Intervalometer

[Kalti]

I recently purchased the Unleased for my Canon camera in hope to replace my intervalometer.
After using it I wasn´t able to recreate the functionallity as expected.

In my case I used the timelapse mode of the App and tried to do some long exposures. (30 secs+) => Expecially for astrophotography (star trails, milkyway, etc...)
So I set my exposure time to 30 seconds and the Interval to 33 seconds.
When I´m using these settings it will take a 30 sec exposure, wait 33 secs and start the next exposure.
Is there no way to trigger the exposure right after the first one? (E.g. after 3 seconds => Interval - Exposure time => 33 - 30 seconds)

In the current situation I would loose a lot of data between these shots. Doing even longer exposures (2min+) would waste a lot of usefull data.
Or is there any other way to replicate this kind of functionallity and I might have missed it?
Hope you are able to follow my point of view.

[Oliver]

Hi Kalti,

in theory, what you're trying to do should work.
However there is one thing many people don't know (I didn't either until we implemented the long exposure feature in the Unleashed last year):
30s on Nikon and camera is not 30s, but rather 32s!
So 33s interval was the right choice. I have a few points you can check to find out why that wasn't working.
Otherwise, just try using 34s interval, or 35 if you want a 3s break between shots.

Aside from that, there's two more things to look out for:
Turn off Long Exposure Noise Reduction, where after closing the shutter, the camera takes another 30s exposure with the shutter still closed, to determine the noise for each pixel. it will then subtract that from the picture, to get a de-noised image. But it will take another 30s, and will therefore make you miss every second shot.
Make sure you use a fast SD card. This can hinder your camera from taking another shot, although this should only be noticeable after your buffer is full.

I've been thinking of adding a special "back to back" interval, at least for those cameras where we can detect the shutter closing. But I'm unsure if it will be worth the effort.

Enjoy your Unleashed!

[Kalti]

I tried it out today and it seems to work.
I increased the Interval by 2 seconds (35) and now I´m getting the expected result.
But if I use 33 seconds it will cancle a whole shot and wait the 33 seconds.

Thanks for your fast reply.

[Oliver]

Hi, I'm glad it works with 35s

yes, if 33 is too short, and the camera returns busy when we try to trigger it the second time, we will not keep retrying to trigger. That's why the next time we trigger is after another 33 seconds. Same thing would happen if you tried triggering by hand: the camera would not take another picture if it's still taking the first shot.

[paolone]

If not OT, what about exposures longer than cameras longest exposure of 30"? Is it possible to use the trigger exposures of 1' or longer. I use to shoot startrail timelapses with 1'30” exposures with a couple of seconds of delay between shots.

P

[Oliver]

Hi , yes - you can use our long exposure setting in combination with the intervalometer, so you can do a timelapse with 34 minute exposures and a 35 minute interval if you want ;-)

Check out our latest Blog article about the Long exposure feature!