Remote shutter release

englishpremier · 11 Aug 2012 at 18:22

Can anyone tell me what I need to remotely activate the shutter release on my D50?

I've seen the infra-red remotes, but do I need a dongle of some sort that connects to the camera and makes sense of the information from the remote?

James J · 11 Aug 2012 at 18:31

Its to stop the vibration caused by pressing the shutter down on the camera, even when its mounted on a tripod. Its especially important in long exposures where the tiniest bit of camera shake blurs the image.

The infra-red remotes don't need any sort of dongle as theres a receiver built into the camera. Pretty sure the D50 is no exception to this!

The longer cable versions of the remote shutters have more use when you are doing things like pre setup shots of wildlife where you can cover the camera and wait for birds to land in a pre-defined place (as an example) whilst the infra-red ones often require line of site and don't work well in bright sunlight.

englishpremier · 11 Aug 2012 at 18:54

Thanks.

Off to add some items to my watch list.

PistolPete · 11 Aug 2012 at 20:44

Not sure about the D50, but the IR remote release on my Canon has a major flaw..... the sensor is on the front of the body.

If you want to sit behind the camera and trigger it, you have no hope!

Tomsk · 11 Aug 2012 at 21:12

PistolPete said:
Not sure about the D50, but the IR remote release on my Canon has a major flaw..... the sensor is on the front of the body.

If you want to sit behind the camera and trigger it, you have no hope!

Tinfoil and blutak engineering will solve this.

PistolPete · 11 Aug 2012 at 21:14

So does moving your seat.... uses less tinfoil and bluetack ;-)

ShakenNstirred · 11 Aug 2012 at 22:54

you can pick up the remotes for as little as £1.99 on the bay
not made by Nikon but there remote is nothing special anyway it just an infrared remote
so why spend £15-20

martynpd · 11 Aug 2012 at 23:26

self timer set to 1second

James J · 12 Aug 2012 at 00:35

martynpd said:
self timer set to 1second

Also works great when you don't need to be away from the camera. Not useful when using the camera to take photos of wildlife when its hidden though sadly!

BruceLee · 12 Aug 2012 at 02:34

eBay triggers are all I buy, that way if they break I'm not too fussed. I spend at most £5 on each one, usually less, when you open them up all they are are metal contact plates.
Intervalometers are on there for less than £10.

Search for the official D50 Nikon version then search eBay for the part number.

I wouldn't really bother with any that need batteries, they always seem to run out at the worst time and not very practical for things like star trails where you shoot for 1hr+.

Red.5ive.Oh · 12 Aug 2012 at 17:42

I use my remote IR trigger with my Nikon D50 and it’s pretty light on batteries. (The D50 uses a pulse to start a bulb exposure and a pulse to finish – unlike some other remote camera strategies which require a constant steam of data)

The IR signal is coded but if you search the web the codes are widely published. (Which is why there are plenty of 3rd party remotes available)I was going to build my own interval timer for star trails but (on the D50) you only need to set the camera to 30s and put an elastic band across the shutter to get a perfectly usable set of stacking images.

The remote I bought to reverse engineer is still in use as a remote. (Yes, the receiver is on the front of the D50 & the range (with clear line of sight) is determined by how hard you drive the transmitter IR LED between 5 & 10 metres)