I need the ability to wirelessly take photos, but my Fujifilm X100 did not have a conventional shutter release — it has the old fashioned ”cable” release.

After playing around and buying some cheap cable releases off eBay, I was able to build a working wireless shutter using an Arduino, servo, and a cheap wireless shutter for a Canon DSLR.

The wired cable release that I had before

I had thought of using an IR remote. However I am planing on using this outside, and I’m not sure how well IR works in direct sunlight. So I went for an RF option.

These remotes have the half press focus option, but I would not be needing this. Also, when you bend the wire cable it changes the length of the “press,” meaning that it doesn’t always work.

To make it more reliable, my solution only takes photos without focusing, but since I am going to be using manual focus only, it’s not a problem.

I mounted a servo in a small enclosure. It pushes on the cable, firing the camera shutter:

The servo is controlled by an Arduino board that triggers the servo when it gets the command from the wireless remote:

I also mounted the hot shoe adaptor from the old shutter:

The solution should also work for Leica cameras that accept the same type of cable release. You can download the Arduino code here if you’d like to build this device yourself.

About the author: Andrew Farquharson is a photographer and Arduinoer based in Auckland, New Zealand. Visit his photo blog here and his Arduino blog here. This post was original published here.