Fuji GX680 III: the cable release thread

[Ari]

I have a GX680 III, cannot find the III cable release, so I have the earlier version which doesn't work on the III camera.
Frustrating part is that the connection works, it fits to the camera, but won't fire the shutter.

It seems it would be a simple thing for someone with electronics experience to modify the older cable release to work in the III. I don't have this kind of know-how, but maybe somebody here does?

All your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[ic-racer]

Is this a cable or electronic wire style? If it is electronic, in the 1980s I recall trying to adapt a Rolleiflex 2000F to a custom automated release I made. During design and construction of the release, I accidentally shorted the wrong two wires and it fried the electronics in the camera. That was a sad day. Good news was KEH was having a sale on used SL2000F bodies for around $250, so I was able to get another.

 

[Ari]

It's electronic, the release fits but doesn't fire the shutter.
I'll post a photo later of what we're dealing with.
Thanks!

 

[Ari]

Here is the plug end of the release.
It attaches perfectly to my GX680 III.

 

[abruzzi]

googling around (just out of curiosity) suggests that the two pins toward the forward end of the camera shorted together will fire the shutter. However, it was an offhand comment that wasn't 100% clear (even if it was for the III), but thats the closest I could find to a pinout.

 

[Ari]

Thanks, abruzzi. Do you have a link for the article?
How does one "short" the pins?

 

[abruzzi]

it was a comment on Flickr here, the comment by alessandro.tonina:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/1130655@N25/discuss/72157678567453436/

To test find the smallest paperclip you can, bend it into a U shape, and insert it into the two holes on the camera on the forward side of the connector, do this with the camera on, and ready to fire, because if you have the correct two holes, it will trigger as soon as both ends of the paperclip make contact with the metal inside the socket.

You want the smallest paperclip, because it needs to fit in the holes moderately loosely because you don't want to damage the inside, and push the metal sheath back. If you don't have a paper clip small enough, find some wire that is thin enough.

What this does is connect those pins together. Most electric shutter releases just connect one wire to another "shorting" them. If inserting the paperclip causes the shutter to fire, then you've figured the important pins, then you need to wire a permanent solution, which probably involves either disassembling the older shutter release and changing which wires are connected to what, or else cutting the existing trigger off and soldering some other momentary switch in its place.

*** CAVEAT *** As I said, most cameras trigger the shutter by shorting to ground. That only takes two wires, but this connector has 8. I don't know what else is on there, and I don't know if anything sensitive is hooked up to them. Good electronics design would put electrical protection on any external input, but I have no idea whether that was done, or if there is any chance of damage. I doubt there is a risk, but I really can't say definitively.

 

[Ari]

Thank you again, abruzzi. Great stuff.
This will take some fiddling around. The two holes mentioned are on the far right of the camera, so that's a little unclear but easy to test.
Then, once you have the two holes figured out and connected, what can be done to the connector on the release? As you said, there are options, which may or may not work. There is a risk of damage here as well, so I'd try to find a good electronics technician and bring the problem to him or her and see what they say.

 

[abruzzi]

Yeah, I don’t have one of these so I’m only going by what I’m seeing online. It looks like the release side has a grip with a trigger, like a pistol. What’s going on inside I don’t know, but it’s possible the trigger is just shorting he wrong pins. That seems a bit unlikely, because it brings up the question of “why change things from II to III?” But if that’s the case, then it’s just a matter of changing which wires connect to the trigger. OTOH, it could be much more complicated in there, and you might just want to cut off the handle and find a simpler momentary switch and solder that on.

I’m sorry a lot of this is vague, but I don’t really know what’s inside the trigger (and of course this is all based on some random post by a random person on the internet.). If you can find an easy way to open up the handle and take a couple of picture of the wiring inside, I might be able to weigh in with more specifics.

 

[grat]

Get a multi-meter, and test for continuity between the ground pin (probably pin 1) and all the pins with the trigger open, and then with the trigger closed. You should be able to find which two pins are being connected by the release you've got. Actually, since I've got a wiring diagram for the Model I/II GX680:

I'm pretty sure it's pins 1 and 7.

... actually, the description of pin 2 bothers me a bit-- if that pin isn't connected, apparently you can't release the shutter, which makes me wonder if it's a simple "close the circuit", or if you have to shunt 5v down the release terminal. I'll do some more digging in the rather large book (available at learncamerarepair.com).

I can't find a similar document for the model III.

 

[Ari]

I'll open it up and take a pic or two, thanks abruzzi and grat.
Knowing what modification to do and doing the mod are two different things for me, but it's interesting to find all of this out.
My own talents lie more in wood/metal work, not electronics, so I'm grateful to get some info from those who know lots more.

 

[abruzzi]

Here is the service manual for the GX680 (the first model presumably.)

https://learncamerarepair.com/downloads/pdf/Fuji-GX680-Repair-Manual.pdf

I haven’t found any other service manuals, but this does show the pin out for the older 680, on page 134 of the document. It’s not 100% clear what all the pins are but GND (ground) is clearly marked. Vdd is a voltage source, there seem to be two LEDs that are powered through this. But it’s probably possible to find out what those other pins are for by looking closer at the schematics.

EDIT: awesome, @grat has the pin functions, the page I mentioned shows which pin is which. If only we have the same manual for the III

 

[Ari]

Guys, I spent days, or parts of them, searching online and didn't find this much information. Thank you, I'm amazed at what you've been able to find.

 

[abruzzi]

BTW, here is the pinout:

If you attach a meter to pin 1 and pin 7, you should see continuity when the shutter release it pushed, and non when released. If you don't then as @grat says it may be making continuity between the pin 2 Vdd voltage source and pin 7. The question is still which pins need to connect to trigger the III. I'm hoping that earlier post I made is correct, i.e. its connecting pin 6 and pin 7. BTW, looking at the pins here, I doubt that connecting any to any would cause any damage. 5v isn't very high, half of the pins seem to be unused, maybe not even connected, so aside from forcing something and physically damaging the socket, connecting two pins that weren't meant to be connected doesn't seem like it would do much bad.

 

[Ari]

Wonderful, thanks abruzzi!
I'm going to find someone local, skilled in electronics, who will read all of this and apply a remedy or work-around.

 

[Rogier van der Heide]

it was a comment on Flickr here, the comment by alessandro.tonina:
As I said, most cameras trigger the shutter by shorting to ground. That only takes two wires, but this connector has 8. I don't know what else is on there, and I don't know if anything sensitive is hooked up to them.

Well, the remote release also beeps when exposure is more than two stops off.
That buzzer needs 5V so that takes two pins
Then there must be ground
Then there is the wire for the release switch, firing when you push (which I suppose makes contact with the 5V wire to fire)
And the other four wires are not in use for the I/II version of the release, and likely for the III version not either.

I am quite sure that the pinout you show in your comment is for the GX680 I/II and not for the III. Am I wrong?

And since Alessandro on Flickr claims that shorting pins 7 and 8 in his GX680 III connector socket fires the shutter, I am lost because that sounds like continuity fires the shutter.
From the repair manual of the I/II and from your pinout one concludes that 5V is needed to fire. There is no good reason that would ever come to mind for Fuji to have changed that for the III.

In Fuji's accessories brochures both the I/II version and the III version are announced as being "electromagnetic".

Is there anyone around who has made a successful modification?

 

[Sharktooth]

I've got all three versions of the Fuji GX680, and both versions of the remote. I was wondering if it would be possible to make a wireless remote for these cameras, but I needed to know the wiring strategy. I used the info from this thread, and a few others, as well as my own testing with cameras and remotes to figure out how to do it.

I've created a web page that describes the Fuji remotes, and how to make your own. For the Fuji GX680 I & II cameras, you need to instantaneously bridge holes 2 and 7 to release the shutter. For the Fuji GX680 III camera, you need to instantaneously bridge holes 7 & 8

Here is the link to the page with more detailed information {MODERATOR'S EDIT - potentially problematic link removed}

 

[MattKing]

I've got all three versions of the Fuji GX680, and both versions of the remote. I was wondering if it would be possible to make a wireless remote for these cameras, but I needed to know the wiring strategy. I used the info from this thread, and a few others, as well as my own testing with cameras and remotes to figure out how to do it.

I've created a web page that describes the Fuji remotes, and how to make your own. For the Fuji GX680 I & II cameras, you need to instantaneously bridge holes 2 and 7 to release the shutter. For the Fuji GX680 III camera, you need to instantaneously bridge holes 7 & 8

Here is the link to the page with more detailed information {MODERATOR'S EDIT - potentially problematic link removed}

Welcome to Photrio.
The link that you initially included in your post was causing problems, so I deleted it from the post.

