TPB #36 – Camera Axe Intervalometer and Timelapse

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This video shows how to use the Intervalometer menu on the Camera Axe to take timelapse photos. The Camera Axe has start delay, interval time, number of shots, bulb time, HDR support, and mirror lockup. This is one of the most powerful intervalometers I’ve seen. If people have ideas about ways to make the intervalometer better let me know.

I use Quicktime Pro to turn the photos into a movie. I’ll probably do another video about this process and give some examples in a future TPB video.

14
JAN
6


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About the Author:

Maurice is a computer engineer, photographer, and all around renaissance man.

Discussion

  1. Ric  January 15, 2012

    It is worth mentioning that the Camera Axe 5 implements a true intervalometer. Its “Interval” setting is the time between image capture initiations. Think of it as the fixed, repetitive interval at which the shutter is pressed; the camera/setup needs to be ready to shoot every “Interval” timer run down. For example, if the “Interval” setting is 45 seconds the Camera Axe will trigger the camera to take a picture every 45 seconds, not necessarily 45 seconds after the end of the last shot. The Camera Axe does not know how long for sure the camera exposure is. Think about it.

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  2. Pixel_K  January 19, 2012

    Hi, and first thank you for your work on the camera axe. Even if I don’t own one yet, I think it helps lots of photographers worldwide to do the pictures they want.
    I considered buying a Camera Axe, but, in my view, the intervalometer is not versatile enough, so I made my own ( the last iteration uses a 128×64 Graphic LCD from Adafruit and Arduino Mega Pro from Sparkfun ). I have a few specific needs, but the others (that I will explain in this post) should be useful for many people.

    As I use my intervalometer for astro-photography, my specific needs are
    - The display should not ruin acquired night vision => red backlight, can be dimmed (not just on/off)
    - The interface should be usable in the dark => I use only one rotary encoder, with press-button embedded

    The other features, which could benefit “everybody”
    - you can set a start delay, bulb duration, interval between shots, increase in bulb duration. All in hh:mm:ss.ms
    - for the increase in bulb duration, you can choose it to be null, fixed or a ratio of the previous exposure. Let me explain :
    * null => every exposure will be the same duration (useful for star trails)
    * fixed => “add 00:00:01.000 to each iteration” (useful to find quickly the best exposure time)
    * ratio => “multiply the last exposure by 2/3, 1/2, 2/1, whatever you choose” (useful for HDR)
    - while taking photos it display the total amount of time remaining (maybe the Camera Axe does it too, I don’t know)
    - set your own “camera limitation” for bulb duration and interval between shots
    - visually signal the end of the shot (by blinking the display), useful when it’s -10°C outside and you get inside your car while “the magic happens”
    - enable the focus wire a few ms before the shutter wire to wake up the dslr (useful if two shots are separated by more time than the camera needs to fall asleep) – usable only when in manual focus of course

    I have other features on my intervalometer, but it’s outside the scope of the camera axe, so I won’t bother you with it.

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  3. Maurice  January 23, 2012

    Thanks for the ideas. I’ll look into adding some of these.

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  4. Ric  February 5, 2012

    Pixel_K,
    Some great ideas, especially appreciate your partitioning them into astro-photography related and general purpose. I can see where your specialized domain brings some interesting challenges that may have broader applicability. Food for thought! Thanks. If you have any details of your device online, consider dropping a pointer.
    …Ric

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    • Pixel_K  February 7, 2012

      I’ll create a topic on the Arduino forum once I think it’s ready. I tested it yesterday in the freezing cold winter (-10°C/14°F), and the result was unexpected : it worked fine except for the liquid crystal display, it had a much slower refresh rate than inside the house, like 1 to 2s to update. I guess by this temperature, the “liquid” crystal isn’t so liquid any more. The good news is it’s perfectly usable in the dark, cold and with gloves.
      It’s in a “working prototype” state, but nowhere near completion.

      I’ll post a link to the post once it’s written.

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    • Pixel_K  May 30, 2012

      As promised, here it is :
      http://www.knackes.com/blog/index.php/2012/05/minicom-an-arduino-lcd-dslr-remote-control-en-anglais/
      (I don’t think anybody will read this old post’s comments, but a promise is a promise)

      (reply)
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