Pocket camera with remote release.

[greg_peterson3]

<p>The assignment requires that I put a camera high on the mast of a sailboat.</p>

<p>My first plan involved hoisting my D3x up the mast and controlling it with a 30' electronic release. That met with objections from my insurance guy.</p>

<p>Plan "B" involved my 8 year old grand nephew, a little pocket camera and a bosun's chair. That met with objections from his mom.</p>

<p>So I need a small camera (< $200) that can be used with a very long remote release of some sort.</p>

<p>Ideas appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p> </p>

[wpahnelas]

<p>rent a camera and purchase the optional insurance. as for a trigger, i have purchased a wireless trigger by yongnuo that works far in excess of 30', and it was under $40.<br>

i'll be curious to know what the eventual solution turns out to be!</p>

[greg_peterson3]

<p>Thanks William.</p>

<p>My main concern is about finding a camera that can use a remote release. I'm not very familiar with the smaller cameras, but those that I've seen don't seem to have any way to attach a remote release, wireless or otherwise. </p>

<p>What make / model camera have you used with the wireless release?</p>

[awahlster]

<p>gee's my 2004 Canon G3 has a wireless remote control. Not sure if it would reach 30 ft but it might.</p>

[philipward]

<p>Why don,t you pickup a used D70 body for a little more than $250.Compatible with all your Nikon lenses,better quality than a P/S and you can shoot Raw.Use your electronic release or cheapo Chinise wireless trigger. After the shoot keep the D70 for a backup or sell it and get your money back.</p>

[greg_peterson3]

<p>Philip,</p>

<p> Good idea. I'll trot over to eBay and see what I can find.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

[phule]

<p>I would recommend browsing some of kite photography websites for leads on small cameras and remote releases.</p>

[tomwatt]

<p>I like the used body idea best. Otherwise I'd have suggested looking at one of the digital video cams, as most of them will also take stills and come with a remote trigger also. But the extra body is a great idea.</p>

[greg_peterson3]

<p>Thanks guys.</p>

<p>It turns out that most of the small cameras that have any sort of "remote" need a direct line-of-sight from controller to camera, which won't work in this situation.</p>

<p>So I placed a bid on a D70 and got a wired release for $9. (I'll have to make the cable longer, but I'm pretty good with a soldering iron.) </p>

<p>Next I need to dig out an old wide angle lens that will work on the D70. Putting my 14-24mm Nikkor on the rig would spoil the whole idea of having a setup that would not cause uncontrollable sobbing should something go wrong.</p>

<p>I'll post results when the job is done.</p>

<p>Thanks again - Greg</p>

<p>PS<br>

Rob - Your kite recommendation helped me find a solution to a different problem.<br>

-G</p>

<p> </p>

[meissner]

<p>I realize you may have already solved the problem, but FWIW, my Olympus SP-550UZ takes the wired RM-UC1 release. On ebay, you can pick up 3rd party radio based RM-UC1 clone for $17, and I saw a SP-550UZ buy it now for $125. Unfortunately to really do camera on a pole shooting, you should connect the video out of the camera to a DVD player or video camera that takes VGA input so you can see what you are shooting. On the Olympus system, they use a combined port for shutter release and video out. It is possible to fashion a cable that does both (since the pins used for the different functions are separate), but there is no off the shelf cable provided.</p>

<p>In terms of cameras that take an infrared controller, I believe you can fashion a fiber optic conduit that would allow the infrared signal to be delivered to the camera.</p>

<p>Some cameras have a builtin intervalometer that can be programmed to take pictures every n seconds (the SP-550UZ has this), so rather than manually controlling the camera, just take a picture every so often.</p>

[James G. Dainis]

One or two of these joined together would have done it:

 

http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/StoreFrontProfiles/DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sfid=24879&c=471516&i=12699510

 

A little bit of duct tape and JB Weld or whatever and then just squeeze the bulb and the plunger pushes in the shutter button.

 

You don't need no RM-UC1 clones, infrared controllers, fiber optic conduits, intervalometers, etc. just so long as you have good old duct tape and JB Weld. No siree.

[greg_peterson3]

<p>Update:</p>

<p>I got a D70 ($179), a remote release ($9) and found an old 20mm f2.8 that I had stashed away. (I think it'll work with the D70 auto-exposure system. We'll see.)</p>

<p>But, now that I've spent some money money on it, the assignment got postponed!</p>

<p>More as it happens.</p>

<p> </p>

[mike l]

<p>I'm not sure whether this would work in this case but many pocket cameras have a continuous shoooting mode. You could set this before putting the camera into position. It will keep shooting until the memory card is full. </p>

[swenson]

<p>Why not get garden variety P&S set custom timer for longer than the standard 10 sec and host it up and down for each shot. </p>

[greg_peterson3]

<p>Michael, Jim,</p>

<p>I initially thought of using a timer, but the problem is in getting the camera positioned properly. I built a harness that's attached to the spreaders to keep it faced forward and more or less horizontal (on a sailboat, "horizontal" is often hard to come by) but a guy (not me!) has to climb the mast to attach the harness to the mast and the camera to the harness. So that's best done in port.</p>

<p>Good ideas though - Thanks.</p>