 

[Sharktooth]

Welcome to Photrio.
The link that you initially included in your post was causing problems, so I deleted it from the post.

Can you explain what was "problematic" about the link? It was a link to one of my Google Sites pages that I made to show pictures and detailed descriptions about making a remote cable for the GX680.

 

[MattKing]

The link itself just brought up a bunch of security warnings, not the pages themselves.

 

[Joel_L]

So, I bought a I/II release button for my GX III. pins 7 and 8 are the correct pins to fire the shutter. Pin 8 is +5V. Not sure how to make the buzzer go off without wasting a shot on film. Right now I'm just going to wire the shutter button on mine and sort of the buzzer later, if at all. On my cable the black wire is +5V and white wire is the shutter release. What's missing is which wire is ground and which is buzzer.

I took another look,

I cant find another wire that gives 5V from black to whatever. Makes me think that the black wire is the shutter with a pullup on it and the white wire is ground. Grounding the shutter wire fires it.

 

[eschmidt122]

I've got all three versions of the Fuji GX680, and both versions of the remote. I was wondering if it would be possible to make a wireless remote for these cameras, but I needed to know the wiring strategy. I used the info from this thread, and a few others, as well as my own testing with cameras and remotes to figure out how to do it.

I've created a web page that describes the Fuji remotes, and how to make your own. For the Fuji GX680 I & II cameras, you need to instantaneously bridge holes 2 and 7 to release the shutter. For the Fuji GX680 III camera, you need to instantaneously bridge holes 7 & 8

Here is the link to the page with more detailed information {MODERATOR'S EDIT - potentially problematic link removed}

Hey - I’m in the midst of modifying my version III remote to accept an intervalometer input. I’ve learned what I need to in order to trigger the shutter (momentarily short the white and black wires), and I’d like to add a mirror lockup switch to the remote as well. Do you have a link to the page that was flagged in your previous post? I’d love to learn from your experiences.

Specifically, do you know which wires need to be shorted to toggle the mirror lockup?

 

[Sharktooth]

Hey - I’m in the midst of modifying my version III remote to accept an intervalometer input. I’ve learned what I need to in order to trigger the shutter (momentarily short the white and black wires), and I’d like to add a mirror lockup switch to the remote as well. Do you have a link to the page that was flagged in your previous post? I’d love to learn from your experiences.

Specifically, do you know which wires need to be shorted to toggle the mirror lockup?

I don't think I tried the mirror lockup feature, but it was easy to set it up with wireless triggering.

https://sites.google.com/view/sharkys-camera-photo-stuff/fuji-gx680-remote-release-info

 

[eschmidt122]

Awe

I don't think I tried the mirror lockup feature, but it was easy to set it up with wireless triggering.

https://sites.google.com/view/sharkys-camera-photo-stuff/fuji-gx680-remote-release-info

Awesome, thanks!

 

[eschmidt122]

My approach to the problem was to tie in a standard 2.5mm plug to accept a number of electronic triggers, as seen on Canon DSLRs, for example. This would allow me to retain the normal functionality and relatively OEM look of the stock trigger, while adding the ability to connect an intervalometer for more advanced functionality when needed.

The photos and pinouts apply to the GX680 III model, there are differences in the pinouts for the I and II variants so do your own testing in any case.

Materials:
- I bought these 2.5mm stereo jack pigtails from Amazon. https://a.co/d/0TvEj9k
- I used this intervalometer, but any intervalometer or camera trigger that is compatible with a Canon 2.5mm remote trigger plug should work. https://a.co/d/9KL0ddQ

1. Unscrew and remove the top of the remote (2 screws), then unscrew the circuit board from the plastic handle (2 screws)
2. Drill a small hole very slightly larger than the diameter of the pigtail cable in the base of the handle, near the entry of the camera cable
3. Feed the pigtail up through the new hole
4. Solder the ground lead of the pigtail (black for the one I bought) to the solder pad on the circuit board with the white wire / pin 2.
5. Solder the tip lead of the pigtail (red for the one I bought) to the solder pad on the circuit board with the black wire / pin 1.
6. Use a zip tie to strain relieve the pigtail (zip tie it to the camera cable)
7. Reassemble the unit and test!

The next step is to figure out how to toggle the mirror lock up remotely. I believe the functionality exists in the connector, but I haven’t figured out how to activate the toggle. If anyone finds out please let me know!