Intervalometers and Shutter Releases
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Intervalometers and Shutter Releases © Kevin Adams (All Rights Reserved) Digital After Dark Blog: www.kadamsphoto.com/nightphotography If I made a list of the most confusing things a night photographer faces, using an intervalometer would have to be near the top. It’s among the most frequent questions I’m asked. First, some definitions: Cable release. Back in the mechanical film camera days, you used a “cable release” to fire your shutter so you wouldn’t shake the camera by pressing the shutter with your finger. The device literally consisted of a cable encased inside a sleeve, with a screw on one end and a plunger on the other. You screwed it into the shutter button on top of the camera (shutter buttons on film cameras have screw sockets) and pressed the plunger to fire the shutter. We no longer use mechanical shutter devices, but the term cable release is so engrained in the industry that it still applies. Today, it simply refers to any device designed to fire the shutter without having to press the button with your finger. Intervalometer. In general usage, a device that automatically counts time intervals for use in signaling a device. In photography, it is a device that allows you to shoot exposures at timed intervals A genuine cable release screwed into the shutter of a mechanical film camera. Interval timer. Same as intervalometer. Timer. A generic term for an intervalometer. Remote release. More properly defined as a wireless device that allows you to fire the shutter. In popular usage, it can refer to any shutter release device. Remote cable release. Another term for remote release, but generally used to refer to one that is attached by a wire (cable). Shutter release. Any device that fires the shutter without you having to press the shutter button. Bulb release. Another throwback to mechanical cameras, a bulb release uses air to fire the shutter. You screw a hose into the shutter button and squeeze a bulb at the other end that forces a current of air through the hose, which fires the shutter. Timer Remote Controller. Canon’s name for the TC-80N3 intervalometer. Multi-Function Remote Cord. Nikon’s name for the MC-36A intervalometer. Nikon MC-30 shutter release. It lets you fire the shutter without touching the camera, but it is not an intervalometer. It’s already confusing, isn’t it? And we haven’t even gotten to how to use the dang things, yet! All of these terms, even bulb release, are often used interchangeably by photographers, so you never really know exactly what type of device someone is referring to. To make things even more confusing, there are a bewildering number of devices available from dozens of manufacturers. And the connection to the camera is not universal, so these devices are usually available with several different plugs and you have to make sure you get the right one for your camera. You’re going to have to check the specs of the device to make sure it fits your camera. I don’t try to keep up with all of the different intervalometers available, so in this article I’m going to talk about only the two principle ones for Nikon and Canon cameras, which are the ones you are most likely to buy if you shoot one of these cameras. For Nikon, it is the MC-36A and for Canon, it is the TC-80N3. You can buy these devices for around $140, or you can get a knockoff for around $50 from online retailers like Hunt’s Photo, B&H, and Adorama. Or, you can get an even cheaper knockoff on eBay for $20 or less. For some things, like camera batteries, I recommend caution when buying aftermarket brands, but I don’t have a problem with knockoff intervalometers purchased from reputable dealers. (I would not buy one for $20 on eBay.) At least in the case of the MC-36A, many of the knockoffs appear to be identical to the Nikon unit. I own a Nikon MC-36 and an old Pearstone unit, which is now sold as the Vello Shutterboss. The Shutterboss looks identical and it operates nearly the same. I say “nearly” because there is one huge difference, but it is actually a difference in favor of Shutterboss. More on that, later. Oh, if you’re a Nikon shooter, you might own the MC-36 like me, not the MC-36A. The MC-36A replaced the MC-36 a couple years ago. As far as I can determine, the only difference between them is that the MC-36A has a larger screw on the plug and a white arrow indicating the proper orientation for plugging it in. In operation, they appear to be identical. I have so many different types of shutter releases that I And speaking of that little tightening knob, I rarely get all tangled up in them. use it. I just plug the device in and leave the thumbscrew unfastened. The plug stays in place just fine without tightening the screw and it makes it much easier and faster to plug it in and remove. Yes, it’s possible that the device could come loose if you don’t screw it in, but I always make sure it is plugged in fully as the final step before initiating a timed exposure. The user manuals for these devices explain their operation fairly well, but the problem is that no one reads the manuals the way they should. You need to pay attention to every word and graph, and practice with the intervalometer as you read along. If you do that, you’ll get it. If you refuse, and are looking to this article as your savior, you may be in for some disappointment. It’s kind of like riding a bike. Reading how to do it isn’t going to help much until you jump on and start pedaling. These guys are intervalometers, but they also work as simple shutter releases as well. Find the biggest button on the device and push it to fire the shutter. If you want to shoot continuous exposures, push the same button and slide it forward to lock it. The shutter will fire repeatedly at the shutter speed you have set on the camera. The Nikon MC-36A is almost identical to the old Pearstone (now Vellow Shutterboss) unit that I own. Note that for the continuous operation to work the camera shutter cannot be set to bulb and the frame advance on the camera must be set to continuous low or high, not single. You can use the shutter release button with the camera in bulb mode, you just can’t shoot automatic continuous exposures this way. A very helpful feature of the intervalometers is that when you shoot in bulb mode, the timer on the LCD screen counts the exposure in seconds. This works great when you don’t want to take the time to program the shutter speed into the intervalometer. Simply press the shutter button, lock it in place, and then watch the timer until it reaches the desired exposure time. For the rest of this article, I will be discussing the intervalometer function of these devices and in particular, how to use them for night photography timed exposures, such as for star trails. Both the MC-36A and TC-80N3 operate in nearly the same manner, but the way you program them is a little different. Programming the MC-36A Press the left or right arrows on the Arrow button to scroll through the modes and watch the black dash until if falls under the desired mode. Next, press the Set button and the hours value begins blinking (the frame count blinks when you select N mode). Now press the up and down arrow buttons to enter a value for hours, or press the right arrow to scroll to minutes and then seconds. In all scenarios, the left and right arrows are Nikon MC-36A intervalometer for scrolling between modes or hours/minutes/seconds and the up and down arrows are for entering the time values or exposure count. Once you enter the desired value into hours/minutes/seconds or set the desired frame count, you need to press the Set button a second time to lock that value in. Programming the TC-80N3 Press the Mode button to scroll through the modes (icons described below). After you select the desired mode, press the button on the Jog dial and the seconds starts blinking. Press it again for minutes and again for hours. When a value is blinking, you can enter the desired time by rotating the wheel on the jog dial. Once entered, press the dial button again to lock that value in place. Trust me, programming these guys is much easier than it sounds. You just need to get the dang thing out and play with it. If I were standing beside you, I could show you how to do it in a minute. But I couldn’t possibly explain it in an article as well as you could figure it out for yourself in a few minutes of quality playtime. Both Canon and Nikon intervalometers have four main values that you can program into them, but they are not presented in the same order. For the Canon, it’s Self-timer, Interval timer, Long exposure, Exposure count setting. For Nikon, it’s Delay (Self on the Shutterboss), Long, Interval, Number. Both units spell out or abbreviates the mode on the unit.