To exit the scope control screen, simply press [Up] again with no values currently selected for editing. You may switch
back and forth between these home screens while the program is executing without issue.
Understanding the Interleave Cycle
To further understand how to work with long exposures it’s important to understand how the cycle breaks down into
smaller parts. Here are the sequence of events that occur and furthermore add-up to the minimum interval time.
1. Focus Tap Time
2. Exposure Time
3. Exposure Delay Time
4. The Motor moves
5. [Repeat]
Each of these events have a corresponding setting in the Camera section of the SMC main menu. It’s important to note
each one of these settings add up! So if you find that the SMC is not allowing you to set an interval below a certain time
this means one or all of these settings are adding up to that minimum interval allowed. Let’s break down each of these
settings and investigate the opportunities:
CAMERA>FOCUS TAP MS> : this is the amount of time the focus signal is sent to the camera body in milliseconds. You
can think of this setting as having two functions, the first is the more intuitive function which is to wake the camera and
execute a focus lock based on the focus drive setting. The ‘wake up’ command happens regardless if the auto-focus
enabled or disabled. Obviously if the auto-focus is disabled on the camera body this setting will have no effect, but with
auto-focus off it can be thought of as the ‘padding after the motor moves and before the camera fires‘.
CAMERA>EXP. TIME MS> : this is the amount of time the fire signal is sent to the camera body in milliseconds. In most
cases you are setting the image exposure time on the camera body so this only needs to be a very quick trigger signal
(usually 72-100 ms will fire most camera bodies). If you want to extend your exposure longer than the maximum exposure
time allowed by the body by using the BULB mode on the body then this setting can be used to set the total exposure
time. (for example 40,000 ms for 40 second bulb exposures).
CAMERA>EXP. DELAY MS> : This is the amount of time after the trigger time and before the motor moves. So, basically
this is the most important setting when doing long exposures. The exposure delay should be a little longer than your
exposure time. To allow the camera to fully complete it’s exposure before the motor executes it’s move. (for example with
an exposure of 15 seconds set on the body an exposure delay of 17000 ms or 17 seconds would be a good range)
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Motion controlled dollies and timelapse photography
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