trigger button in the cable controls the shutter release on your camera. So, you don’t need to press the shutter button on your camera to take photos.
Your DSLR or mirrorless camera will have a port to connect the cable release. Usually, the port is found next to the USB port on the side of your camera. You can see it in the image bellow that shows the cable release connected to my Nikon D750.
How a cable release help take sharp photos?
A steady camera is one of the important requirements of getting tack sharp images. If the camera moves or vibrates when you take photos with slow shutter speed, you will get blurry images.
Think you are taking photos in low light with a shutter speed of 1/10s. Even a slight camera movement can ruin your images. Blurry images due to camera shake can’t be corrected in postproduction.
Pressing the shutter button in your camera can cause camera movement. A cable release helps to avoid this camera movement because you are going to press the trigger button on the cable, not the shutter release on your camera.
When to use a cable release?
You can use a cable release when you take photos using a tripod. Using a tripod means you are already thinking about the stability of your camera. If you need a shutter speed slower than 1/60s, a tripod and a cable release are your friends.
So, it is useful when you photograph static subjects in low light. Using a cable release is recommended in the following situation.
- When taking landscape photos using ND filters. You should use a neutral density filter (ND filter) to smooth out water and clouds in landscape images. These filters greatly reduce the light falling into the camera’s sensor forcing you to use a much longer exposure time, for example, 2 minutes.
- When you take macro photos.
- Product photography
- Food photography
- You should use a cable release whenever you need to use the camera’s bulb mode. If you need an exposure time longer than 30 seconds, you should use the bulb mode. You need to press the trigger once to open the shutter curtain, wait until the exposure time finishes, press the trigger again to close the shutter curtain.
I took the following landscape photo using a shutter release cable on my camera and a 10 stop ND filter. I used my sturdy Benro tripod, 50mm 1.8 lens, and the exposure time was 126 seconds. You can see how smooth the water and clouds are.
You can buy a shutter release cable for less than 50 dollars. I prefer branded one because they are well built and reliable.
About the author: Victor is a freelance photographer, technophile, and founder of vxanswers.com.