RX10 and the eternally frustrating timelapse attempts

[Darren Levine]

I'm going on a trip to germany next week, and of course the main consideration is what camera will i bring. the rx10 is my goto vacation-cam, but the intervalometer issue is something i had hoped would be resolved by now.

this may rant for a bit...

for those of you who aren't aware. the rx10 doesn't do timelapse, it has the sony multi-interface, which has been a completely unsupported port of remarkable uselessness. and i do mean useless: see, this new sony standard came out quite awhile ago, and up until now, they've made right about 1 stupid remote for it that just does basic functions. so either sony forgot to make accessories for their port, or expected thrid party makers to step up. well, they haven't, until recently, sort of.

i just bought a remote that claimed compatibility for the rx10/a7s/everything mult-terminal. guess what? doesn't work.

apparently, the rx10 is so special, that it doesn't read from that port the same way any other cameras with that port read, and thus it is the only camera that is completely useless with regards to the port(save for that one sony remote)

Even more fun: after i had ordered that cable, the amazon description magically changed, omitting the rx10 from it. (yes, i'm 100% sure i checked it had the rx10 listed when i ordered)

Then onto what everyone thought would be the savior: triggertrap. a company making a nice little dongle connection to your phone for control. They made a cable for the port, and even listed the rx10 as compatible, but the nice fellow who just responded to my inquiry informed me that the rx10 is just doing something different and won't work with it.

so what about that timelapse app?

im tinkering with it today as a last resort, and it's not terribly encouraging. first off, it's all auto. second, i can't get it to do faster than intervals of 4 seconds in raw. the raw images are 20mb, and the two cards i've tried are rated for 30mb/s and 60mb/s write, and the little red light stays on for a solid 2 seconds. begs another question: does the RX10 have an insufficient buffer for raw timelapse?

that'll end this rant. it's just very silly to me that sony, the company that pumps out more cameras than anyone, can't handle a remarkably common accessory for one it's is premium consumer items.


i could take my 5d2 and fiddle with ML raw, but that introduces it's own issues, and i'd have to go and buy new CF cards....

[Darren Levine]

oh yea, but i love the RX10. i only hate because i want to love it more.

;)

[Dave Blackhurst]

Sony has a remarkable history of creating a "port" with lots of undocumented capabilities, or worse, capabilities that have a magic "switch" to turn them on or off...

Not sure exactly what isn't working, in theory it should be simple, an external timed trigger that activates the shutter at specific intervals...

Then again, I've been trying to figure out why the MULTI on the AX100 will accept the old RMAV2 with the adapter cable Sony sells, yet the RX series do not! There seems to be a problem with "uneven" feature implementation between lines.

If you want to post links to what you've tried, I'll take a look at what you've tried and the results...

I'm going to be opening up the VPR1 I just got to try to figure out the pins one more time (wasn't able to figure it out with certainty from a VPR10 handle I picked up). If I find a "clue" that might solve your problem, I'll pass the hack along... I'm sure the functionality is THERE, it's just a matter of sorting out HOW to get to it!!

[Darren Levine]

do let us know what you find Dave,

as for my imminent trip, i figured out a near flawless alternative: use my folk's d600 for timelapse :)

i'm still half tempted to pick up an fz1000, but it's still pretty up in the air on its abilities. though if i come across one in germany and can grab it in pal, that might be too tempting to pass up.

the rx10 still is my favorite holiday camera, satisfies a desire for overall good image quality, and a small enough package to not get in the way of enjoying the holiday

[Dave Blackhurst]

Darrin - did you by any chance catch the hack that used the VPR1 and an intervalometer trigger posted on SAR? Seems like that might work, if clunky...

Having just tested a Sony accessory (W1M Bluetooth wireless mic) that uses the MiShoe, only to find it ONLY will work with the AX100, and only as a single mic in 4K mode... and broadcasts a big ol' error/incompatible message on the RX screens when installed...

Methinks SONY needs to have an "interteam" development meeting to lay out a STANDARD implementation of the MIShoe/MULTI interface (they mirror each other, at least to some extent).



This business of one accessory working on one camera, but not on the next one, using THE SAME Proprietary SONY "port" is ridiculous... This is the THIRD SONY BRANDED "accessory" that ONLY works on SOME Sony cameras....

AVM1 only works with AX100+RMAV2, NOT RX series +AV2, even though VPR1 works on ALL...

ADP-MAA will NOT fit into the AX100 shoe (conflicts with the shell), even though MiShoe flash works on the camera... MAA works fine with RX's

W1M Only works (limited at that) with the AX100, NOT the RX's...

None of these are "cheap" accessories, ALL use the new MI/MULTI interface, common sense says THEY SHOULD WORK across the Sony line(s).

As I discovered yet another "incompatibility", I was questioning using Sony... then I realized the cameras themselves (RX10, 100M2 and AX100) do MOST of everything I ask them to, and do it well... but they need to get their act together on ports and accessories!!!

It should NOT be necessary to "hack" things to make them work as you'd expect...