It’s hard to imagine if you’re not a commercial photographer, but just as you can get Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI) from using a mouse, could you get it from pushing a shutter button a couple of hundred times a day? Even if you don’t, have you ever considered what the vibration of pushing the button does to image sharpness? It causes motion blur — at least with my camera, it does. There’s a fix: a ProDot shutter button upgrade.
The ProDot is Custom SLR’s newest product. If it weren’t such a simple thing, I’d call it an invention — and why not call it that? Most simple gadgets that make our life easier have required hard out-of-the-box thinking and careful design. So has the ProDot Shutter Button Upgrade, as the thing is called in full.
The ProDot is a silicon rubber sticky dot the size of a camera shutter button. The top of the dot is structured with tiny spikes. You stick the ProDot onto your shutter release button, and then you’re in a for a surprise. First of all you’ll need a couple of minutes to adapt. Never thought I’d say that of a silicon bump on top of a button, but it’s true.
If you’re used of pressing hard on the shutter release button, the ProDot will make you ease on the throttle — if you don’t, accidental shots may occur. However, that won’t take long. Apparently, there is automation in the way our body reacts to something that makes life more comfortable: it adapts quickly. The lazier we are allowed to be, the better, or so it seems.
The ProDot requires less strength to be applied when pressing down the release button on any camera. Because it’s mounted on top of the camera’s button (and perhaps also because of the spikes), you don’t press that hard. I also noticed the ProDot always fires; by itself, the release button on my Sony Alpha 700 occasionally seems to have second thoughts about a shot.
The result: less force means less unwanted motion, sharper image, less vibration, less fatigue.
Not convinced? I couldn’t believe it, either. At $9.95 (approx. €7.50) for a pair they may seem expensive (it’s only a silicon bump, right?), but I personally think you can’t go wrong with them. I promise: you will feel the difference. The sticky part of the ProDot doesn’t seem to leave behind any residues and can be re-applied. They come in three colours: red, black and transparent.