When it comes to cable releases, good things come to those who wait!

I use a cable release for the vast majority of my photos. The cable release helps ensure that pictures are as sharp as possible by removing one of the factors that contribute to camera shake. With the cable release, it is no longer necessary to touch the camera when making an exposure. Simply pressing the shutter button can cause enough camera movement to reduce sharpness.

For years, I purchased very inexpensive third party cable releases off of eBay. These cable releases cost less than $5. The problem was that they would usually fail after a few months of use. Of course, they tend to fail at the worst possible times.

One of my third party cable releases stopped working while I was shooting long exposure images in Capitol Reef National Park. I was hundreds of miles from the nearest camera store. When I finally arrived in Moab, my first stop was the town's only camera store. To my surprise, the store was closed for the Winter! While in Moab, I asked about cable releases in another store. The clerk said that they didn't sell the product, but offered to find someone in town who might be able to repair the wiring. A repair didn't sound like a good idea to me for an item that cost less than $5 to begin with! So, I finished that photo trip without a cable release.

After that, I started carrying a back-up cable release with me. But, after ongoing failures I finally decided to try the more costly Nikon cable release. Another photographer assured me that the Nikon one was much more reliable.

The Nikon cable release is much more reliable. I used this cable release for the past two years without incident until yesterday. Somehow, it appears that the pins were bent--and the cable release no longer works.

When I got home, I placed an order for another Nikon cable release. Most of the major vendors that I typically use are charging about $60 plus shipping costs for the MC-30. Supposedly, that's a 45% discount from the normal price!

But, for those who are willing to wait, some vendors on eBay are selling the same cable (new in box) for just $20 with free shipping--a savings of more than $40 on a $60 item. The only catch is that shipping is very slow at approximately three weeks.

Since, I still have a few of those $5 third party cable releases on hand, I should be OK for the next three weeks until my Nikon one arrives!

EDIT: Since I drafted this blog entry, the cable release arrived. It arrived in a little over one week from China! So, the wait wasn't all that long.