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About a year ago, the shutter release switch on my Canon 20D began to lose sensitivity. This resulted in more than a few blurry pictures — and shutter misfires — as I repeatedly tapped the switch in an effort to trigger the shutter.

A malfunctioning shutter release switch is a fairly common problem with the Canon 20D, 30D, and 40D digital SLRs. The problem may be resolved in one of two ways: send the camera to Canon for repair or boldly repair it yourself.

I chose the latter option, of course.

Since the repair process had the potential to produce a tragically camera-shaped paperweight, I availed myself of Douglas A. Kerr’s comprehensive article on the replacement of the Canon 20D shutter release switch (PDF).

(Sidenote: Mr. Kerr writes and curates a great collection of articles on the nuances of “optics, photography, and imaging” — among other subjects — at his website.)

I obtained a replacement shutter release switch (Canon part number CH9-0233-000) from USCamera.com a few days ago. Beyond that diminutive component, the only required tools are a soldering iron, solder, desoldering braid, tweezers, and a Philips No. 00 screwdriver.

Disassembly of the camera body was surprisingly easy.

Observe the delectable sweetmeats found within a digital SLR.

The desoldering of the old release switch and soldering of the new release switch were the trickiest phases of the operation: I was mortally afraid of melting a ribbon cable with the soldering iron. Things went smoothly, however. No second-degree burns.

I’m pleased to report that — after reassembling the body and reinstalling the battery — the camera is responding perfectly. I can’t wait to get it back into the field.

It is a bit difficult to shoot stroboscopic photographs against a light background due to the compounding of exposures in-camera. You have to underexpose quite a bit to get results worth keeping.

(Special thanks to Kate & Sam for the amazing dancing robots!)

Courtesy of “The Rock”.

Rokinon / Samyang 85mm f1.4 again.

Here’s a quick equipment recommendation for anyone using a recent Canon, Nikon, or Pentax digital body. The Rokinon 85mm f1.4 isn’t the best lens in the world — it exhibits a lot of defocus chromatic aberration at its widest apertures and is quite difficult to focus unless you have a body with ‘Live View’ support or a good manual focus screen — but it may be the best ‘portrait’ or ‘wide aperture optimized’ lens you can purchase for under $1000.

It’s being sold for around $250 under several different brand names: Rokinon, Samyang, Vivitar, Polar, Bower, Opteka, and Falcon.

There are some fantastic examples of the capabilities of this lens at Flickr. Note the quality of the in-focus and out-of-focus areas in those shots.

The Alternative Gear & Lenses forum at FredMiranda.com is a great source of information about this lens and other (relatively) inexpensive, yet high-quality bits of glass.

Shot with a Rokinon / Samyang 85mm f1.4 — my first ‘alt’ lens — on a Canon 5D2.