WLAN disabled for Interval Exposures?

[wjdrijfhout]

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For some reason the WLAN option is disabled when drive-mode is set to Interval on my SL. Also the other way around, if I'm connected to the Leica Photos app and want to select another drive-mode on the camera (this function is not (yet?) available within the app), of all modes, only 'Interval' is grey-ed out. 

Am I overlooking something, or do others see the same? Would there be any reason why WLAN and Interval would be incompatible with each other? I was hoping to use it for the upcoming Lunar eclipse, for which it would make a lot of sense to me.

[sleepyhead]

Hi, possibly it would use too much battery power and maybe the camera goes to sleep between shots, which would necessitate shutting the WLAN connection and then reestablishing it each time.

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[scott kirkpatrick]

The SL has several WiFi modes.  When it forms a hotspot and connects to Fotos, it stays on longer because Fotos overrides one of the timeouts.  But there are other modes and I don't know if they keep the SL from shutting down or let it time out.

I see what you mean about the SL firmware greying out interval when WiFi is on and greying out WLAN when interval is on.  The SL is the only camera that can use most of its controls when the Fotos style hotspot is active.  The CL, once FOTOS is connected, halts when you use the on-camera controls., so I can't see if interval got greyed out.  But when you set interval mode on in the CL, WLAN as well as self-timer lines in the menu are greyed.  I guess Leica has decided that they just don't see reviewing the shots over WiFi as you take them under interval control as reasonable.

Edited January 15, 2019 by scott kirkpatrick

[wjdrijfhout]

Thank you for confirming. Interesting that the CL does not allow any on-camera intervention. I haven’t tried with the TL2, but assume that would be similar. 

Perhaps it’s that Photos is still an early iteration and that more functionality will be added in the future. Leica Image Shuttle allows for much more extended control. I can even change all exposure parameters in the program during the interval sequence. So I guess the lunar eclipse will be a tethered event (if skies are clear).

[scott kirkpatrick]

9 hours ago, wjdrijfhout said:

Perhaps it’s that Photos is still an early iteration and that more functionality will be added in the future. Leica Image Shuttle allows for much more extended control. I can even change all exposure parameters in the program during the interval sequence. So I guess the lunar eclipse will be a tethered event (if skies are clear).

I think we will see updates to Fotos.  And if you follow a lunar eclipse through the red phase to reemergence, won't you need to be constantly changing exposure?  What I haven't tested is setting up the interval that you want to use, THEN turning on the WiFi.  If you can then monitor it on remote, start the sequence with the camera shutter button (the remote shutter button will still trigger a single shot) and track aperture or shutter speed remotely.  Don't know if this will work, but it is worth trying in advance.  Let the rest of us know if it works out.

[wjdrijfhout]

Yes, exposure will have to be adjusted constantly. The difference between full moon and eclipsed moon is around 12-13 stops. So I anticipate shutter speeds from 1/1000 until 4s. That is when the wonderful LENR kicks in, so each shot will take 8 seconds in total. Plan is to have intervals of 15s, just to be on the safe side. Image shuttle lets you change the shutterspeed during the interval without problems, so when the pictures are coming in, I can adjust exposure accordingly with a lag of maximally 15s. So much for theory, it will be my first lunar eclipse photo session.... and let’s hope the skies are clear. I’ll let you know.

The problem with the solution you suggest is that interval and wlan are mutually exclusive. As soon as I turn on interval in the camera, the wlan/WiFi option is grayed out. It would have been very handy, as manipulating the shutterspeed wireless with the phone would be a lot easier than now with cable and laptop out in the freezing cold.

Just noticed an announcement of the CamFi Pro Plus: https://www.dpreview.com/news/3671892350/camfi-pro-plus-brings-tethering-to-3rd-party-apps. SL is on the List of supported cameras, so maybe it would create an alternative option longer term.

 

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

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You're right that it isn't possible to set interval parameters and then go away, hoping that the camera will forget and let you run under wireless.  I have shot a red moon, a few years ago using Olympus equipment to get extra effective focal length.  The interesting part took about an hour, during which I was constantly changing the aim point as well as exposure.  The natural interval between shots was minutes in the early and late parts and just a few seconds during the darkest phase.   Clouds coming and going to sometimes obscure the moon also affected when I could shoot.  On a clear night, maybe using interval would help to eliminate vibrations, but I'm not sure it is the best idea for the duration of the whole exclipse.

[wjdrijfhout]

It worked! I've summarised my findings in a separate post: