Remote Cam Part 1 - Parts and that N3 cable

Remote cams are a great way to put yourself in 2, 3...well, as many places at once as you have the budget to be. A remote cam setup can be as simple as a second camera sitting next to you on the baseline, pre-focused on the hoop or multiple cameras clamped around a baseball stadium to make sure you have an angle of every base. But whether it's just one camera or several, there is a certain set of equipment that you'll need to do it successfully. Hit the jump for the shopping list...





What you'll require for a remote setup will depend on where you're planning on setting up.  But let's start with the very basics.

• Camera
• Lens
• Support
• PocketWizard
• Shutter release cable 
• Tape
• Safety backup

Really nothing too surprising there as I'm sure you've already determined you might need an extra camera for this. The basic idea is that you're putting a camera on a tripod or a mount and firing it using a switch or a Pocketwizard. All on the same page? Good!

Now, for the fine print up front. From here on out the assumption is that you're using a Canon camera with the N3 jack - in other words, most every Canon camera that is NOT a version of the Rebel. Those little guys have a very consumer friendly 1/8" port built-in and do not need a fancy, expensive cable. Nikon? Well, the same principles apply, so read on!

Part one is going to focus on that all-important cable with the super special N3 plastic end on it and how to build your own. Why build your own? For me it's a matter of being able to add a little more versatility and, to be honest, I'd rather spend my money on lenses instead of cables. Whatever your reason, let's move into the meat and potatoes of this little project.

What you need to do first is hop on Amazon and grab a couple of knock-off N3 cable releases. They're about $5 and you won't feel bad about tearing into them. Grab a few; never a bad idea to have a couple spares on hand.

While you're waiting for them to arrive, swing by Radioshack for a mini plug. Oh yeah, and make sure you have a soldering iron and some solder on hand as well.

Once your goodies have finally arrived, it's time to take your new cables apart.  There will likely be one, maybe two screws on the bottom of the remote. Unscrew these and open the two halves to reveal the wires inside.

There's not a lot to these little guys. When you press down halfway you ground the first two contacts, activating the pre-focus.  Press a little harder and you'll ground all three contacts, signaling to the camera that it should take a picture. And that's exactly what we want to do, simply say, "take a picture!"

If you look a little closer you will see that the wires are soldered to the metal blades and the blades are screwed into the plastic housing. Unscrew the blades and remove them from the housing so it looks a bit like the next photo, but pay attention to their order.  It's important for the next step.

With the wires out now, just warm up your iron and take the wires off the blades. You can reuse the leads for the next step, which is soldering them to the 1/8" mono plug. Since all we want to do is tell the camera to activate the shutter and not worry about pre-focus, we will solder the yellow and white (the first two contacts) wires together on the longer post of the plug. Once that's complete, solder the red wire (the third contact of the remote) to the shorter post of the plug.  When that's complete you should have something which looks like this:

Once you reassemble the 1/8" plug, add some tape to help prevent the wire from bending too much.

Now that you have a cable with a versatile plug, adding things like extension cables or a push-button trigger are quick and easy.  Since you ordered extra cable releases go ahead and make a backup cable.

In Remote Cam Part 2 it will finally be time to do something with all this equipment!