They always say that you should test any kit before you go on a shoot, particularly if it is the first time that you have used it. This was (kind of) the case on my first Painting with light photoshoot, when I tried my Yongnuo WRS II wireless remote as a shutter release.
I’ve had this for more years than I care to remember and I guess I must have used it numerous times in the past. But never with the Pentax 645Z camera and never, as far as I can remember, in bulb mode.
So, there I was, in a wooded area, in darkness, trying out my Painting with light setup for the first time. My first (background) shot needed to have an exposure time of 5 minutes so I activated the shutter with the wireless release and waited for the allotted time (which seemed to take forever when standing in the dark). When the time was up I pressed the release button on the remote release. Nothing happened. I tried again and then tried pressing the shutter on the camera. Nothing.
I looked at the top plate of the camera and it indicated that the shot was still being taken. I decided to turn the camera off. But still nothing happened – the LCD panel remained lit and the exposure time was still counting. With the camera turned off!
I had no other choice than to remove the battery from the camera. Fortunately, when I reinstalled it and turned the camera back on, all was well. I continued with the shoot but had to manually press the shutter on the camera each time – which meant fumbling my way back to the camera in the dark after each exposure. It worked, but it wasn’t ideal.
The next day, in the comfort of my home, I tried it again – but with the same result. I can only assume that the electronics of this particular remote shutter release are not compatible with the electronics of the Pentax 645Z when in bulb mode (it seems to work fine in any other exposure mode). It’s a bit of a shame, especially when I had just spent £7 on new batteries for it.
Fortunately I remembered that I had an infrared remote shutter release from a previous Pentax camera and tried that. The Pentax 645Z has a forward mounted sensor which means I can use it in front of the camera, and also a red flashing light to show when the shutter is activated, which will make it much easier in the dark to know what is going on. In hindsight, this infrared release may be a much better option.
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