SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I got my new replacement Intervalometer yesterday. Wireless version.
Everything is pretty much straight forward as Intervalometers go.
So, a beautiful fall evening, I go out to play.
After fooling around with 3 lenses, I settle on my Wide Angle and decide to try the delay feature to catch Orion as the Hunter sneaks around my Eastward tree.

I was hoping (expecting) it to wake my camera, and start marching off exposures about the time Orion would come sneaking around the Eastward tree and into the Southern view.
I had taken 23 exposures prior to initiating the delay feature.
So I had my settings as I wanted them.
I even made a dew coat for my camera with a 1 gallon sized Zip lock bag I bungee'd over it, then trimmed the corner off.
Pretty sexy, if I do say so myself!
I gathered up everything and hauled it inside, then set the delay to begin 3 1/2 hours later, or around 1:30 AM.
When I went to bed around 12:30'ish the dog and I took a pee in the yard and there was Orion up rising in the East. ;)
Cool!
So off to bed, with visions of a time lapse dancing in my head...

Come daylight I awoke expecting dead camera batteries, and a nice card of exposures to play with.
So I made a video. What the?
It was dark. Very dark. :hunf: :? :-(
OK, time to back up and figure out why.

When the control began it's rhythmic triggering precisely at 01:30:34, the following exposures were at 1/60th of a second, instead of the tested shots at 25 seconds exposure, with a delay to 30, where it repeated.
Same wig-wag I've had great successes with. The only change was the delayed start that for some reason, changed the Manual settings, to what I've seen with live view.
:roll: :-(

Doo-Doo!
Apparently I need to explore this delayed start/ camera sleeping baloney more.

Has anybody else ever had your camera change settings between setting it, then waking it?
I thought Manual was Man-u-all...
But I must have done something wrong. Baffling.
Thank goodness for formatting! :lol:

I've been testing it, and so far, not failures or changes. Weird.

Carl D Loc: Albemarle, NC.

Are you sure you were in "bulb"? On my wireless I have the large shutter button which is only good for given shutter speeds and then I have a smaller button marked "start/stop. This is the one you use in "bulb", I can setup delayed start, shutter time, delay between shots and number of shots. Just got done with the milky way myself tonight. Don't whether to goto bed now or not since it's already 6:30 am.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Hi Carl,
I run differently.
I set my camera for my desired time frame, IE: 25s exposure.
I set my IV for something like 27s on the long.
And 3s on the Interval.
That has given me a 25s image, and a total of 3 for storage before it begins again.
30s total time frame per exposure, or 2 per minute.
I like something that allows me to calculate a number. Like 2 per minute, 120 an hour, say 6 hours... 720 frames.
That way my intervalometer is a pilot device telling the camera, now, stop, store, reset. Repeat.
It keeps the camera in control of the exposure, and the Intervalometer in control of how many in a time frame.
If I want to I can adjust the Intervalometer for 20 second cycles (3 per minute), 15 second cycles (4 per minute), etc.

Why 27s?
Well, with my old timer, I could set the camera for a 2s delay. That let the camera settle after the mirror slap, do a 25s exposure, go to 3s interval (storage time), and repeat.

Oh, and all this is ordinarily in Manual Mode setting.
I may even go to a mirror lock-up in the future.

I like my Intervalometer, great tool for my time-lapse playing. ;)

But the camera changing to a live view type time setting (From 25s to 1/60th sec) was an unfortunate surprise.
And then, of course, last night was clouded over here. :?

For example: My time-lapse dabbling.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

As Carl says you need the camera on Bulb or it will default to 1/60 sec because it wants to shoot with a Flash.
Let the Intervalometer run everything.
Craig

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

It didn't do that the other times I have made shoots.
Maybe the time delay start tends to do that?
If I have any sky tonight, I'll go out and play. ;)

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Good luck Sonny, hope to see some of your work tomorrow :thumbup: :thumbup:
Craig

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I may just let it run away.
Then dump the chaff on either end.
Since the bag is on the camera anyway, maybe just shoot what comes.
Clouds, stars, airioplanes... :lol:

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Sounds like a plan, should be interesting Sonny.
Craig
PS: this weekend the ice chest in my rig spilled water on my laptop and I let it dry out for a couple days and the Screen is fried :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Oh Damn!
Sorry to hear that.
I hope it can be repaired. :cry:

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Any idea what Best Buy would charge for a new screen.
I didn't get the damage insurance. :-( :-(

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

No idea at all.

In my experiance, I will never buy Best Buy's extended crap.
I did once. It was a total waste and I rebuilt the computer myself.
Lesson learned.

If you go on Youtube, I watched a video of how to replace the screen on my Toshiba Satellite. I wasn't replacing the screen, I just wanted to remove the frame (bezel) so I could put the ruby lithe film under it.

Wow! Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+replace+a+laptop+screen

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Did you have long exposure noise reduction turned on? If you did, the picture takes 25 sec, then starts 25 sec of noise reduction. The Intervalometer waits 3 sec, and tries to start another image. But the camera is doing noise reduction, and ignores it.

Don't know if that is what you are doing or not, so I just toss it out there.

By the way, I do let the camera do its noise reduction most of the time. Thus, a 25 sec image really takes 50 sec, plus the time to write to the card. The in-camera noise reduction does do "darks" which is a good thing.

MarkintheHV Loc: Hudson Valley

Sonny, I dont do time lapse, but for my night shots, I make it a habit that if I plug in the intervalometer I always let it do all the work with the camera in bulb. My camera has an intervalometer built in, but I always use external to control everything

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Good point Jim, it made me go get the camera to check. It's off.
I had a problem with that way back when I did my first star trails.
I don't think I have ever turned it back on, but I did check and it is off.
Basically, I have everything set as close to a Brownie Box camera as I can get it. :lol:
It's just that run the other night really had me scratching my head.
Tonight, I will get off my butt and go out. No "Automagic" tricks.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Hi Mark,
I've been out there dabbling and in Bulb mode, I get really odd-ball affects.
The shutter actuates, but just stayed open while the IV ran around. It only shuts when I stop the IV. Not at all like it should go.

In TIME, the camera shutter opens for the entire IV time, then changes state (closes) for the entire next cycle, and keeps doing that.

But, oddly enough, if I say set the camera for a 10 second exposure, the long cycle for 12s, and the Interval 3s. I get a nice march.
Shutter open 10s, shot stores, time changes to interval for 3s, shutter opens, stores, interval, shutter opens.
Like what I've used before. I donno why, but it works for me and my camera.

I haven't got the time change to repeat itself again yet. That was the odd part.

But then, I look at it like this: