Time Lapse Sony CyberShot DSC-W120

[lewtashjosh]

Hi There, hope everyone is doing OK ?

Can any tell me is there a Firmware upgrade available for the Sony CyberShot DSC-W120 to enable the camera to shot at timed intervals, I know that this can be done with certain Canon cameras using the below

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK


The reason for the question is that a team of us are looking to send a weather balloon into space or as close as possible on a shoestring budget, and I have been given the role of Photography / HD video Engineer... to capture still shots and video, for the video I will be using a Samsung Galaxy S smart phone

Hopefully it will be possible with the equipment I have, as I would prefer not to have to buy anything else

Many Thanks

Lewis

[lewtashjosh]

Hi

I have now found out that my Sony camera will not support the firmware update, can anyone point me in the direction of cameras that already have the time lapse feature alreay built in ? must be powered with lithium battery also

Bearing in mind i'm working on a very small budget £30 max

[Tim Bond]

You might try this web-site. It may be cheaper than you think.
Tim http://lindholm.jp/chpro_bal.html

[thatguyfromvienna]

Does your cam support external shutter releases?

[lewtashjosh]

Hi there the problem with external shutter releases is that i assume it will only work to a certain distance ? And we are hopeing to get as far / high as 19 miles up !!

[thatguyfromvienna]

Search the Bay for interval timers. They can be ordered for little money and do a great job.

[lewtashjosh]

Ok i will,

Any idea what sort of distance they work to ? as repeating my previous post we are hoping to reach heights of around 19 miles

Many thanks

Lewis

[inkista]

Uh... don't think the W120 has a shutter release port. It's a compact P&S-type camera.

Try hunting up a used Nikon P6000. I think it's got an intervalometer built in. Or, you could go for a used Canon Powershot and add the CHDK. Just make sure it's on the list of supported models, first.

With the P6000, you get a bunch of still images, rather than a movie, but you can assemble the frames into a video using software like Blender or Quicktime.

[thatguyfromvienna]

Any idea what sort of distance they work to ? as repeating my previous post we are hoping to reach heights of around 19 miles

Infinite as it would be attached to your camera and make the same trip.

[Boatman]

If you do have an external shutter port, a remote shutter cable with interval timer will work well. I have a JVC unit for my Panasonic, and it has all kinds of features to set up shutter rate, number of shots, length of exposure (using bulb), etc. I think it was about $40. The user's guide is hopelessly written in badly translated Chinese, though!

If you don't have an external shutter port, another good camera you might be able to grab on the cheap is a Minolta A2. It is an excellent camera and has a whole range of interval and delayed shutter features. If you are interested in pursuing this I can send you a PDF of the user's manual.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Lewis,

Having watched something like this done recently on TV, I suspect location and recovery could be a big problem for you.

Do have a read of the link Tim Bond provided, that's quite informative, you'll note theirs was tethered, yours won't be.
Weight is going to be an issue too - but nobody said it would be easy

UPDATE:
Having watched another attempt on YouTube, some stabilisation to control spin on way up and especially some aerodynamics to stop tumble on way down might be worth trying (or be impossible for all I know).

Good luck and do show us any results,