Start interval timer remotely?

[KenD]

I'm practicing shooting the upcoming April solar eclipse and I need to use the interval timer to shoot the sun over the four minutes duration of totality. It seems the interval timer can only be started by pressing the Menu/Ok button, not using the cable. (It does allow a minute (or more) delay start but that's too much time wasted when eclipse totality is only four minutes!) When I start the interval timer immediately, there is significant camera shake that ruins the first set of images (I'm also bracketing) with the 560mm focal length I am using.

I suspect there's no good answer, but is there any way to start an interval timer immediately without touching the camera?

Thanks.

[jerryy]

Welcome to the forum.

You have a lot of options. You can use the X app (iOS / Android) to connect your phone or tablet and use it for basic settings:

https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/software/xapp/

If you get a basic wired remote release, you can get your camera settings ready and use the remote as a shutter button. You need to hit the switch yourself though at all intervals to get the complete sequence. Fujifilm has the RR-100

https://fujifilm-x.com/en-us/products/accessories/rr-100/

Or, a basic Canon remote release works as well.

A more advanced remote release version such as one of the Vello Shutterboss II versions gives you essentially full control over timed and interval shooting, there is a version for older Fujifilm bodies I do not know if that will work with your X-T5, but the ones with the basic Canon connector — same one the RR-100 has does work. The only drawback is that you need to be in bulb mode, so you have to use the mechanical shutter (in bulb mode, the electronic shutter is limited to one second exposure).

Even more advanced, as long as your computer / laptop can run astronomy — astrophotography programs such as KStars/EKOS, you can connect your camera to your computer as have EKOS fully operate things. Sitting in the background is something called libgphoto2 which talks to supported cameras and allows you turn on or off various settings and capture images. Your X-T5 is one of the supported cameras. Other astro programs may support your camera as well, you will have to check.

Show us some images!

p.s. If none of these options are amenable to what you are looking to encounter when you set up to get the images, try setting the camera to take some several extra shots in the sequence and start shooting early. Then just discard the first few empty images, the remaining ones should have no camera shake.

p.p.s. And if you wish, when you are setting up the camera’s parameters for interval timed shooting, one of the last options is a delay time before starting the sequence, set it to one or two minutes. This should give the camera enough settle down time.

Edited March 21 by jerryy

[KenD]

Thanks! A lot to consider.

I appreciate all of your information!