D5100 interval timer

butterflies

Hello,
I am shooting star trails with the d5100, but the interval timer does not work properly.
It takes an interval that is shorter than programmed and number of shots is never correct.
Yesterday I programmed 29 and it deliverd 2
Sometimes it only takes one shot when i want ten.
Anybody else problems with this facility on this or other related camera"s?
Thanks,
Rob

PB_PM

Are the intervals long enough apart to capture the length of exposures required?

dissent

Perhaps the discussion in this article and the comments below it may relate to your problem -

http://www.d5100dslr.com/tutorials/interval-timer-shooting/

Julie_R

Rob, did you ever figure out your problem. I am having the same issue. Last fall my interval timer worked correctly for star trails. Then last month I tried again and had problems. I recently did a test and here are my results.
1. 

120x1=120 

00:00:05

25 sec. exposure

The camera completed 19 images. 


2. 

120x1=120 

00:00:31

30 sec. exposure

The camera completed 59 images. 



3.
120x1=120
00:00:05

125 exposure
The camera completed 119 images.

4.
60x1=60
00:00:06

20 sec. exposure
I stopped this test AFTER I noticed, on top of the camera,
when the interval timer is running,
you can view the shutter count go down.
The count was going down by 4 during this test.
So the camera thinks it is completing the 60 images????
When it is only completing ¼ of the number of images programmed? WHY?

5.
60x1=60
00:00:06

10 sec. exposure
The camera completed 29 images.
The shutter count was going down by 2.

Julie_R

I have a D700.

NSXTypeR

Have you tried a full reset of the camera? I haven't used the interval timer but perhaps that may help.

Julie_R

Well, I think I just figured it out. Still doens't quite makes sense. The manual says that the interval time between shots must be longer then the exposure. I justy did another test.
6. 10x1=10
00:00:35

30 sec. exposure
The camera completed 10 images.
~~~~~~BUT the camera really didn't take 35 sec. in between shots!!!!
It seems to take only a coulple seconds in betweem shots.
Which is what I was trying to accomplish.
The time stamp on each image is 40.75 seconds apart.

JJ_SO

30 seconds exposure
timer starts
after 30" shutter closes
after 35 (from first shutter opening) the next shot is released
5 seconds between end of last shot and beginning of second shot.

Does make sense to me.

Ironheart

From the D5100 manual Interval Timer section:
"Shooting will continue at the selected interval until all shots have been taken. Note that because shutter speed and the time needed to record the image to the memory card may vary from shot to shot, the interval between a shot being recorded and the start of the next shot may vary."

Also, if you have Long Exposure Noise Reduction (LENR) turned on (default) any exposure longer than 1sec will take 2x the amount of time to expose and process a dark frame. So a 30sec exposure takes 60sec, which can really mess with the interval timer. Most high quality star trails are produced with shorter exposures and software stacking of multiple images.