Turn a TI Graphing Calculator into an Intervalometer and Create Time Lapse Videos

Step 5: Shoot the Photos!

This part is fairly easy:

Connect your Camera and Calculator - Use the link cable from part 3 to connect the two

Start the program - Turn on your calculator and press the PRGM button. Find the program you made on the list, and press enter.
On your screen, you should see the prompt "A=?". Enter in the amount of time you want in between the pictures. Note: this is not the amount of time in seconds. I think about 100 of these make a second, but this can change depending on battery life and your calculator model. If you don't want to think about this conversion every time, you can add a small piece of code in the program to do it for you.

Press Enter - Your camera should start snapping away! Now sit back and relax and make sure nothing explodes.

Turn the Program off - When you're done shooting, you can turn the program off by pressing or holding the ON button. You will see a prompt that says "ERR: BREAK". Just highlight Quit and press enter. The program will now be stopped and you can turn your calculator off.
If you want to restart the program, all you have to do is press ENTER again, you don't need to go to the program dialog again.

Comments

[silentfallen]

After playing some with the program setup you gave .. i liked it but i didn't like the fact that i had no choices.. So i made my own.
If you are interested give it a try..
( the % are supposed to be arrows.. the STO key above on/off)

.................................................................................
Disp "START DELAY IN"
Disp" SECONDS"
Prompt A
A*333.3333 % W
Disp "HOW OFTEN IN"
Disp "SECONDS"
Prompt B
B*333.3333 % X
Disp "HOW MANY SHOTS"
Prompt Y
For(H,1,W,1)
End
Send(A)
Y-1 % Y
While Y>0
Y-1%Y
For(H,1,X,1)
End
Send(A)
End

...............................................................................
As you can see from what "solupine" showed.. you need to multiply your delay (seconds) by approx. 333.3333 to get the camera to fire at the right time...

The first delay , is how long till it takes the first shot.
The second delay, is how often between shots

This was done on a TI-83+ , if you try it on other models post it up if it works or not please..  

[karanbhvsr]

You sir, are a genius! OP's program didn't work but yours worked flawlessly (so far). Thanks to instructables, I've built an intervalometer and a shutter release for less than $20! (Calculator doesn't count :P)

[walamoonbeam]

I'm assuming the answer is no, but sometimes there are spaces between the % in your instructions and other times there are not, so were those spaces a typo? Or do you actually need to include them.

[silentfallen]

its been a while since i have played with this but i think you dont have ot have the spaces in there.

[Frnc11]

Do you replace the items in quotes with the value you want or should I enter it as shown? As in Disp "HOW MANY SHOTS" or Disp 24?

[silentfallen]

Enter the program how it is writen above with the % replaced with the STO key (above on/off) and run it .. the Disp lines are just text outputs so you know what to input .. for the how many shots one for example the Disp"HOW MANY SHOTS" is the text question for the line below .. Prompt Y ..

to understand it the best i suggest putting it in as i have it above and running it .. it will explain itself..

[Frnc11]

The program seems to run fine. No hickups or syntax errors, however, my camera refuses to fire the shutter. I have checked and re-checked the code for any flaws, but have yet to find anything. Any suggestions on what might be causing this problem?

[silentfallen]

what type of camera are you trying to fire??

[Frnc11]

I've tried an XTi, Rebel 2000, and Rebel G. Same results.

[Frnc11]

The program WILL fire the shutter. As it turns out, the shutter button needs to be pressed halfway down to allow the camera to meter. Is there a fix for this? As in, a way to program the calculator to automatically meter prior to taking the shot?

[silentfallen]

ah yes i should have added that i guess. you need to be in Manual Focus to make this work without pressing the shutter down half way. I am not sure if you get program the calculator to do both.

I my self do not have the spare time anymore to reprogram it to see if i can get it to work. if anyone out there has any ideas on how to program it please feel free to post it.

[solupine]

This worked wonderfully on my TI-82. I didn't have to make any adjustments at all. The only thing I noticed was that you have to have your camera set to single shot mode instead of multiple shot. If you put it on multiple shot mode it will keep taking photos.

For timing I figured the following. It might be a little off, but it's roughly correct:
1 minute interval = set A to 20000
15 seconds = 5000
and so on . . .

[Arcticpheonix]

Aaaah, so that's what was doing that. I must transmit the signal for a long while. Long enough to fire twice on mine. Thanks a lot Solupine, Yonderknight. This is a great Instructable!

[100813]

 I connected my calculator to my camera and started the program, but whenever I tried to enter something for "A=?" and I'd press ENTER, it would take me to ERR:SYNTAX 1:QUIT 2:GO TO. I am sure that I programmed it correctly. What's wrong??

[BCMacintosh]

 I connected it from my ti 84plus and my canon rebel xti and it occasionally works...when it does work, it uses the actual countdown timer....is it supposed to do that?

[rockstrongo]

i could not get this to work with my Nikon D40 and a Ti-83.

[mparis]

I had the exact same problem. My calculator got impossibly slow and it refuses to shoot. I'm so disappointed, I'd set my mind on doing a really cool nighttime video...

[rockstrongo]

That was exactly my problem. The calc screen went dim from the batteries draining so much. It just sat there and did nothing. Maybe Nikon requires different a different input code?

[Aphus]

From reading this, I'm pretty positive that it won't work with Nikon D40's - I've been trying it too, and the same thing happens. The camera screen goes out and the calculator becomes unbelievably slow. I guess it's just Nikon's way of ripping us off.

[lclippard]

i have a d40 as well, and there is NO 2.5mm remote shutter slot. the 2.5 that IS there is a video output. this is why yours will not work.

[cavale]

I did this, and it worked! Then I turned the camera off, and pulled the cord. Now it won't work again. Any ideas about what I can do???