Don’t buy Nikon third party accessories

 

 

You get what you pay for. This is the one English idiom that I always repeat when I buy camera gear, as it is usually true. As I slowly move over to mirrorless cameras, there are lots of accessories that I need to buy again. One of those accessories is a shutter release cable. I have tons of cables for my different cameras, but none of them will work with the Nikon Z6. So, I went online and ordered the Nikon MC-DC2 shutter release cable from Nikon.

There are a lot of cheap alternative cables, but I have always avoided them, as shutter release cables have the tendency to break at night while you are trying to use them and can’t see anything. So, I prefer to spend a little more upfront to save myself from future headaches in the field.

 

 

The following day, I opened my delivery box to find that the online store had sent me a cheap cable instead of the Nikon cable that I ordered. The store claimed it was a mistake, but I think they took a chance, assuming that since I am a foreigner, I wouldn’t complain. Unfortunately for the store, I am more than capable of basic communication in Chinese, so I contacted them and they very quickly sent me the correct cable. Since the first cable was so cheap and nasty, the shipping cost to send it back was more than the cable was worth, so the store let me keep the third-party shutter release cable.

 

 

The following day, I opened my delivery box to find that the online store had sent me a cheap cable instead of the Nikon cable that I ordered. The store claimed it was a mistake, but I think they took a chance, assuming that since I am a foreigner, I wouldn’t complain. Unfortunately for the store, I am more than capable of basic communication in Chinese, so I contacted them and they very quickly sent me the correct cable. Since the first cable was so cheap and nasty, the shipping cost to send it back was more than the cable was worth, so the store let me keep the third-party shutter release cable.

 

 

 

I had some filters arrive the same day as the Cuely MC-DC2 shutter release cable, so I took the cheap shutter release cable with me that afternoon to test. The cable did the job of triggering the shutter on the Nikon Z6 and holding the shutter open for a bulb shot, but it really doesn’t give you a lot of confidence that it will last very long. I used it that one day, and I have put it away now, as the following day, the Nikon MC-DC2 shutter release cable arrived.

 

 

The Nikon MC-DC2 shutter release cable is roughly 7 times more expensive than the Cuely MC-DC2 shutter release cable, and you can really tell the difference in the construction of the two cables. The Nikon cable feels much more solid in hand and weighs more than the Cuely MC-DC2 shutter release cable, even though the Nikon cable uses a slimmer wire. The Cuely MC-DC2 shutter release cable feels stiff and kind of brittle, to be honest. If you had to bend the Cuely MC-DC2 shutter release cable too much, I am sure it would break.

I took the Nikon MC-DC2 cable out to test one evening, and it works exactly the same as the Cuely MC-DC2 shutter release cable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both cables do exactly the same job and function exactly the same way. But I would bet that the Nikon MC-DC2 shutter release cable would still be working after a few months, while the Cuely MC-DC2 shutter release cable would have fallen apart a long time ago. You get what you pay for in this world. When it comes to the photography world, third-party is not always bad, but you do get what you pay for. I am not against using third-party lenses such as Tamron or Sigma, but when it comes to really cheap, nasty stuff, stay away from it.

 

Buy the right product the first time, and then you don’t have to spend money buying the right thing later. This is the advice I got when buying my first tripod, and I didn’t listen to it. Since then, I have bought three more tripods. I have learned my lesson, and my last two tripods were good solid investments. The same should be told to photographers who buy accessories like filters and shutter release cables. Buy the right stuff the first time and save money in the end.

Be wise and shop when you have the cash to buy the right thing.

Shaun.