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Canon RS-80N3
EOS Remote Release Switch
© 2012 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

Intro   Specs   Performance   Compared   Usage   Recommendations

Canon RS-80N3 Remote Cord

Canon RS-80N3 Cable Release (1.785 oz./50.6 g including cord, about $45 for the real thing or under a dollar for crappy copy). enlarge. My biggest source of support is when you use any of these links, especially this link directly to them at Adorama, directly to them at Amazon or directly to them at eBay when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thank you! Ken.

 

September 2012   Canon Reviews   Canon Lenses   All Reviews

see also:

ET-1000N3 10 meter (32 foot) extension cord.

TC-80N3 Timer Controller Cord.

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Introduction         top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Compared   Usage   Recommendations

Adorama pays top dollar for your used gear.

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

This genuine Canon RS-80N3 is Canon's official remote cord for their better 35mm and digital EOS cameras. These cameras take an "N3" connector, which has three very fine pins.

If you've got a midrange to top-end EOS camera, this is the smartest remote cord to get. It's small, light and simple.

The TC-80N3 is a more complex verison with timers, but for long Bulb exposures, most Canon cameras clock the time on the top LCD.

The RS-80N3 has the same two positions as your camera's shutter button: half-press to wake the meter and focus, and full press to shoot.

The RS-80N3 locks for time exposures simply by pressing and pushing forward.

 

Compatibility

The RS-80N3 works on everything from the EOS 3 of 1998 through today's 1D X and 5D Mark III that use an "N3" connector with fine pins similar to the pins on a Compact Flash card socket:

Canon N3 remote Socket

Canon N3 remote socket: works with these.

 

Canon N3 plug

Canon RS-80N3 plug.

The "N3" plugs and sockets are somewhat flimsy, but on the bright side, they click-in and remove much faster than other kinds of screw-in remotes. They are also always locked; they won't pull-out unless you grab the silver outer case and pull to unlock and remove in one motion.

I'd really prefer a real screw-in mechanical cable release, but as these electronic cables go, this is much better than Nikon's multi-step screw-in affair.

 

Incompatibilities

The Rebels take a smaller plug that looks like a 2.5mm microphone plug. This remote doesn't work with the Rebels.

The earliest 1980s EOS cameras take a different cord with fatter contacts on the camera's socket, called a "T3" socket:

Canon N3 remote Socket

Old-Style 1980s Canon "T3" Remote Socket. Does not work with this!

This RS-80N3 cord will not work with cameras with the 1980's T3 style connector. Use the 60-T3 cord for those cameras.

 

Specifications         top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Compared   Usage   Recommendations

Canon RS-80N3 Remote Cord

Canon RS-80N3 Remote Switch box.

 

Name

Canon calls this the RS-80N3.

This means:

RS: Remote Switch.

80: 80 cm (32") long.

N3: Works with cameras and extension cords with the "N3" connector.

 

Power

None needed, it's completely passive.

 

Size

Cord

80 cm.

2.6 feet.

 

Switch

1.1 x 0.9 x 3.7 inches.

29 x 22 x 95 millimeters.

 

Weight

1.785 oz. (50.6 g) actual measured, including cord.

Rated Weight: 1.8 oz./50 g.

 

Quality

Made in Japan.

 

Price, USA

$45, September 2012.

 

Performance         top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Compared   Usage   Recommendations

It just works.

It's reasonably easy to attach and remove; far better than having to screw it on and off as we do with Nikon's remote cords.

 

Compared         top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Compared   Usage   Recommendations

$45 is a rip-off, which is why there are so many knock-offs sold for a fraction of the price.

Yes, you can buy cheap copies for under a dollar, and good copies for $17, but if you shoot for a living, it's worth getting ripped-off for $45 so you never have to waste time with a crappy copy that stops working.

One caveat is that the camera's pins are as delicate as a CF card socket's pins, and if you make any mistakes with a 75¢ knock-off and bend the pins in just the wrong way so the shutter is effectively always pressed, you could completely disable your camera!

 

Usage         top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Compared   Usage   Recommendations

It attaches by orienting the plug properly, and pushing straight-in on the center of the black part of the connector.

On new cameras like the 5D Mark III, the cord faces forwards. On older cameras like the EOS 3, the cord faces up.

To remove, pull straight out on the silver outer part of the connector.

When you connect it to your camera, pop the rubber socket plug from older cameras into the receptacle in the back of the remote switch so you don't lose it.

Canon RS-80N3 Remote Cord

Canon RS-80N3 Remote Switch backside.

Its shutter button works exactly like your camera's shutter button, with the additional feature that once pressed down, slide it forward to lock for time exposures.

 

Recommendations         top

Intro   Specs   Performance   Compared   Usage   Recommendations

I've resisted for 20 years buying one of these, but I finally did so I could make long exposures. It's not worth it to me to take a chance with a crappy $10 cord that might waste more than $45 of my time if it croaks on me at the wrong time.

Be very careful to have the correct orientation before inserting the plug. The pins on the camera are very thin, and I worry that with repeated use eventually that I'll bend my camera's pins. This is another reason I won't try a third-party remote; I'll feel real stupid if I save $44 with a $1 cord and ever had a $241 repair bill to replace a broken camera socket. If you bend the pins in the camera's socket and they short-out in the same way that tells the camera that the shutter button is pressed, the poor camera will just keep shooting until you do something drastic, like break off the offending pins. Be careful!

If you want a more complex unit that adds a timer for long exposures and a whole lot more, look at the TC-80N3.

If you've found all the time, effort and expense I put into researching and sharing all this, my biggest source of support is when you use any of these links, especially this link directly to them at Adorama, directly to them at Amazon or directly to them at eBay when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live.

Thank you!

Ken.

 

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