Project: New Way to Fire the Canon

I got the Canon bug several years ago when I bought my AE-1.  I wasn't very good with it, but it was a lot of fun to shoot and I learned a lot about photography.  One of the things I really liked about it was that I had a remote trigger for taking night/low light shots without moving the camera.

In 2008, after a couple years of saving up gift money (and selling the AE-1), Kaylee and I continued the Canon madness by buying a Rebel XT.

For the last 4 years, we've gotten to know and enjoy it, but I've missed having the ability to shoot remotely.  The XT has a jack for an electric trigger, but it costs $35 to buy the real deal from Canon.  I figured I could do it for cheaper than that, and did some looking on the web.

I came across this site: Homebrew Wired Remote for Canon EOS 350D Camera and used their schematic.

The biggest problem was figuring out what to use as a case.  I thought about many options, until I thought of using a toy gun.  Then I had a better idea when I came across a cheap dual-wattage soldering iron on one of my trips to the electronics store.  Same idea, better application.

It already had a momentary micro switch to control the dual wattage feature, so I left that as the Shutter trigger.  To operate the Focus trigger, I added another micro switch where the indicator light used to be -- right where the hammer would be on a pistol. Best of all, it cost less than $5!

 

Size comparison with the Gerber:

The DPST switch in the "muzzle" is to lock open the shutter for long-exposure shots.

I still haven't come across anything to clean up the "hammer."  It works, for the time being.

Click up to lock the shutter open:

Now I have just what I need for night photography!  The action is just like a pistol: click back the hammer (to focus) then squeeze the trigger to fire the shutter!  Now I can shoot my Canon from 6 feet away: