Use remote flash trigger for remote shutter release

Is it possible to use a remote flash trigger device to remotely release the shutter?

I have this device http://www.xcsource.com/index.php?p=6&id=903 You can see that there is a port at the receiver but I can't find any documentation on what it's used for. Is there any adaptor/cable that can make the receiver to get connected to the remote control terminal of the camera and release the shutter?

Answer

The port on the receiver is called a "PC terminal" port. It has nothing to do with personal computers. The name is based on the French Prontor/Compur shutters used in the 1930s that could be synchronized with flash. Although the PC terminal was the standard at one time for synchronizing external flash units with the shutters of mid-level to high end cameras, its use has recently fallen out of favor along with the proliferation of wireless technology to control off-camera flash.

PC terminal connections work like flash hot shoe connections: the voltage is provided by the flash. When the shutter opens it closes a switch in the camera that allows the voltage to flow through the connection and trigger the flash. Remember, in the 1930s most cameras had no batteries or source of electrical energy, they were purely mechanical devices. Since the remote trigger is acting as the 'camera' as far as the flash can tell, it is also only connecting a circuit with regard to the PC terminal connection. The same is true of most remote release cords for modern cameras: the remote switch only completes a circuit without applying any voltage to the circuit. If the other end of your PC cord, normally a 1/8" jack with two conductors, matches your camera's remote release port it should be able to trigger the shutter remotely. But most cameras' remote release ports require a three conductor connection, even if it is a 1/8" jack (many are and many more aren't 1/8" jacks). The extra conductor is to allow for a 'half press' using the button on the wired remote.

Slightly different trigger sets, such as this one, come supplied with the appropriate cable to connect to a particular type of camera. The transmitters also have a two stage button so that when being used as a remote shutter release you can perform both a half and full press of the shutter button. I am not aware of anywhere that sells the cables customized for different cameras apart from the entire transmitter set.