Degroff Products - air shutter release

[jnantz]

i have been using air shutter releases for operating wollensak "studio" shutters with pretty good success.
i guess i got lucky with a "titan products" brand release sold at sbi/hunts in massachusetts, which from the looks
on the b/h website is similar if not the same as thier "general" brand air shutter release.
well, i say i got lucky because my good release worked great for a few years, until it took the dirt nap ( i am still in mourning) ... the metal part that trips the shutter stopped retracting. i exchanged it at sbi/hunts with no problems, the "new one" worked for only a few months, and now, it too doesn't like to retract either, so i am preparing to return that one as well.

whilst searching b+h's website i came across another air release - made by Degroff Products ...

does anyone have experience with this product?

is it really worth the $80 they are charging for it?

does it have a "long throw" ?

are there any other long throw air releases out there that don't cost a small fortune ??

thanks for your help

-john

[Bob Salomon]

Kaiser has both 16' and 32' ones.

[jnantz]

thanks bob!

are they "long throw" ?

thanks again

- john

[Bob Salomon]

"are they "long throw""

Their throw is the same as the Gepe Pro cable releases and the Linhof and other Kaiser releases and they trip most shutters. Where they have a problem is with the Copal Press shutter which requires an especially long relese throw.

[Steve Clark]

John, I don`t know if these are suitable for your needs, but the red/black braided ones from Calumet will work on a Copal press shutter and also on a Alphax #4 that I`m using. Haven`t looked at the catalog lately, but they were about 20.00 US.

[jnantz]

steve -

i had been using a air release ( a cheep one ) because from time to time i have to inject myseif into a portrait,
and it worked like a charm ( the camera is a good 4-6 feet away ) . i was even able to get the studio shutter to open in the "bulb" setting with the lever on "closed" as it was intended to do. i have a cable release that i can use in a pinch but it is only a foot + in length ...

thanks for your suggestion though, i will check out what calumet has to offer -

[David G. Gagnon]

are they "long throw" ?

I had one once, an inexpensive one, that would have been considered long throw. i think it ended up about 70 feet from where I was standing (after the cable came out of the fitting, ie; it broke!)

:-)

DG

[Ernest Purdum]

Regarding the $80.00, they show up on eBay fairly often and usually sell for modest amounts.

I just measured one as 17/32" extension (13.5mm).

[Jon Wilson]

Very old thread...but for those interested in having the instructions for the original DeGroff Shutter Booster.

[jnantz]

thanks jon !

in the end i now have 2 degroff air pistons, probably the best investments i have ever made !
they work perfectly with studio shutters .. you get extreme control being able to make fast and slow shutter-exposures
T as well as B. works with betax and every other kind of shutter too.
mine are a smooth finish but and new, but the old engraved ones are just as useful and only require a little graphite dust to get working as perfectly as if they were new

[mdarnton]

My only concern about DeGroffs is that they are large and heavy and extend out far on a thin metal tube. One of my cameras has a small cup hook screwed into the top of the lens board frame, and I assume that was for hooking the air tube through. It helps me believe that I won't pull my shutter apart by accident some day. And you are right--the DeGroff makes those with the tiny black tubes that reel up on a reel seem like trash.