On a recent shopping trip to Leeds I had some time to spare so wandered into PCWorld to have a look at the shiny new gadgets that I could never afford such as an Apple Macbook Pro or a Nikon D700. While browsing in the photography department I spotted a display of cable releases which is something that I had been wondering whether to buy anyway.

I already have an ML-L3 infrared remote control which works great but with one limitation – it only works from in front of the camera. If you want to take a shot from behind the camera you have to put your hand around and press the remote from the front with the risk of blocking some light or creating shadows. A cable release would obviously solve this problem.

So, PCWorld had a couple of Hama NI-2 cable releases and luckily for me they were in a clearance sale! The original price was £19.99 but they were now getting rid of them for £4.97! What a bargain! I took it up to the counter to pay for it and was going to make sure that it showed up at £4.97 on the till before handing my card over. So the shop assistant scanned it and said to me “That will be 97 pence please”. Eh? I said “How much?”. “Just 97 pence” he repeated. Now I don’t know whether that was a mistake or what but I handed over a pound coin, got my change and got out of there with my new cable release before they could change their minds!