Quadriplegic & Shutter Bite switch

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Paul32590

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Paul Lucas
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Hi everyone

I'm a quadriplegic who has loved photography for many, many years. Finally I would like to get better at doing it. I've been frustrated so many times. My finger dexterity is virtually nil and whilst I balance my camera in my left hand, it sits quite snugly, actually pressing the shutter button causes me huge frustration. I firstly have to find it by 'looking' for it because I have no feeling in my fingers. Once I've found it, I have to use a wrist action to depress the shutter button. Not always as and when I want to press it!! So, I miss loads of shots!

Many years ago I used an air shutter bulb in my mouth and recently looked around for something similar and found this - http://www.conceptusinc.com/biteswitch.htm which I purchased.

I currently own a Panasonic FZ50 and although I can use a wired remote shutter and the camera has the 2.5mm jack required for the bite switch, it does not work on that camera. So, I tried it on a friends Canon 550D and it works a treat BUT the Cannon, when it has a 35mm + lens on is too heavy.

I ran a search though Google, for Best Bridge camera 2015 and the Panasonic (I love Panasonic camera's) FZ1000 came up. It does everything I'd like it to do and is light. It also received great reviews.

What I'd like to know is, does anybody know if the bite switch will work on the FZ1000 and if not, where I might get the bite switch altered so that it does.

Thanks for your patience. I've tried to be brief. Anything else you'd like to know please shout.

Paul
 
Sorry, do not know the the answer to your direct question but I wonder if you have tried touch screens which usually can be set to choose focus point and/or fire shutter. Some cameras can also be controlled via smart phones in a similar way.
 
by the looks of things canon use a 3 pin 2.5mm jack and panasonic use a 4 pin 2.5mm jack making them incompatible but it would be no bother for somebody handy with a soldering iron to make up an adaptor/conversion lead for the biteswitch to work on a panasonic camera

have a look at the pin diagrams for canon / panasonic on this page for a DIY solution
http://www.doc-diy.net/photo/remote_pinout/
 
Probably not news to you but these people exist to help those in your situation. http://www.disabledphotographers.co.uk/

Shouldn't be too difficult to adapt your switch to a different plug on the camera end, just needs someone with some technical skills and a soldering iron. Maybe there's a TP member close to you who could help?
 
chrism_scotland said:
I've had a quick Google and found an adaptor to make the bite switch on a Panasonic GX1 I'd need to do some digging but I wonder if it and the FZ1000 take the same shutter release.

http://gethypoxic.com/collections/c...ters/products/panasonic-dmc-gx1-2-5mm-adapter
Click to expand...

Thanks ChrisM - that's a very helpful link and is akin to what the Conceptus site tells you to try, splicing an adaptor onto a wired remote that works. I have written to them and asked whether they know if it works on the FZ1K or not - thank you.
 
cosmicma said:
according to the site i posted above the pinouts are the same for the gx1 and the fz50 / fz1000 among quite a few others
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Cosmic - you guys have been so helpful. I really feel as if I'm getting somewhere now - thank you all.
 
Nod said:
Probably not news to you but these people exist to help those in your situation. http://www.disabledphotographers.co.uk/

Shouldn't be too difficult to adapt your switch to a different plug on the camera end, just needs someone with some technical skills and a soldering iron. Maybe there's a TP member close to you who could help?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link Nod - I was not aware of the website to be honest. :-(
 
sphexx said:
Sorry, do not know the the answer to your direct question but I wonder if you have tried touch screens which usually can be set to choose focus point and/or fire shutter. Some cameras can also be controlled via smart phones in a similar way.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help. The Panasonic FZ1000 can be operated from a smart phone also but due to my fingers being pretty useless, I don't have a mobile phone. I have a tablet and that's bad enough :-) I'd find it very difficult to hold and fingers on the swipe screen would have me in places I'd never know how to get out of!! Thanks so much for your help.
 
Paul32590 said:
Thanks ChrisM - that's a very helpful link and is akin to what the Conceptus site tells you to try, splicing an adaptor onto a wired remote that works. I have written to them and asked whether they know if it works on the FZ1K or not - thank you.
Click to expand...

Glad to be of help, I hope you get it sorted!
 
Result! It seems that sometimes it can be question of "ask and ye shall receive."
 
Nod said:
Result! It seems that sometimes it can be question of "ask and ye shall receive."
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That is so true Nod!!

There has been a development and I have written to the Company in the States asking for clarification. I went to the shop and placed this adapter into the cart, proceeded to checkout and that's when the shipping hit me - $28.00 or £18.00 which ever currency you prefer. That works out at £45+ for the adapter and postage. It's not something I can readily fork out for after adding on the £40.00 for the bite switch.

Pretty poor really but I'll wait to hear back from them.

Is this something Maplins could sort out for me do you think?
 
Have you tried the DPS or DPA? I'm sure they would be able to help and get you shooting again for far less than that! It has to be a fairly simple project to simply rewire the bite switch to the camera end connector - almost certainly just cutting and shutting the lead - it's just knowing which gets connected to what! Where abouts are you, Paul? If you're South West based, I'd be happy to collect, adapt etc. the things for you but if you're a long way away, it could be more difficult! Ideally, I would want the leads and camera so I could make sure I got everything the right way round and postage + insurance costs could add up pretty quickly...
 
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