time lapse with Sony a6300

...the Sony 'app' has some annoying limitations such as the max frames setting of 999. Has anyone come across an alternative?

You can use an external intervalometer for Sony, with a USB connector.

 

sony intervalometer | B&H Photo Video

You can shoot >999 frames on a single battery charge?

You can shoot >999 frames on a single battery charge?

it's possible to connect an external high-capacity battery to the USB port.

You can use an external intervalometer for Sony, with a USB connector.

 

...thanks - i see Hahnel do one.

Remote controls attach to the USB port. You can't provide both power and remote control simultaneously. The flash port is a convenient place to hold the remote receiver, but it could just as well dangle from its cable. Several companies make an insert for the battery compartment which is attached to an AC supply or a battery tray.

You can shoot >999 frames on a single battery charge?

Probably not. The remote prevents the camera from sleeping. That would drain the battery in about 3 hours. It would take a very large battery (e.g., Anton-Bauer) to last 9 days.

 

I recall a remote for Nikon which would allow the camera to "sleep," then awaken it shortly before taking another exposure. I have not seen anything like that for Sony.

I'm guessing (purely) that the intervalometer remote effectively holds the 'half-press" wakeup/focus control of the camera permanently activated.

 

If so, I can see a possible workround of disconnecting that function inside the remote, but don't ask me exactly how.

 

Maybe it would require two time-synchronised intervalometers. One to trigger the wakeup, and another, slightly delayed, to trigger the shutter. Even so, I'm not convinced the camera would respond kindly to being kept on continuously for weeks on end.

 

Addendum. Anybody know what the multiple contacts at the front of the Sony hotshoe actually do?

 

Addendum 2: Simply breaking into the intervalometer remote and attaching two power leads to the appropriate USB connections would overcome the power requirement issue. It would depend on the intervalometer providing all 4 USB wires, but it's not impossible to replace the cable from intervalometer to camera with a full-fledged 4 core USB lead.

Edited June 29, 2018 by rodeo_joe|1

They communicate with a Sony flash for automation. However not all contacts are used. There are many other flash shoe accessories, all related to TTL flash control. It would not surprise me if the interface has yet unnamed capabilities, including viewfinder options (e.g.,video),

I took a few minutes to check how the auto timeout feature reacts with a serial remote. I have a radio remote which has a battery operated receiver which connects to the USB port on the camera. The receiver is continuously active (listening) while the remote is only on when transmitting. The camera was a Sony A7Rii.

 

The camera shuts down after the prescribed time (e.g., 2 minutes). Any activity resets the timer, such as approaching the camera to activate the EVF. Once the camera times out, it takes two pulses from the remote - one to turn the power on, and another to trigger the shutter. The device I'm using has an optional time delay. This turns the camera on, and after a fixed delay of about 3 seconds, trips the shutter. It does not rely on a delay programmed into the camera. The light on the receiver flashes when triggered, but it's hard to say if there is one continuous pulse or several. My guess is the former, since only one exposure is executed. Nor do I know how long two AAA batteries in the receiver would last.