programable remote timers

Hi all

I would like to dabble in some long multi exposure star work and am thinking in using a programmable remote trigger. Has anyone out there got some experience of both the triggers and long multi exposure shooting? The exposure time I am thinking of is in the region of 4 minutes each and I think that I would need 20 to 30 shots for what I want to achieve.
Being basically lazy I would like to programme the remote and just lie down beside it inspecting the back of my eye lids whilst it did all the work.

Many thanks

Ian

Hi Stefan

Many thanks. I take it you have used this remote with satisfaction.

Cheers

Ian

Hi Ian, I have one of these from ebay, looks the same though. Easy enough to program, I used it once or twice with my K100d. It worked as expected, the K100 did not. Forced Dark Frame Subtraction for longer exposures will leave gaps in your trails, and the noise was awful, it got more and more hot pixels as the sensor heated up with successive exposures. You should be OK if you use the K5, where I think DFS is able to be overridden. The work around for the Kx is to set it to drive mode, 30 second exposures and just use something to hold the shutter down (not your finger if you are planning on a bit of kip!)

Sorry i don't have any hands-on experience with this one but i've not read any bad stories about it.

If you can't turn off the DFS simply use the shorter exposures and stack them ontop of each other, there are several software that can do that. They are mainly aimed at astrophotography.

I have a similar one that I've used with my K10D, works fine once you get the hang of it. Mine has a backlit green screen but it's easier to set it up indoors in comfort as the text is weeny.
Only point to note is that there has to be a "dead" time between exposures to allow the camera to fully record the image.

regards
Bernard

Hi folks

Many thanks for all your help. Think I will give it a go and see what happens.

Once again, many thanks

Ian

I use a Hahnel Giga Pro and its excellent,all the settings you could want and good range too, sounds ideal for what you want to do
link

I've seen that one in the local shop here and looks good for a wireless one.
Canon 450D and the others in that range use the same conector as pentax so there are many remotes that fix.