Cheap way to fire 300D remotely?

[Curtis N]

For my next theatre gig, I want to clamp my 300D to the balcony railing and aim it to catch full stage shots. I will need to fire it remotely from wherever in the theatre I happen to be. I have the RC-1 infrared remote, but I don't think it has enough range and I won't always be in front of the camera when I need to fire it. Budgetary limitations take Pocket Wizards out of the realm of possibility.

So I'm wondering if any of the low-cost Chinese radio slave systems available via E-Bay could be made to work. I know of at least one that has an output plug on the receiver to fire a flash via PC cord rather than its hotshoe. The 300D has a simple plug for the remote shutter which should allow me to fashion a patch cord with Radio Shack parts.

Any input from owners of such systems, or other ideas would be appreciated.

[Monkeymicra]

(i dnt know mutch about the 300D)

cant you put in a massive memory card and set it to take a photo every 10 seconds or so?

[Davinor]

Nope, the 300D has not got an interval timer :(

David

[Curtis N]

cant you put in a massive memory card and set it to take a photo every 10 seconds or so?If I hooked it up to the laptop and used the Remote Capture software, I believe this could be done. Keep in mind this would create 720 images from a 2 hour show. I turn these jobs around pretty quick and really don't have the time to edit through all of that.

But I need to time the shots better than that anyway. Generally the full stage shots I want to catch are in the brief moment at the end of a scene when the actors "freeze" and wait for the lights to go down.

[Nick_C]

You will probably come back & find it gone!! lol..

Im finishing up a project at the moment for a Digital Interval Timer, just waiting on the labels for the case.

Nick :-)

[lakiluno]

I'd say something as simple as a radio-doorbell could be used.

[Curtis N]

I'd say something as simple as a radio-doorbell could be used.Hmm. I have one of those! If I can find the right wires on the bell unit, it just might work!

Now I have to find my soldering iron...

[JustinL]

Curtis, i WISH i still had this remote for you. Just sold mine:

http://www.zap-shot.com/

Hope this helps.

[Curtis N]

Justin,

Thanks for the info! Looks like exactly what I need. $120 is a bit more than I was hoping to pay, considering the price of the E-Bay radio slaves, but I will definitely keep it in mind.

Now if I can get one of those Adidt remotes for my 20D and build an adapter for it, that would be awesome.

[JustinL]

I had that adapter when i had my 300D. It was flawless, never had issues with it at all. The ebay slaves i have now with my 20D, and their range is only abot 30 ft (depeneding on the enviroment of course). Trust me with the zap shot!

[rhys]

How about an assistant and you work out a series of hand signals?

[sWampy]

You can buy one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=9706400499&category=61395 and learn the ir remote for the camera and use the uhf/ir box to relay the signals a long way.

If you don't have the canon remote to learn, you can get some software from http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/ that can program it to control the camera.

If you can find one, Radioshack 15-1995 or 15-2116 remotes would work also, and they are/were at radioshacks on clearance for around $5 with the uhf/ir box.

[Curtis N]

Thanks for the idea, Swampy. To me, that approach seems to have a bit of a Rube Goldberg (sp?) feel to it. It shouldn't be necessary to make this complicated. All I need to do is close a switch remotely.

All ideas are appreciated, though. :D

[sWampy]

Sometimes to do something cheaply, you do have to get a little Rube Goldberg. It does work fairly well, and is super cheap, especially if you can find one still at radio shack for $5.

Here is one on ebay now, http://cgi.ebay.com/RadioShack-8-in-1-Universal-Remote-15-2116_W0QQitemZ190039367055QQihZ009QQcategoryZ61323 QQcmdZViewItem $20 though.

[Parker1332]

I'm building one that can be fired from 300 feet with a key fob, timed to go off every 1 to 180 minutes for 1 to 30 secconds, or both.

[cgratti]

Nope, the 300D has not got an interval timer :(

David

Does the 30D have the interval timer?

[motocrossnut34]

For my next theatre gig, I want to clamp my 300D to the balcony railing and aim it to catch full stage shots. I will need to fire it remotely from wherever in the theatre I happen to be. I have the RC-1 infrared remote, but I don't think it has enough range and I won't always be in front of the camera when I need to fire it. Budgetary limitations take Pocket Wizards out of the realm of possibility.

So I'm wondering if any of the low-cost Chinese radio slave systems available via E-Bay could be made to work. I know of at least one that has an output plug on the receiver to fire a flash via PC cord rather than its hotshoe. The 300D has a simple plug for the remote shutter which should allow me to fashion a patch cord with Radio Shack parts.

Any input from owners of such systems, or other ideas would be appreciated.

I bought one of the Chinese versions of the RC-1. It was the one that said it had a range of 30 feet rather then the normal 16 foot range. It does come with a little mirror that will rubber band to the lens and allow you to shoot the remote to the mirror and still trip the shutter button from the side or behind the camera. Only problem I had was that the unit only worked to a maximum of 6 - 7 feet max operating distance. I contacted the seller and he sent me another one and it did the same thing. Hope this answers your question on whether to buy one of the ones that come from Hong Kong.

[Curtis N]

Hope this answers your question on whether to buy one of the ones that come from Hong Kong. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm not actually considering an infra-red system, but rather a radio slave system. There seem to be quite a few out there, and at least some of them have an output jack in the receiver to connect a PC cord. I just don't know if this would make the camera fire if I hooked it up that way.