The short version is that despite what the description on B&H says, these Linhof cable releases only gives you about 12 mm effective throw and my Copal press shutter needs about 13 mm to fire. They should work great for any other shutter or camera, and I quite like it otherwise.
Linhof 002434 30” Heavy Duty Cable Release
I decided to buy this $89 Linhof cable release when I bought my used Wista SP 4x5 camera on ebay. I have a few old cable releases, passed down to me from the 70s/80s (originally used on 35mm SLRs etc.), but they are short and mostly poor quality.
That price is quite high compared to what else is out there. You can buy a 100 cm (~40”) cable release on Amazon for $8. What appealed to me with the Linhof cable was the idea of buying something like this once and having it for life. Setting aside the cheap ones, the price of the Linhof cable is really not that much higher than the less-expensive-but-good-quality ones, such as those from Gepe and Kaiser. So, may as well have the best. (I should note that Linhof, Gepe, and Kaiser all make their products in Germany - more on that later.)
To that end, it is certainly well made. The machined-metal control/grip area is a pleasure to handle and use, though I think it could be a little bit bigger without sacrificing its elegance. The t-lock (thumbscrew style) feels confident and precise. The cable itself is thick and feels very durable. The real key is that the action is smooth and decisive-feeling, which is what you don't usually get from cheap cables.
There’s a lot to like about this cable release, but, the reason I’m writing at length about it is because there are some issues that you don’t expect from the highest-end version of something, which this theoretically is.
First, the 30” length sounds long but is actually a bit awkward. It's too long to just leave hanging, but, at least with a 4x5 or larger camera where the cable release attaches to the lens at the front, it's not actually long enough to wrap around any part of the tripod, a technique sometimes recommended around the internet to reduce the vibrations you may transmit while holding the cable release (and also just so the cable isn’t dangling freely, straining the attachment point). You would likely be able to do this with smaller cameras, particularly something like a Hasselblad or other medium format camera where the cable release goes in the front of the camera body at the bottom and near the tripod.
With my Wista SP 4x5 field camera, I stick it through the leather handle that the camera has on its side, so there’s no strain from the weight of the cable hanging down and it’s within easy reach. If your camera doesn't have something like that - and most don’t - the 30” length is awkward to just leave hanging. I know that’s what many people do, but I think you’ll want a shorter cable if you’re going to just leave it hanging. 40", a length available from other makers, would probably be enough to wrap around part of the tripod instead with a 4x5 setup, but 30” is the longest one Linhof makes.
An issue that reviewers on B&H complain loudly about is that the tip that screws into the shutter is very small and can be tricky to attach in some cases. This won’t be an issue with most smaller cameras because you don’t have clearance issues. With large format lenses, there’s limited clearance for your fingers because of the lens board and it can be tricky, and you really appreciate having a big solid grip instead of a small one like this.
I will say that I never really had any major issue with the small tip, and the bigger grip on the Gepe cable I got is only slightly easier to use - limited finger clearance is just a fundamental part of large format lenses (particularly small ones). It is not really a show-stopping issue, but it's the kind of thing that bugs you more and more over time, which is the opposite of what you want in an expensive buy-it-for-life item like this.
With the short tip you do gain some slight extra flexibility at that part of the cable in exchange, but not as much as you might think and it's not enough that you could attach it inside a recessed lens board or anything like that.
Screenshot of description from B&H
Wista #1 Copal Press Shutter with Linhof cable release
The descriptions for the Linhof cable releases on B&H all take pains to claim that these are some of the very few cable releases available that have a long enough throw to fire Copal press shutters. The Wista SP 4x5 outfit I bought came with a lens with such a shutter. Specifically, because YMMV, it's labeled "for Wista - S - No. 1" - you can actually still buy this same shutter new from B&H (special order), listed as "Wista #1 Press Shutter - Self-Cocking".
The Linhof cable release does, in fact, fire this shutter, but - and this is a key but - only if the cable is held so that it is more or less straight for its whole length. I didn't realize this at first - because of its awkward length, that just happened to be how I was always holding it, fed through the leather handle and almost completely straight. I used it successfully for something like 100 photos without issue.
But then I had the camera positioned for a unique shot for which I coiled the cable release in a way I normally wouldn't... and the shutter didn't fire properly.
I realized with just a few seconds of testing that it just wasn't pushing into the lens far enough to trigger the shutter. The shutter release lever needed just a slight additional push to fire. I then straightened out the cable and it worked - you gain just enough throw when the cable is straight.
