Take photographs at the selected interval until the specified number of shots has been recorded. Select a release mode other than self-timer (E) and mirror up (Mup) when using the interval timer.

Interval Timer Photography

Before Shooting

Before beginning interval timer photography, take a test shot at current settings and view the results in the monitor. Once settings have been adjusted to your satisfaction, remove the rubber eyecup and cover the viewfinder with the supplied eyepiece cap to prevent light entering via the viewfinder interfering with photographs and exposure.

Before choosing a starting time, select Time zone and date in the setup menu and make sure that the camera clock is set to the correct time and date (0 Time Zone and Date).

Use of a tripod is recommended. Mount the camera on a tripod before shooting begins. To ensure that shooting is not interrupted, be sure the camera battery is fully charged. If in doubt, charge the battery before use or use an AC adapter and power connector (available separately).

  1. Select Interval timer shooting.

    Highlight Interval timer shooting in the photo shooting menu and press 2 to display interval timer settings.

  2. Adjust interval timer settings.

    Choose a start option, interval, number of shots per interval, and exposure smoothing option.

    • To choose a start option:

      Highlight Start options and press 2.

      Highlight an option and press J.

      To start shooting immediately, select Now. To start shooting at a chosen date and time, select Choose start day and start time, then choose the date and time and press J.

    • To choose the interval between shots:

      Highlight Interval and press 2.

      Choose an interval (hours, minutes, and seconds) and press J.

    • To choose the number of shots per interval:

      Highlight No. of intervals × shots/interval and press 2.

      Choose the number of intervals and the number of shots per interval and press J.

      In S (single frame) mode, the photographs for each interval will be taken at the rate chosen for Custom Setting d1 (CL mode shooting speed; 0 d1: CL Mode Shooting Speed).

    • To enable or disable exposure smoothing:

      Highlight Exposure smoothing and press 2.

      Highlight an option and press J.

  3. Start shooting.

    Highlight Start and press J. The first series of shots will be taken at the specified starting time, or after about 3 s if Now was selected for Start options in Step 2. Shooting will continue at the selected interval until all shots have been taken.

During Shooting

During interval timer photography, the memory card access lamp will flash. Immediately before the next shooting interval begins, the shutter speed display will show the number of intervals remaining, and the aperture display will show the number of shots remaining in the current interval. At other times, the number of intervals remaining and the number of shots in each interval can be viewed by pressing the shutter-release button halfway (once the button is released, the shutter speed and aperture will be displayed until the standby timer expires).

Memory card access lamp

Settings can be adjusted, the menus used, and pictures played back while interval timer photography is in progress. The monitor will turn off automatically about four seconds before each interval. Note that changing camera settings while the interval timer is active may cause shooting to end.

Release Mode

Regardless of the release mode selected, the camera will take the specified number of shots at each interval.

Pausing Interval Timer Photography

Interval timer photography can be paused between intervals by pressing J or selecting Pause in the interval timer menu.

Resuming Interval Timer Shooting

To resume shooting immediately, select Restart.

Highlight Restart and press J.

To resume shooting at a specified time:

For Start options, highlight Choose start day and start time and press 2.

Choose a starting date and time and press J.

Highlight Restart and press J.

Ending Interval Timer Shooting

To end interval timer photography before all the photos are taken, select Off in the interval timer menu.

No Photograph

The camera will skip the current interval if any of the following situations persist for eight seconds or more after the interval was due to start: the photograph or photographs for the previous interval have yet to be taken, the memory card is full, or the camera is unable to focus using single-servo autofocus (AF-S or single-servo autofocus selected for AF-A) or when Focus is selected for Custom Setting a1 (AF-C priority selection) in AF-C (note that the camera focuses again before each shot). Shooting will resume with the next interval.

Out of Memory

If the memory card is full, the interval timer will remain active but no pictures will be taken. Resume shooting (0 Resuming Interval Timer Shooting) after deleting some pictures or turning the camera off and inserting another memory card.

Interval Timer Photography

Choose an interval longer than the time needed to take the selected number of shots and, if you are using a flash, the time needed for the flash to charge. If the interval is too short, the number of photos taken may be less than the total listed in Step 2 (the number of intervals multiplied by the number of shots per interval) or the flash may fire at less than the power needed for full exposure. Interval timer photography can not be combined with long time-exposures (bulb or time photography) or time-lapse movies (0 Time-Lapse Movie) and is not available in live view or when Record movies is selected for Custom Setting g1 (Custom control assignment) > Shutter-release button (0 g1: Custom Control Assignment). Note that because the shutter speed, frame rate, and time needed to record images may vary from one interval to the next, the time between the end of one interval and the beginning of the next may vary. If shooting can not proceed at current settings (for example, if a shutter speed of A or % is currently selected in mode M, the interval is zero, or the start time is in less than a minute), a warning will be displayed in the monitor.

Interval timer shooting will pause when E (self-timer) is selected or if the camera is turned off and then on again (when the camera is off, batteries and memory cards can be replaced without ending interval timer photography). Pausing shooting does not affect interval timer settings.

Bracketing

Adjust bracketing settings before starting interval timer photography. If exposure, flash, or ADL bracketing is active while interval timer photography is in effect, the camera will take the number of shots in the bracketing program at each interval, regardless of the number of shots specified in the interval timer menu. If white balance bracketing is active while interval timer photography is in effect, the camera will take one shot at each interval and process it to create the number of copies specified in the bracketing program.