I've been astounded at the cost of manufacturers original cabled remote switches. For example the Olympus RM-UC1 retails at £58.15 and the Nikon MC30 retails at £62.95 so I'm compelled to let forum members know that good Chinese copies of these can be got for £6.99 and £7.99 respectively and postage free from Guildford from an eBay UK vendor with the shop "webshoptoU" (nothing to do with me, except as a satisfied customer).
My Pentax CS-205 cost 3000 yen (£15 at then exchange rate). Jacobs listed the same item in their pre-Crimbo catalogue at nearly £60. SRS do them for around £30. Moral - it's always worth shopping around. I was going to say traditional cable releases were better value, but then I saw this.
I have previously bought 2 different chinese copies (although not from the dealer quoted, it has to be said) and in both cases the wires inside the cable were of such poor quality that they broke inside the sheathing after a very short while. In both cases I took them apart and shortened the cable only for them to fail again shortly afterwards (one of them started at 1.5 m long and ended up about 4 inches long) . It seems the internal wires are not thick enough and/or flexible enough to cope with even moderate use.
Also......I just had a quick look at the dealer quoted and would like to add that they also do a Yongnuo wireless version for about £18. This is what I ended up buying and I am very impressed with it - it hasn't let me down yet and the range is pretty impressive. The only issue is that the on-off switch on the transmitter is easily knocked 'on' in the camera bag which could lead to a dead battery(so I always flip open the battery compartment when I'm not using it). Also, the small switches to alter the pin-code between the transmitter and receiver are so fiddly and flimsy that I decided to leave them as they are. Of course the downside is that I need to keep batteries for it
I've also just acquired a wireless one for Canon N3 switch types. It's a JYC, also Chinese £19.90 postage free this time from Hayes, Middlesex. The receiver also functions as a wired switch without a battery which is useful.
Another vote for the Yongnuo stuff here. It's identical to the Nikon stuff, at a fraction of the price. It works exceedingly well so there doesn't appear to be a downside. I have the wired and wireless versions for my D700, and am very pleased with them.
I got a cheap (about £15) wireless remote for my Alpha A100 on ebay from HK and it's worked on every model since, 50+ feet range, brilliant. Sony's alternative: a tad more expensive
I'm also happy to endorse Yongnuo stuff ... their LONG off camera shoe cord (Canon a-like) was under £30 on Amazon back last September. The quality is first class, it's E-TTL II compatible and it's sooo much more convenient to use than the standard length Canon Off Camera Shoe Cord 2
These have been flagged many times over the years, I have used several from different sources without problem – even good old 7 Day Shop have access to “second market” items at sensible prices.
Thanks for posting - it stired me into doing a net search for a remote control for my camera and I found one for under a fiver. So I am off to buy it Thanks again Roger
