Is there a remote for the NEX-6 that will let you take multiple exposures (one after another)?

Hi guys,

So, I shoot a lot of night stuff/star trails...the way it basically works is I set up my camera on continuous drive, 30 second exposure, and then lock my remote...so it basically just takes pictures every 30 seconds until I unlock the remote or it runs out of memory/battery without me having to do anything at all...

Is anything like this possible with the NEX-6? (I know you can do bulb exposures, but that's not what I'm looking for).

Thanks,
T

By the way...here's what the result looks like:

 

Oh yes, I meant to include that, but forgot...I don't have a smartphone and won't have one for another year until I finish my contract in Korea and my travels in Asia...Thanks for the suggestion, but are there other options?

 

The above picture was shot with no LENR (long exposure noise reduction) and it's fine...so was this one...took me about a minute to clone out a handful of hot pixels, and that's it...



The reason for stacking: While I'm pretty good at doing single shot star trails, stacking takes all the guessing out of it...I've shot 20 minute to 1.5 hour star trails with 20 min to 1.5 hour LENR only to find out that it didn't turn out the way I wanted it...that's pretty much a night of shooting down the drain. Also, with multiple exposures, I can do this: time lapse videos of whatever I just shot! (view in 720, full screen, otherwise it looks like garbage):

[video=youtube;kbIOroA09OE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbIOroA09OE[/video]

I'm not happy about the shutter wear and tear on my camera (taking 300 pictures instead of 1 or the amount of space it takes up on my hard drive), but it's fun to play with it sometimes.

Yeah, that's true, I'm just trying to travel as light as possible. If I carried a phone, it would need a charger...it would also be one more valuable that'd be attractive to thieves...my general rule of thumb when travelling (I always backpack, use cheap public transportation, sleep anywhere from abandoned huts on beaches to hostels at most) is to have only ONE thing that's valuable with me, and that's the camera, and that's with me at all times...then I don't have to worry about anything else.

 

Thanks for your reply!

- Actually, high ISO noise and long exposure noise are two different things. You'll get long exposure noise (hot pixels) even at base ISO.

- Yeah, I know, I've been shooting star trails the "old fashioned" way (single frame) for years and years and years. I know how to calculate it, but still...every now and again it doesn't work out as planned for one reason or another. Multiple exposures are far more reliable.

- Yup, my camera's designed for 150,000 shots. However, sadly that's not a guaranteed number. Some fail at 40,000 others at 300,000. I know it'll survive a lot of shooting, but I prefer to have low mileage cameras. It may be unreasonable, but it's just a personal preference.

- Regardless of how much gear I'm carrying, I'm always concerned about theft. I've been travelling for a long time and I've never had anything stolen...I'd like to keep it that way. Plus, I'll be living out of a backpack for 3-4 months, the less stuff I have, the better off I am. In fact, the whole reason I'm getting a NEX is to reduce the size, weight and value of my belongings. If I start adding valuable "supporting" equipment, phone, chargers, etc, it becomes kind of pointless.

- Ahhh...I was wondering about the time lapse app...I was going to get that no matter what, since I love time lapses...if it can save the RAWs (or, better yet, the JPEGs...I really don't need RAWs of these), then I'm very, very happy about it! (As long as it lets me set the shutter speed parameter up to 30 seconds). I'm going to do some research on that time lapse app to see if it can indeed save each individual image...if it can, then that's my solution!

 

Yeah, the smartphone would be nice, but I don't have one...I'd have to activate one in Korea (for GPS to work outside of the WiFi zone) and then take it with me and then just "abandon" it (ie: not pay my bill) since I'm not coming back to Korea for at least a few years, if ever...it's just not something I want to do. I do have an Android phone that I'm not using, I may take that and see if I can find a way to charge it via USB, not an actual charger...we'll see. I like travelling simply and without many valuables/belongings. I like to have a map, a camera and my clothes and that's it.

Hmm...I checked and yes, it can save it as a video OR individual pictures...this is perfect!!! Now...my follow-up question:

The Sony site doesn't tell you much detail about the program...There are a bunch of scenes (I'm not interested in that), plus a "Custom" mode. Do you know if the "Custom" mode lets you have *FULL* manual control over everything? (I want control over shutter speed, aperture, ISO, interval and perhaps total number of shots taken).

https://www.playmemoriescameraapps.com/portal/usbdetail.php?eid=IS9104-NPIA09014_00-000003

 

Well...apparently it can be done...now I just have to figure out HOW.

Nex-6 timelapse app does startrails (1 photo): Sony NEX Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Thanks, Poki, for the time lapse app suggestion...that was going to be my first purchase for the NEX-6 anyways, this just makes it all that much better!

 

Thanks, but I don't think that would work for me...that one appears to take a ton of pictures in a second or two and then overlay them onto one frame...the shutter speed for that is a fraction of a second, I need it to be about 30 seconds per frame.

Either way, thanks for the suggestion...by the way...considering you have to pay for these apps (pretty weak, if you ask me), this is an interesting (dirty) trick from Sony:

"Samples and on-screen displays are simulated."

Why not put up REAL samples??!!