Solenoid Cable Release

[Stephen Puckett <spuckett@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/22/98 Greg Erker wrote:

>I started working on a solenoid/cable release gizmo
>that would do just that. I found a solenoid that would
>trip the Sputnik shutter when powered by 4 or was it 6
>AA nicads.

<snip>

>After the solenoid you would have to rig up a timer
>(using a 555 probably) and a driver circuit to switch
>the current to the solenoid.

I would like to use solenoids to trip dual cable releases on a twin 
rig.  Currently, I trip the pair of 6" cable releases by my fingers 
(sometimes using a popsicle stick). There is enough movement in the 
cables that the shutters are somewhat out of sync.  Does someone 
here know how to create one of these?  I walked into a big 
electronics supplier and described what I was after.  He replied, 
"Gimmee the part number."  :-(

I recall that they used these things for wildlife photography.  
Perhaps Contax was a brand.  There seemed to be wire, infrared, and 
radio-control types.  Radio-control might be the best for those 
wide-based hypers.  Perhaps the model airplane crowd would know - 
they would know radio-controlled solenoids and servos.

I checked some camera stores and catalogs.  Still available are 
remote tripping via air tubes and bulbs.  Do these work acceptably 
well as a replacement?

Thanks in advance for any help.