{"id":466,"date":"2022-10-17T19:08:41","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T00:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/darkroomdetritus.com\/?p=466"},"modified":"2023-06-02T20:37:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T01:37:09","slug":"no-problem-create-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darkroomdetritus.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/17\/no-problem-create-one\/","title":{"rendered":"No problem? Create one."},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>4 Minute, 17 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

Do I need a pneumatic shutter release? Likely not. So, best to figure out how to fix the one I have…because?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well, within one of the social media black holes I read a photographer\u2019s description of using a pneumatic shutter release on their large format camera\u2014one 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\u2019t move me). But, the description did make me think, \u201cHuh. That ol\u2019 thing might work for an unlikely situation I have yet to find myself.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Really. And that\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I took the insert piece and slowly worked it into the slot in the \u201cnew\u201d bulb where the stick was. I worked the tubing onto the piece, and at the other end the piston, and\u2026voila. It works slick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n