Nikon d80 cable release

[FUDGEY]

The kingfishers I'm photographing at mo have a fave perch that's in the middle of a pool that's just out of reach to get the shots I desire. What I'd love to do is set the camera up beside the perch and use a remote to capture it. I've got the small remote but it's out of range. Couple of questions, how long is the cable, would it be water proof and roughly what's the cost? That's 3 questions not a couple lol

[big bill]

Firstly Fudgey it may be a bit dicey leaving the camera on its own in the middle of the pool ,if it was to topple over then its good bye camera,the other thing you would probably be better with the infra red remote device remote rather than having cable going through the water one thing less for too go wrong if anything was to go wrong,like something snagging the cable and pulling on the camera and tripod .
No doubt someone else will be along to offer somemore advice that may help

[FUDGEY]

Thanks again for your reply Bill. I think it would be fairly safe though. I have made a platform like a bird table from a 6ft fishing bank stick with a thin metal plate on top which I intend to put a bean bag & camera on. The bank stick is fairly thick with a spiral point so I could drive it in securely to the hard mud bottom. I have an infra red remote but the perch it always lands on is just out of range. It's a fallen part of a tree & it lands on the exact same spot everytime so if I could get 20ft of cable I would get fantastic pics. If it's not waterproof perhaps I could keep it above water with a line of sticks with Vs on top? I was up today and again it landed on this spot, but luckily it did fly to my set up perch for a few mins. It was only 3 metres from my hide & I got my best photos yet, im over the moon with them. Should get them on here tomorrow.

[nightshade]

I had one of the old very long pneumatic shutter releases from film camera days. I used this to press the button on my small remote (which faced the camera) velcroed on to a small bracket
This sort of set up could be made using a solenoid from a door bell or similar

[Richard G.]

I think the official Nikon remote release is only a metre or so long, certainly my cheap clone from China is around this length. Not sure if there are any longer wired alternatives?

If the IR release you have is no good, you might want to consider a radio controlled remote release. No experience with them myself, but Hahnel seem to make a reasonably priced model in the HW433 N80, with a claimed range of up to 80m.

[pressld2]

I have the "official" Nikon MC-36 cable release and, yep, it's only about 1 metre (85cm to be exact). If I remember rightly Fudgey has a D80 camera which would need the MC-DC1 remote cord and, helpfully, the Nikon web site does not specify a length for that. I think you can get extensions for them but I agree with Richard - a radio remote would be best. No worries about it trailing through the water then.

Dave P.