Shutter button

File:Pressing the shutter button (Unsplash).jpg

In photography, the shutter-release button (s just shutter release or shutter button) is a push-button found on many cameras, used to record photographs.

{{cite book

| title = Digital Photography All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies

| author = David D. Busch

| publisher = For Dummies

| year = 2006

| isbn = 978-0-470-03743-0

| page = 260

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-XENqZmgWm0C&dq=shutter-button+shutter-release+shutter-release-button&pg=PA260

}} When pressed, the shutter of the camera is "released", so that it opens to capture a picture, and then closes, allowing an exposure time as determined by the shutter speed setting (which may be automatic). Some cameras also utilize an electronic shutter, as opposed to a mechanical shutter.

The shutter-release button is one of the most basic features of a dedicated handheld camera. Mobile devices such as modern smartphones have a touchscreen button for capturing photos, but also have a physical shutter button as well, as the sound volume buttons are used as such, with exception of some phones having a dedicated shutter button.

The term "release" comes from old mechanical shutters that were "cocked" or "tensioned" by one lever, and then "released" by another.

{{cite book

| title = Photography in Archaeology and Conservation

| author = Peter G. Dorrell

| publisher = Cambridge University Press

| year = 1994

| isbn = 978-0-521-45554-1

| page = 42

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RkBuiowOu1MC&dq=shutter+cocked+tension+lever+release&pg=PA42

}} In modern or digital photography, this notion is less meaningful, so the term "shutter button" or simply "capture button" is more used.