Here’s an illustration:
The Linhof cable is fully engaged and locked, with the lens in B (Bulb) mode. The shutter should be open, but the cable release doesn’t push far enough in to the shutter.
The same test with a Gepe Pro cable fully engaged and locked, with the shutter in B (Bulb) mode. The shutter remains open as it should.
I wasn’t sure if something had broken or knocked out of alignment, since it had worked without issue previously. It does actually look like there may be a way to adjust the depth of the receptacle that the cable release tip screws in to, but I wasn’t able to get it to budge and didn’t want to force it since most of my experience attempting camera repairs have been disasters.
Though I really like how basic and mechanical everything large format is, I don’t have the experience to know how it’s supposed to work. So since the lens needed a CLA (clean, lubricate, adjust) anyway - it consistently overexposed at every shutter speed by 1/3 of a stop, and it felt like it needed lubrication including with the shutter release action - we brought the lens and the cable release in to the excellent repair place we use, International Camera Technicians in Mountain View, CA, for an expert opinion. They couldn't find anything wrong with the shutter release mechanism on the shutter itself, and the CLA didn’t change anything. They concurred that the cable release just wasn’t sticking in far enough and added that the throw on the cable release seemed unusually short to them compared to typical cables.
I can't guarantee that my particular press shutter doesn't need more throw than others. I don’t have access to any others to test. But I do think it's very strange that a shutter release cable advertised as having particularly long throw actually has at best average throw, if not shorter than average. I only have a few other cables on hand to compare to, but it has about the same throw as the shorter cables I have that are meant for small cameras.
In this photo, the Linhof cable was laid on the table in a single coil (i.e. “O” shape)
Measured with calipers, I get about 13.5 mm throw when it's perfectly straight, and 12-12.5 mm if the cable is curved as would be typical in use. So, in practice you can only really count on 12mm of guaranteed throw.
(To be fair, that is more than enough for the other two lenses I have which have standard Copal shutters, and should be enough for any smaller camera.)
I don't think my particular cable is a dud, either, because the throw looks identical in the product photos on B&H. It’s possible that the design changed at some point and the photos were updated but the description wasn’t, but that seems unlikely.
In any case, as a replacement I bought one of the Gepe "Pro" models which have 21 mm of (adjustable) throw. For less than half the price of the Linhof, though it's not as elegant quality seems good and, importantly, it works flawlessly every time with all of my lenses. The throw is adjustable with a simple but clever mechanism, if needed, though I have no issues leaving it at the default throw with any of my lenses. I assume there are some cameras that work better with a shorter throw. Because of the disc lock design, even with it adjusted to a shorter throw you don’t get quite as decisive a feeling with the Gepe as you do with the Linhof where the plunger reaches all the way to the metal grip part.
Gepe throw adjustment is done with the round nut below the grip
Minimum throw of Gepe pro cable - 13mm - it is actually able to fire the press shutter absolutely reliably at this setting
Maximum throw of Gepe pro cable - 21mm
Though clear, detailed specs about these sorts of things are hard to ascertain from product listings - you end up relying on reviews, and information gleaned from customer questions, as much as the official specs if you want to be sure of the details - my understanding is that the "Pro" models from Gepe are the only ones guaranteed to have such a long throw. It seems too that there may be quality issues with their cheaper models - there is a 40” one, for example, but it’s not from the “Pro” line, and has reviews saying that it fell apart (a common complaint in reviews of cheaper cables from all brands). The longest “Pro” model that isn’t a special order, the one I got, is 20”. Could probably even go with a shorter one - 20” seems fine but it’d still be awkward to leave it hanging without something for it to rest on like the leather handle on the Wista.
One final thing that shouldn't matter but kinda does... resale of Linhof cables is actually mentioned in the B&H description, kind of oddly, despite them not being particularly common when I’ve looked on ebay. But if you're factoring resale value into the high price of the Linhof cable, it does say "Germany" on it, but it doesn't say Linhof anywhere.
In fact, the whole plunger section appears to be identical to the one on the Gepe cable.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re made in the same factory, but it’s a possibility. Even if that were so, that doesn’t necessarily say anything about the quality of the individual cables. The Gepe is clearly inferior in some ways because of the materials used and it is far less elegant and I don’t really like the disc lock.
But, it works.