Having recently upgraded to a Canon 50D several months ago, I was looking for a remote shutter release for the 50D, as it uses Canon's proprietary N3 Connector.

After some investigation, I searched for the cheapest suitable remote that I could find on eBay, intending to buy it just for the N3 connector. The cost of the Yongnuo remote I purchased was just AUD$4.90 plus AUD$4.50 postage.
(I've since found the same remote on dealextreme.com for USD$4.80 with free shipping.)

However, the quality of the remote, despite the very cheap cost, was significantly better than I was expecting, so I decided to use the complete remote, rather than butchering it just for the N3 connector.



The remote was listed on eBay as "RS-80N3 Remote Shutter for Canon EOS 5D 20D 30D 40D", and appeared to be a copy of Canon's RS-80N3 remote, which typically retails for USD$50 or AUD$90. The box that arrived was labelled as "Yongnuo Remote Switch RS-C3", and the remote itself has the words "Yongnuo Digital" on the front of it.

Here are some photos of the Yongnuo remote after it was unboxed.

Yongnuo remote shutter release

To give you an indication of the size, the remote itself is about 95mm long, and the cord is almost 900mm long.

The plastic N3 connector on the end of the remote's cable fitted snugly into the N3 socket on my 50D, and some quick tests confirmed that the remote could correctly control the shutter button on the camera.

N3 connector

As expected, a half-press of the remote's button is equivalent to a half-press of the shutter button, causing the camera to auto-focus and set the exposure. A full press of the remote's button causes the camera to take a photo.



I had never heard of Yongnuo before, and some quick searching revealed that Hong Kong Yong Nuo Photographic Equipment Company is a subsidiary of Shenzhen Yongnuo Photographic Equipment Company, and they produce camera accessories such as remote switches, remote cords, wireless remote controls, flash accessories, and tripods.



Having previously built my own homebrew shutter release with a double-action switch, I was curious to see how the double-action switch inside the Yongnuo remote worked. Removing the two screws from the bottom of the remote allowed the two halves of the remote to be separated, thus exposing the switch mechanism.

inside the remote

It is surprisingly simple, with three metal plates attached at one end, each attached to one of the contacts in the N3 connector.

Depressing the plastic button halfway down on the remote causes the top two plates to come into contact with each other, thus closing the circuit between those two connections.

Fully depressing the remote's button causes all three plates to contact each other, thus shorting out all three connections in the N3 connector.



With the camera in bulb mode, the remote's button can be fully depressed, and then slid forward, locking it into the down position to hold the camera's shutter open for long exposures. Sliding the button back again will allow it to return to the normal position, thus closing the camera's shutter.

button not depressed

button locked down for bulb mode

This Yongnuo remote was originally purchased just for the N3 connector. However, the quality of the remote is surprisingly good, considering the low cost.

As a result, rather than butchering the remote just for the N3 connector for my homebrew remote, and discarding the rest of the remote, I've decided to use the Yongnuo remote as it is for my Canon 50D. It's quite compact, relatively well made, and works just as well as my previously constructed homebrew remote.

It also means I now have a remote for my 50D, and still can use my homebrew remote for the 350D, without having to share one remote between the two cameras.