Theory of operation

The Elan IIE's remote cable release socket is a 2.5mm (submini) stereo socket. Plugging a 2.5mm jack into this socket gives access to three connections (tip, ring and sleeve).

The sleeve connection is a ground; shorting the ring connection to ground triggers auto-focus / auto-exposure, and shorting tip and ring connections to ground releases the shutter.

My design uses two momentary push-switches (SW1 and SW2) to control AF/AE and shutter release. Closing SW1 alone triggers AF/AE. Closing SW2 while SW1 is closed triggers shutter release.

SW3 is a toggle switch, which can be used to latch AF/AE. This is useful when taking long bulb exposures, or when using multi-shot mode with AF-servo auto-focus.

Because 2.5mm stereo sockets are small and not particularly robust, I decided to use 3.5mm stereo jacks/sockets for my remote, and use an adapter to connect these into the camera body.

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