=Distance Controls and Indicators.=—All operations connected with the exposing and changing of plates (except the changing of whole magazines) should be arranged for accomplishment at a distance. Other operations, such as changing the shutter speed or the interval between exposures in an automatic camera, which are usually done on the ground, may sometimes be satisfactorily left for performance at the camera. Conditions of extreme inaccessibility may, however, make it necessary to carry even these controls to a distance. Indicators of the number of exposures already made, and of the readiness of the camera for the next exposure, may be attached to the camera, but often are more profitably placed at a distance. Distance control and indication are especially necessary if the pilot makes the exposures—a common English practice in two seaters, and the only recourse in single seaters. When electric power is available, electrical distance control devices are perhaps the simplest kind, as they transmit motive power without displacing or jarring the camera. Solenoids suffice for the simple pressing of releases or for counting mechanisms, while small service motors may be utilized for operations involving more work. A standing practical objection to electrical control lies in the necessity for using contacts, which are apt to be uncertain under conditions that involve vibration. _The Bowden wire_—a wire cable carried inside a heavy non-extensible but flexible sheath—constitutes the most satisfactory mechanical means for transmitting straight pulls. By means of “the Bowden” a pull may be transmitted so as to be made entirely relative to two parts of the same body, calling forth no tendency of the body as a whole to move. Thus in the L camera shutter release (Fig. 50), the releasing lever with its attached counter is several feet distant from the camera. If the plate bearing the lever and sheath end is rigidly fastened down, the pressure exerted on moving the lever acts between the lever and the end of the sheath. This pressure passes immediately to the other end of the sheath, while the pull on the wire is transmitted to its farther end on the camera. In this way the conditions at the lever are reproduced, but with the advantage that, due to the flexible cable and sheath, any vibration of the lever support is damped out.