Artisanal Wooden Shutter Buttons For Cameras Are, Like, Totally Necessary

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There’s something that happens to a certain kind of person when it comes to hobbies: The acquisition of gear becomes more important than the hobby itself. Take photography, for instance.

One short trip to the Internet will fill your browser with awful, pointless photos taken by men with cameras that cost them a fortune. You’ll see truly lame family snapshots taken on an $8,000 Leica Monochrom, posted with notes about the tonality and the bokeh, as if the gear makes these snapshooters into great photographers.

And you’ll see accessories. All kinds of crazy accessories that do little but fuel the need to upgrade to ever more specialized and expensive models.

Back when I worked a Saturday job in a camera store, we’d joke about the men who’d spend so much on a camera that they could only afford the cheap off-brand film. For these folks, there’s the Artisan Obscura shutter release, a tiny, $30 circle of wood that screws into a camera’s shutter release.

The idea behind these “soft releases” (no, not a sexual term, but it should be) is that it makes it easier to squeeze the shutter button and avoid camera shake. In practice, this isn’t a problem, and if you really do find yourself in a situation where you just have to be able to get a sharp handheld shot in the dark, then it won’t matter whether your “soft release” is made of blond wood, ebony or just cheapo plastic.

The Artisan Obscura Releases are made from wood with a brass screw, and come from Denver. You’ll need a camera with a threaded hole in the shutter release to use one, but thankfully the cameras beloved of gear nerds are thus equipped: Leicas, the Fujifilm X100/S, and the current money-waster’s favorite, the Sony RX1.

Want one? Of course you do. And you can always lie to your spouse that you bought some new cufflinks (hint – buy a shirt first). Just remember this, from gear nerd supremo Steve Huff: “over time these will soak up your own skin oils and develop a natural patina.”

Gross.

Source: Artisan Obscura

Via: Steve Huff

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