Intervalometer for Canon

Irish stargazer (John) · #1 15-06-2013, 12:09 PM

I has been meaning to get one of these for a long time for doing widefield shots with the Polarie (stacking multiple shots). Up to now I had been doing it manually with a release cable.
I looked up the Canon intervalometer at Camera House-$299

No way I am paying that. Fortunately they had the Hahnel GigaPro11 which is a wireless device for $99. Much better deal

http://www.hahnel.ie/index.cfm?page=...s&id=80&pId=80

Its really small and light with a claimed 100m range. Just tried it out this morning and it seems to work very well and is easy to program. It can run 99 cycles and then repeat that 99 times (so just under 10,000 shots possible) and no cables to get caught up in.

pvelez (Pete) · #2 15-06-2013, 12:21 PM

Looks good John

Where do you buy it? Is there an Aus distributor?

Pete

Irish stargazer (John) · #3 15-06-2013, 12:24 PM

I picked mine up from Camera house in-shop. They are widely available in many camera shops for around the $99 mark

naskies (Dave) · #4 15-06-2013, 04:55 PM

You can pick them up for cheap off eBay. This one even looks identical to the Canon one for $16 shipped to Australia:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LCD-Timer...fe71672&_uhb=1

Larryp (Laurie) · #5 15-06-2013, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naskies

You can pick them up for cheap off eBay. This one even looks identical to the Canon one for $16 shipped to Australia:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LCD-Timer...fe71672&_uhb=1

Got mine off Ebay too-very cheap and works well

Irish stargazer (John) · #6 15-06-2013, 05:21 PM

Had some bad experiences on eBay in the past. Never use it anymore.
The Hahnel had a good write up, in some cases better than the Canon and at one third the price.

Octane (Humayun) · #7 15-06-2013, 05:25 PM

There is no way the Canon intervalometer is worth $299.

I think I paid $180 for mine brand new.

Camera House and its ilk are mum and dad/brick and mortar stores that prey on the vulnerable.

You are able to get much, much better deals online.

I'm not sure why you're shying away from eBay. With PayPal protection, you are pretty much guaranteed your money back if a transaction goes awry.

H

Bassnut (Fred) · #8 15-06-2013, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryp

Got mine off Ebay too-very cheap and works well

Yes, we'll you get what you pay for. I got a few cheapy remotes like this just for the plug (for my TL machine) which is impossible to get by itself. They are a disaster, intermittent as hell after a few uses, the genuine canon plug never fails. Nothing is cheap for no reason.

naskies (Dave) · #9 15-06-2013, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irish stargazer

Had some bad experiences on eBay in the past. Never use it anymore.
The Hahnel had a good write up, in some cases better than the Canon and at one third the price.

The Chinese manufacturers also sell direct:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Aputu...495177865.html

The money is held in escrow from the manufacturer until you confirm delivery.

CometGuy · #10 16-06-2013, 02:45 PM

The Magic Lantern firmware v2.3 adds a very useful built-in intervalometer so that no added devices are actually needed.

See:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/

The other nice thing with Magic Lantern is it also allows you to increase the exposure in liveview, making it extremely easy to focus on starfields.

Terry

Osirisra (Ken) · #11 19-06-2013, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CometGuy

The Magic Lantern firmware v2.3 adds a very useful built-in intervalometer so that no added devices are actually needed.

See:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/

The other nice thing with Magic Lantern is it also allows you to increase the exposure in liveview, making it extremely easy to focus on starfields.

Terry

Another vote for ML, my external intervalometer never gets used these days.

Couldn't imagine not having ML on my cameras now, such a great tool.

Ryderscope (Rodney) · #12 19-06-2013, 08:15 PM

I picked up the GigaPro from George's in Sydney for $99 and have been using it for for six months. Works a treat.

bojan · #13 19-06-2013, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CometGuy

The Magic Lantern firmware v2.3 adds a very useful built-in intervalometer so that no added devices are actually needed.

See:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/

The other nice thing with Magic Lantern is it also allows you to increase the exposure in liveview, making it extremely easy to focus on starfields.

Terry

VERY interesting!
Thanks for the post

However, I am also very happy with two of my timers from ebay, I paid ~$30 for both.. have them for couple of years by now, without any problems (except perhaps LCD on one of them becomes slow at lower temperatures near 0°C, but the electronics still works OK)

BlackWidow (Mardy) · #14 20-06-2013, 08:44 PM

Yep got mine from E-bay and given it the once over. Never given me any trouble and was $20. Looks like it should have cost at least $100 . Took it to Alaska to shoot the aurora,s and it was working great even at -40c. Sure got good value for money. It really makes me wonder about some of the brand names and where they are really being made... Could even be the same but not if you know what I'm saying. $20 not really a risk in my book. E-bay works for me mostly.

leon · #15 20-06-2013, 09:03 PM

I am assuming this is very similar to the TC-80N3, as it seems to do exactly the same thing.

Leon

Yogie-One (Paul) · #16 20-06-2013, 11:10 PM

I have a Canon 550D, and picked up my intervalometer from EBay for About $15 Aus. I have used it on numerous occasions without any problems. I find it a joy to use. Just dial up EBay and search for "Intervalometer " and your type of camera. At the moment they are from about $12 to About $45, and some even with free postage.

Y.O. (Yogie-One) Paul

Irish stargazer (John) · #17 26-06-2013, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryderscope

I picked up the GigaPro from George's in Sydney for $99 and have been using it for for six months. Works a treat.

I like being able to program the GigaPro away from the camera. No cables to get in the way or fall out. Hope to try it out at the next new moon weekend

hotspur (Chris) · #18 26-06-2013, 07:21 AM

Another vote for the cheap $20 ebay knock off,at that price you can buy 2 or 3 and always have one in car-could be the type of thing that gets left behind.

I had a nasty accident with mine,it somehow got left dangling when carrying stuff back inside,and got jamed badly when closing door-looked a mess,but still worked perfectly fine.

These ebay ones,look so similar to canon ones,very easy to program-nice little piece of kit.I use mine not just for astro-but when in field by yourself,and you need to be in pics-saves running back and forward,and editors like my style I developed using this method.