Shutter release

Glossary Terms

Silver shutter-release lever (top left) on Gitzo shutter; a cable release is also fitted image by Süleyman Demir (Image rights)

Shutter release (front) of a Pentax K1000 image by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson (Image rights)

Electronic release button (red) on Agfa Optima Sensor image by Nicholas Middleton (Image rights)

The control on a camera (usually a button, or protruding lever) that causes the shutter to open and close. A shutter release may be entirely mechanical, but in recent years they are more typically electronic switches.