Cheap Light Painting Camera ?

[Gooliez]

hi guys, was youtubing a couple of nights back and saw some "Lightpainting"

thought it was absolutely brilliant and looks fun, so i pulled out out Konica Minolta Dimage A200 and found out how to do it, played around and had some fun times.

problem is, is that this camera only exposes for 30 seconds, as you most likely know you need a bit more time than that.

is there a nice cheap camera out there that you can leave the exposure going for alot longer than 30 seconds that you could recommend ?

thanks

[Athiril]

Does it have to be digital?

[bubblegoose]

Most camera's only give you 30 seconds of exposure on the camera body (I may be wrong, but I think only some Nikons have longer). At bare minimum you'll need a remote shutter release that has a locking shutter button (and a stopwatch/clock of some sort). Or you could go a bit more extravagant and get one that can do fancy stuff like delay between shots, keying in exact time values, number of shots to shoot etc.

Then all you have to do is work out what settings you need your camera on (ISO & aperture) for the time you want the shutter open for, put your camera in bulb and shoot away.

[jjphoto]

All you need is a camera with a 'Bulb' setting and a shutter release that fits.

JJ

[maxwolfie]

Originally Posted by bubblegoose

Most camera's only give you 30 seconds of exposure on the camera body (I may be wrong, but I think only some Nikons have longer). At bare minimum you'll need a remote shutter release that has a locking shutter button (and a stopwatch/clock of some sort). Or you could go a bit more extravagant and get one that can do fancy stuff like delay between shots, keying in exact time values, number of shots to shoot etc.

Then all you have to do is work out what settings you need your camera on (ISO & aperture) for the time you want the shutter open for, put your camera in bulb and shoot away.

Which is called an intervalometer

[jjphoto]

Originally Posted by maxwolfie

Which is called an intervalometer

Yes, the one with the timing controls is called an 'intervalometer' but all you need is a shutter release which is cheaper (and doesn't need a battery). However the Chinese rip off merchants don't generally use the term 'Intervalometer'. Search 'intervalometer' on Evilbay and all you get 8 hits (today)!

http://shop.ebay.com.au/i.html?_nkw=...lometer&_rdc=1

Search 'timer remote' and it's a different story.

http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_from=R40&_...All-Categories

JJ

[Gooliez]

Originally Posted by Athiril

Does it have to be digital?

i'd prefer it to be digital. then i can just experiment without costing a fortune. plus i could use it for other daily tasks

Originally Posted by jjphoto

All you need is a camera with a 'Bulb' setting and a shutter release that fits.

JJ

my A200 has a "Bulb" Setting, but i guess the camera is limited as bubblegoose mentioned

[jjphoto]

Originally Posted by gooliez

my A200 has a "Bulb" Setting, but i guess the camera is limited as bubblegoose mentioned

Were you actually using the Bulb function? The Bulb function would require you to hold the shutter release down with your finger or typically with a cable or shutter release of some kind that would normally be plugged onto a camera. The whole point of the Bulb setting is that it is not limited. It sounds like you may have been using a manual/timed setting which is always limited (often to 30sec).

JJ

[Gooliez]

Hmmm, maybe i'm not doing it right then, as i've lost the manual for the camera.

the only way that i seemed to get it to work is by using the little remote that came with it.

how long do you normally hold the button for, to activate it ? i held it down for a few seconds and it just took the photo. obviously i'm not doing something right.

i had a look on the camera and i cant seem to find where to plug in a "intervalometer"

[bubblegoose]

Originally Posted by gooliez

Hmmm, maybe i'm not doing it right then, as i've lost the manual for the camera.

the only way that i seemed to get it to work is by using the little remote that came with it.

how long do you normally hold the button for, to activate it ? i held it down for a few seconds and it just took the photo. obviously i'm not doing something right.

Bulb mode means however long you hold the shutter button for is how long the shutter stays open for.

[Gooliez]

ok cool, now it's making sense, guess i'll have to talk to the local camera dealer and see if there is actually a intervalometer for this model

[Gooliez]

just called the local camera store, sounds as if what i've found on eBay is right. i didn't realize Sony took over Konica, so i kept getting led back to "Sony Alpha Minolta"

the main thing is, which you guys would know, the Intervalometer looks to have a USB plug, so this would connect into the USB port on the camera ?
the camera guy said to double check before ordering.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....MakeTrack=true

[RyoSaeba]

Originally Posted by bubblegoose

Bulb mode means however long you hold the shutter button for is how long the shutter stays open for.

Not on all model. Some of them you click once to open the shutter and once more to close it.

[bubblegoose]

Originally Posted by RyoSaeba

Not on all model. Some of them you click once to open the shutter and once more to close it.

yes thats true, but why nit pick about something like that. Should I add a clause into my statement for these couple of cameras that have these features, one of which is not the OP's camera?