Cable release not fitting into socket on shutter

[Alan Klein]

I'm with Alan K...in that I keep good quality (Pentax 20" cloth covered) cable releases on my four most-used LF lenses. Helps to prevent wear on those sockets, and also compensates for the age-related wear on my brain...which leads to things like forgetting my cable releases!

And yes...quality control of cable releases is all over the map! They either don't fit properly and/or they seem to spring apart at the most inconvenient times. I'd gotten a recommendation a few years back to look into the Pentax cloth releases (I prefer the cloth releases for their suppleness)...and I'm glad I did!

You just reminded me why I did that. I too would take the camera with lens mounted from the car to the spot to shoot only realizing I forgot the cable release left in the camera case and have to walk back to the car. That's why I added them to all my lenses. They still unscrew and get loose if I don't tighten them right. I'm using these Gepe 20" cloth type. I can wind them around the lens when I store the lens back into the camera case.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...e_Release.html

[John Layton]

Ha! Also reminds me that I actually got pretty good at tripping the shutter (very...very carefully!) without a cable release!

[Jim Andrada]

Ah yes, the "breathe gently on the shutter and it will trip without a cable release" trick. Have to admit that I've gotten pretty good at it as well. Beats driving home to find the release cable that I was certain was in the camera bag.

[Tin Can]

Maybe 2011 I bought on eBay 2 Ten packs of NOS 6” cloth cable shutter releases

$20

They fit inside most camera case

The seller had many more

For a while

[Tin Can]

Seems many cable releases' are a bargain right now

Just bought a fistful

Seller asked me how long and what type

[Jim Jones]

Old American made cable shutters and releases (and perhaps some imports intended for American markets) used a straight, not tapered, thread. That thread was American Standard Thread No. 5-rr NF-2. The OP's problem sounds like what I experienced when using the standard tapered thread cables in the old American Standard thread shutters. Sometimes it works, but the cable release is not securely attached to the shutter.

[Alan Klein]

Old American made cable shutters and releases (and perhaps some imports intended for American markets) used a straight, not tapered, thread. That thread was American Standard Thread No. 5-rr NF-2. The OP's problem sounds like what I experienced when using the standard tapered thread cables in the old American Standard thread shutters. Sometimes it works, but the cable release is not securely attached to the shutter.

What thread and cable release should be picked for standard Schneider, Nikon, Fujikon, etc lenses? Tapered? Non tapered?

What are normally sold at B&H and other retailers?

[Jim Jones]

Tapered thread has been the standard everywhere for many decades. The straight thread in the above post was an American oddity that hasn't been used even on American cameras for decades.

[Greg]

Its travel into the socket is very small and the cable easily falls out.

Is the female thread in the shutter tapered? I have two shutters that their threads are not tapered. If you try to screw a regular tapered shutter release into them, the tapered thread on the cable release will only catch on maybe one thread and if you press the release the cable falls out. FYI: Polaroid Copal self cocking shutters have non-tapered female threads in them.