Nikon D5100, easiest way to taking over 30sec exposures?

[VigdisVZ]

Hello

Everything above 30 seconds on my Nikon D5100 requires bulb mode and manual timing, unless I get a super expensive little thing http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-MC-36-Camera-control/dp/B000C29JEO. I'm thinking there might be a cheaper way to automaticly shutter release and closure except a stopwatch?

Any thoughts on this subject?

[Tinker1947]

Shop about a bit i found this http://www.amazon.co...51515827&sr=1-4 and i have one for my D80 and a another for my Cannon 1100D, if you buy the Nikon software around £150 then either a long lead or a Laptop to do more or less the same thing.....Another thought is buy a Cannon, there software is free, there's loads of Astro software written and there is or was a Cannon 1100D on this Forums Classified for £200 as new,,, i think,,,

[VigdisVZ]

That is certainly more price worthy, thanks!

Yes, having a modded Canon has struck me but I don't wanna give up on my lil Nikky just yet.

I realise that I might connect the whole thing to a laptop at some point, and that there are options to control the shutter from the computer (even if NKview has the same limits as the camera itself for some reason).

Then again, I'm running unguided for now, maybe 30sec is a good time to keep to

Still interested in what other people use for their Nikons.

[Paulus17]

I got one off ebay for my D90 for about £11 but haven't had a chance to use it yet,seems to work ok though now i've sorted out how to use it.

[Sp@ce_d]

I'm afraid to say I got frustrated with Nikon & switched over to Canon for AP. Aside from long exposure, there's also very little AP software support either.

[VigdisVZ]

Yeah, I see myself going down one of three roads now. 1) One of the cheaper timer remotes, 2) a DIY bulb cable for RS232 a friend in my club who uses Nikon promised to show me how to make should I want one, 3) go Canon (but thats quitting)

[VigdisVZ]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-Timer-Intervalometer-Remote-N3-for-Nikon-D90-MC-DC2-D7000-D3100-D5100-R8F9-/250996369902?pt=Camera_Camcorder_Remotes&hash=item3a708ca9ee

Seems legit

[ArmyAirForce]

I bought the Shoestring USB/IR trigger for my Nikon D50, run from my laptop with the 'DSLR shutter' software to set the exposure length, quantity and pauses between images. I think it was about £70.00

[VigdisVZ]

Interesting, thanks for the tip!

[Leebert]

http://www.ebay.com/...=item3a708ca9ee

Seems legit

I have one similar to this from ebay for a D5000 and it works a treat.

I have to agree there are a lot more options available to you if you have a Canon but I don't have any real issues using the unmodified Nikon for AP using the ebay timer. The only thing that I have found limiting is the tethering software functionality for Nikons and AP. Having said that, as a relative newbie to AP, I'm not really at a stage where that is a problem for me.