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Do I need a pneumatic shutter release? Likely not. So, best to figure out how to fix the one I have…because?
I was prompted recently to dig out the remnants of a pneumatic shutter release from a stack of unlikely-to-be-used camera detritus in the basement. Why?
Well, within one of the social media black holes I read a photographer’s description of using a pneumatic shutter release on their large format camera—one with a 20-foot length of tubing, so they could include themself in a group photo or some such surreal-themed, self-portrait thing-y. (Clearly the photo didn’t move me). But, the description did make me think, “Huh. That ol’ thing might work for an unlikely situation I have yet to find myself.”
Using a short pneumatic instead of a cable shutter release could be nice on my large format rigs, as sometimes those cable releases get hung up. The pneumatic release I have came with a Pacemaker Speed Graphic kit I bought about five years ago, and I recalled why I didn’t use it: the pneumatic bulb had dried out and looked like a dried, blackened lemon, little bits of it shedding to the bottom of a Ziplock baggie.
I consulted The Google to search if anyone had used one of those bulbs we all have to blow air from our lenses and keyboards as a replacement. Nada. I searched for particular pneumatic bulbs used for shutter releases. Nada.
Really?
Really. And that’s dumb. So, I took one of my older bulbs dust-blowing bulbs and popped the blow stick out of it. I sliced off the cracked and dried hunk of the tubing on the pneumatic shutter, and cleaned the aluminum insert piece (see photos) that went into the old bulb. I trimmed the other end of the tubing, which otherwise was in good shape for its age, and cleaned up the piston piece that screws into and fires the shutter.
I took the insert piece and slowly worked it into the slot in the “new” bulb where the stick was. I worked the tubing onto the piece, and at the other end the piston, and…voila. It works slick.
Now, on what and when to use it?
It’s use on the Pacemaker Speed Graphic would be limited, as the spot for a cable release on the camera’s original Kodak Ektar 127mm lens is blocked by a solenoid shutter release (which still works when I use the flash/trigger lightsaber thing) and the arm for the camera’s body-mounted trigger release. Further, the pneumatic shutter release does not have enough “oomph” to fire that body-mounted release.
The Graflex 250mm lens I have for the camera doesn’t have a shutter, so I use the focal plane shutter in the camera—which is tripped by the body-mounted shutter release, or fired with a cable from the lightsaber.
I could use it on the 90mm Graflex Optar wide angle lens, however. There’s no solenoid on the lens board and it’s too small to be bothered by the arm for the body-mounted release.
I could also use it on my Calumet CC400, as the lens boards are square, without raised bits on the top and bottom (as do the Pacemaker boards) to require specific positioning, and the lenses are mounted smack-dab in the middle. Thus, I can rotate them a quarter-turn to make room for that rather large piston on the pneumatic shutter. Extra tubing is easy to find to give me a lengthy option should I need it.
And will I? Who knows. I’ve never wanted to place myself in a shot, at least not a situation where I would be identifiable. The whole “selfie” culture borne from social media has poisoned me. I see a profile filled almost exclusively with selfies and I reflexively recoil—and that was before we had a malignant narcissist as President.
That typed, I am fascinated by what photographer/artist Liz Potter has pulled off over the last few years, from ghostly impressions to faceless poses within a landscape. While it’s her in the image, it’s anything but a selfie. Her form adds to the composition, leads your eye around the image, and lets your imagination fill in the narrative. I don’t see myself lending any visual help to a landscape, however, and she’s doing none of that with a pneumatic shutter release, however. I believe she uses one of those old-school mechanical timed shutter releases to trigger her Noblex.
So what the hell was my point in fixing this thing? Anyone? Anyone? Ah well. Another tool in the tool box, I guess. I could see using it, I suppose, as something to have in hand and take a real step back behind the camera to take in the subject of the photograph. When the birds take flight, or the light is just right, give the bulb a squeeze.
