Hi,

I just got myself a Pacemaker Speed Graphic last weekend. It has the Ektar 127mm f/4.7 lens on it. When I try to attach my standard cable release to the shutter it causes the shutter to trip as soon as I've screwed in the cable. Am I doing something wrong, or do I need a special cable release for the Ektar lens?

Thanks, Derek

You shouldn't need anything special. Is the little plunger flush with the end of the cable when at rest? Some are adjustable. If the plunger is sticking out and it can't be adjusted, you have two choices: either shorten the plunger by cutting/grinding/ filing it off, or get a different cable release.

Hmmm, along those lines. Many cable releases have a lock to keep them pushed in for long exposures. Is yous locked? The disk type locks are notorious for locking when not wanted...

Like Glenn said, make sure the little tip is not extending out beyond the threads on the end...

Hmmmm, forgot about those troublesome locks.

Well as it so happens I have several cable releases. I am familiar with how a cable release lock works so that was never the issue. 2 of my cable releases trip the shutter just by the act of screwing them in. One however seems to work, though not always so reliably. The area around the cable release socket on the lens is pretty tight with all the levers and arms front standard frame and lensboard.

All three of my cable releases work properly when screwed into the socket on the body of the camera. My guess is that I need a really skinny cable release that can be mounted to the lens without interfering with the other levers and whatnot that are used to trip the shutter when using the body release.

Derek

At one time, the shutter release sockets for "Compur" shutters had a slightly different taper and thread from the usual sort found on Kodak and Ilex (etc.) shutters. A cable release made for one kind usually will engage with the other kind of socket, but sometimes rather unreliably.

My guess is that a release with the less pronounced taper (and I never knew which was which) would tend to seat itself more deeply in the "wrong" kind of socket, and this might result in its engaging the internal shutter release.