[StevenLS]

Folks,

I can't seem to my K-1 and Vello Shutterboss II to take Milky Way photos in Bulb.

I have turned on GPS, calibrated GPS, turned the Astrotracer on, set the camera to Bulb, and selected Type 2 under Bulb configuration. When try to take a 20 second photo, the camera's intervalometer seems to take over the Shutterboss and expose for the camera's interval. If the camera's intervalometer is set for 10 seconds, I get a 10 second exposure, regardless of what the Shutterboss is set to. I'm setting up the Shutterboss II properly and using it correctly.

What are the proper K-1 settings for the configuration described above? If I have camera settings right, I probably have an issue with the Shutterboss II.

Thanks for your help!

[stevebrot]

I just deleted my previous suggestion, realizing that while I know how the Shutterboss works, I am without pertinent Astrotracer experience. Back again...

Here are a few bullet points:

• Set B mode back to "Type 1".
• The Shutterboss' release action work the same as a regular shutter press and if set for a long exposure, it is the same as a "long press" of the regular shutter button.
• Astrotracer has an optional timer feature for up to five minutes. If that is long enough, my suggestion is to use it.
• If using the Astrotracer's timer, operation is a single (instantaneous) shutter press to start the exposure; Astrotracer will take care of the rest.
• If hand timing or using an external timer, Astrotracer requires one press to start and a second press to stop. You don't need to change B mode to "type 2" to accomplish this.
• Shutterboss may be used as a wired remote (using the release button) or as a timer/intervalometer (using the Timer Start/Stop button). See below for how to use it to time Astrotracer.

You can use the Shutterboss to time the Astrotracer exposure, but it is clumsy and cannot be done as an unattended sequence of exposures. Here are the steps, you will need your Shutterboss user manual:

1. Reset the Shutterboss to erase all previous timer settings
2. Set "INTV" to the desired exposure time minus 1 second
3. Set "No." to do two (2) repetitions and no more
4. With Astrotracer active and set to NOT use its timer function, press the Shutterboss "Timer Start/Stop" button. Shutterboss will start Astrotracer at the start of the first interval and stop it at the start of the second.

A more sophisticated intervalometer might be able to manage the press-to-start/press-again-to-stop behavior directly for exposure time as well as doing a timed sequence of exposures, but the Shutterboss will not.


Steve

[stevebrot]

Not being quite out of words yet, I can suggest a solution using Astrotracer as a timer and Shutterboss to manage multiple images for stacking...

1. Turn long exposure NR off
2. Make black frame image(s) for later subtraction
3. Set Astrotracer to use its timer for the desired single image exposure
4. Set Shutterboss to perform the desired number of exposures at an interval just over that of exposure length
5. Press Shutterboss "Timer Start/Stop" button and go inside to warm up

Steve

[StevenLS]

Thanks for the suggestions and the time you took to respond to my question, Steve!

I noticed that I had not used the green button to switch to Bulb--which meant that I was able to disable the internal intervalometer (that solved one problem). I then used your suggestions above (using B, type 2). When I tripped the Shutterboss for 15 seconds, I got a 9.4 second image; a second time, I got a 13 second image; and a third time, the Shutterboss would not end the exposure. So, I think there is an issue with the Shutterboss. I'll return it and try with another Shutterboss or another intervalometer.

Steve