Here is "Shutter", a small software very easy to use. It gives you the opportunity to control automatically a shot sequence on CANON EOS300D/350D/10D digital cameras using the interface described below. Shutter command is controled through an RS232 serial port or an USB RS232 serial converter cable. This interface is able to activate signals inputs available on the EOS300D/350D female jack connector. Camera shutter is opened when both extremal contacts of the jack are connected together.
 |
Shutter is written for Windows and has the following appearance :
- select connected serial port in
Serial Port list box
- select or enter the frame number you wish to capture in Frames
- select or enter in seconds the exposure time in Shutter
time
- select or enter the quiescent time between two consecutive
shutter activations in Interframe
- if you wish to repeat the sequence corresponding to the number of frames
entered in Frames, select the repeat factor in Series and
the quiescent time between series in Interserie
- press Start button to start the shot sequence
Sequence ends when the selected
frame number is reached. It may be interrupted at any time
pressing Stop button.
Check Beep if
you want a warning beep every time the shutter is activated
Exposure time is contained in Shutter
time parameter. The value of this parameter is taken
into account only is the EOS is set in BULB mode.
Otherwise you can set one second for this parameter. Keep in mind
that the period of the capture cycle must be greater than the
exposure time selected on EOS.
In case of EOS300D or EOS350D configured in BULB mode with MIRROR LOCKUP option, don't forget to include Mirror lockup time in Shutter time parameter.
In case of EOS10D configured with
MIRROR LOCKUP option, you must check 10D Lockup
and select on the right side of the check box the duration of the
Mirror lockup in seconds. In every frame cycle, the shutter is
fisrt activated for one second in order to turn up the mirror.
When the selected lockup time has expired the shutter is
activated once again and the exposure starts.
If You want to start the sequence
at a desired selected time, just check Start at
and enter your time.
Both checks Increment
and Double give you the opportunity to realize
shot sequences with progressive exposure time.
Assuming that T is the value of the Shutter time
parameter, checking Increment gives you a serie
of consecutive exposure varying as T, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T ...
In case of Double checked, variation of exposure
time is T, 2T, 4T, 8T, 16T ...
In case of repeat (Series greater than one), shutter time is reset to T.
Argument -autostart in shutter command
line, starts automatically the sequence when Shutter is launched and terminates
Shutter execution when the sequence completes.
All selected parameters are saved on disk.
This table gives a list of digital cameras working with Shutter :
| Reference | Interface |
| CANON EOS300D | compatible |
| CANON EOS350D | compatible |
| CANON EOS400D | compatible |
| CANON EOS10D | specific |
| SONY DSLR-A100 | specific |
compatible = works with interface on top of this page
specific = needs adaptation of a remote manual switch
Shutter is also
available in "pocket" standalone version