Mamiya RZ67 and Electromagnetic Shutter Release

[landscapepics]

I've just become aware of an accessory for the Mamiya RZ67 (and 645) which may be useful to me and I'd like to check if any APUG members have used it, and if so their views on the product.

I'm referring to the "Electromagnetic Cable Release". There's an example posted on ebay here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mamiya-64...=Camera_Camcorder_Remotes&hash=item5645d26929, although that seller doesn't post to the UK, where I live, so I can't buy that one.

At the moment I use a manual cable release for anything longer than say, 1/250s, effectively for nearly all my landscape and still life photography. My problem is that several cable releases have become broken or lost. One snapped in the lens-mounted cable-release thread, requiring the lens to be serviced. Another has snapped at some point - possibly before I purchased the camera - in the body-mounted cable release. This last problem prevents me from using the double cable release which some RZ67 users have. My current technique is to insert the cable release into the lens attachment, press the body release to achieve mirror up, then use the manual cable release to open the leaf shutter. This gives a rather slow response so, for example, the wave action I capture might not be what I want.

The electromagnetic release, if I understand it correctly, will solve my problem because the body-mounted release with the broken remnant of a manual cable release will be bypassed and the electromagnetic release will both raise the mirror and fire the shutter.

I presume there must be some delay between raising the mirror and firing the shutter, or there would be too much vibration from the mirror ?

If anyone's got one of these and can comment on reliability then I'd be grateful, before I go off and buy one. Buying the electromagnetic release would be an expensive solution but in the long run it may be cheaper than snapping manual releases.

Thanks for any responses

Kevin

 

[John Koehrer]

How many contacts are there in the receptacle? All the "electromagnetic" part is, is a simple switch.
Frequently if there are more than two, one is simply not used.

 

[polyglot]

The whole point of using a release on the lens is a slow response; you need to wait a second or two for tripod vibrations to die out from the huge mirror slap. With the dual release, two presses are required and it is no faster than pressing the body button. Same goes for the electromagnetic, you still have to wait in order to get sharpness but the benefit is the it is electrical and can therefore be attached to radio remotes etc. There are 4 contacts and you can get the pinout with some googling.

What makes you think the electromagnetic release plug is any more rugged than the cable releases? I've never heard of snapping one off in the socket though I lose them or break the shields through over bending regularly.

 

[landscapepics]

Thanks for the info polyglot. It sounds like it's not a big advantage to use the electromagnetic version