Would anybody please explain what the purpose of this gizmo is? Thanks. Jim

-- Jim Ford (anniejim@dellnet.com), November 11, 2000

Answers

The soft release screws into the cable release socket on the shutter-release button. It presents a much larger surface to your trigger finger than does the button itself and apparently slows down your pressing of the button by spreading the pressure over a larger area. At least that's what seemed to happen with the soft release I used for a while. I guess this reduces the chance of your jerking the camera at the instant of exposure. I think if I'd used it consistently, it would have helped more than it did. The reason I didn't use it was that I found only one of them, and I usually shot with three or four cameras; so the one soft release always seemed strange. You may be able to find a generic soft release on the pegboard in your local camera shop. You may have seen Tom Abrahamsson's web site, which has photos of the soft release and other Leica attachments he devised.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols@iopener.net), November 11, 2000.

The proper way to use a soft release on a M camera is to put your finger tip on the speed dial and just straigten the last joint to fire the shutter. It is a very subtle movement that allows you to handhold a slower shutter speed than you normally would be able to.

Cheers

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), November 11, 2000.

I tried something similar, but gave up on it because between every frame I _meant_ to release, there was a frame that I accidently released by accidently bumping the soft-release button against something. I've just gone with learning how to softly release the built in release button.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@mail.com), November 11, 2000.

I had the same concern as Tony,as my M3 does not have any kind of a shutter lock and it is way easier to accidentally fire the camera with a soft release on.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), November 11, 2000.

I've tried various soft releases, but the Leica is the best camera for doing without one, since there's a large dish around the release. Just steady your finger on the dish, and slowly tilt the tip down. I found soft releases much more useful on cameras like my Olympus which didn't have any surrounding territory to steady my finger on.

If you use one, prepare for a lot of shots of the inside of your case (what's Ektachrome these days--about thirty cents per blank slide?--pretty soon not using the soft release will pay for one :-), though the neatest tip I've heard for dodging this is to hitch a US Postal Service rubber band around the strap ring and bring the end over around the release base to prevent the shutter release from being able to be pushed down.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), November 12, 2000.

If you use a cable release from time to time, as I do, then the soft release suffers from the same problem as a PC socket cover ... you'd better buy a bagful of them.

-- Joe Buechler (jbuechler@toad.net), November 12, 2000.

I have and use one all the time. It seams to help keep the camera steady when shooting away. By the way I think I am averaging one blown shot per roll due to bumping the "Softy", not bad considering all the sharp shots I get @ 1/15 on my 50 mm! Try one, for ten bucks what have you got to lose? Good luck.

-- mike (pailliotet@earthink.net), November 14, 2000.

I tried a lot of these Softreleases over the years, but they all had problem. Either they had a dish-shaped surface, which meant that you kond of "poked" it down and shook the camera, or they were too small diameter or, worst of all, were made from very soft alloy and broke off in the cable-release thread! The one I have devised is domw- shaped and made from aero-space alloy. I find that it does give you at least a 1-stop slower speed ( use your Summilux as a Noctilux!) and it occasionally gives you interesting perspectives of your feet and elbows when you accidentally trigger the camera ( the latter could be classified as "art" photography! Tom A

-- Tom Abrahamsson (TTAbrahams@aol.com), January 20, 2001.

I'm new to Leica M-photography but I find the camera difficult to trigger with thick gloves on, so I bought Toms soft-release (a Leica shop in Sweden stocks them). With the soft release it is no problem at all to use gloves (except for setting the aperture on the lens of course). A great gizmo for cold weather photography! It is also does what I suppose it was intended for; reduces camera shake when triggering the shutter, with and without gloves. It actually makes M- photography more fun!

The soft release seems to sit securely in the shutter release button, I haven't noticed the above mentioned problems yet, no unscrewing.

-- Peter Olsson (peter.olsson@lulebo.se), December 13, 2001.