I received this for Christmas this year. What a handy little gadget.
The NB-3L is the infrared remote for Nikon cameras that support remote shutter release. It lets you snap the shutter from a distance.
Why would you need this? Well for a few reasons. Situations where you want everyone to be in the picture (no one has to step out to take the photo) and situations where you do not want to press the shutter yourself because it will cause motion of the camera and "camera shake" in your photos.
The "prevent camera shake" use is as follows. The lighting is dim and you need to be as stable as possible, so you set the camera on a table, banister, rock, or whatever. Unfortunately you still need to press the shutter down and you can accidentally "jar" the camera and cause the image ot blur. If you have the handy little remote you just use it. You can even have your hands just centimeters away if the camera is perched precariously and you think it will fall.
Size Matters
This thing is small. It is incredibly thin and looks like one of those items you will lose in about two seconds. Fortunately, it comes with a little velcro pouch that can attach to your shoulder strap so you have easy access and will always be tempted to put the remote back in the pouch instead of in your pocket.
Simple
The remote only has one button which controls the shutter. You need to go into the settings of your camera and set it to be controlled by the remote. For the Nikon D70s, this is the same settings options where you change between "single shot" or "continuous shooting". You can select "remote shooting" as well. One annoying thing I found is that if the camera goes into "power saving" mode after 15 seconds that it defaults back to shutter button mode so the remote does not work anymore. I'm sure you can change this, but I have yet to find it yet. If you know how, please post a comment.
There is also a timer remote option so that you can trigger the timer with the remote. Good for situations where you would be a bit rushed to sneak back into the photo after pressing the shutter.
Range
I'm not sure the exact range. They claim it is 16.4 feet, but I triggered it from 30 feet away no problem when I first got it. Maybe this was because it was a new battery. You just have to point the thing straight at the camera though. I found there was not much forgiveness if you were pointed elsewhere.
Battery
It comes with one of those little lithium ion CR2025 batteries. The thin kind that goes in watches and such.
To Get It Working
Basically nothing. Take the plastic battery protector out of the remote. Then set your camera to Remote shooting mode and snap away.
Final Verdict
I would recommend this for anyone. It is more of a gimmick and useful for those odd-ball shots, but for the price (less than $ 25 Canadian) you can not really beat the novelty of it.
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