Interval shooting problem with D750

[molested_cow]

Hi guys, have a bit of a problem with using the interval shooting to shoot timelapse/star trails here.

I didn't have such problem before, so it's something that started recently.
Basically, it won't finish taking the proper number of shots it's been set at. Sometimes it takes 4, sometimes 9, sometimes 25.
I've tried the following settings recently:

1. 5sec shutter, 6 sec interval, 1 interval, 100 shots per interval. Only 4 shots recorded and stopped by itself.
2. 5 sec shutter, 6 sec interval, 9 intervals, 9 shots per interval. Only one interval was successful, thus 9 shots.
3. 30 sec shutter, 31 sec interval, 1 interval, 50 shots. Only 25 shots were taken.

I also tried giving 2 sec between each shot, eg 30 sec shutter with 32 sec intervals. Same thing, it only took a random number of shots.

I used fully charged batteries too. SD card has been formatted before shooting. All NR functions turned off.

Also, one photo I took that only recorded half the shots left a big gap between each shot.
Eg. 30 sec shutter, 31 sec interval, 1 interval, 120 shots. Only 60 shots were taken. You can see that the shots are spaced really far apart.

Welp!

UPDATE

So I was tying the setting 30 sec shutter, 32 sec interval, 1 interval, 50 shots, the camera will take a shot for about 30 sec, close and wait for another 30+ sec before taking the second shot. And the counter goes down 2 shots at once! Meaning, it will go from 30 to 28 straight, when it only took one shot! What's going on?!

 

[SquarePeg]

I did some interval testing with my Fuji xt2 recently. For the xt2, the interval between shots does not need to include the shutter speed of the shot. For example if I am taking a 30 second exposure and want 2 seconds between each shot, I set the interval for 2 seconds, not 32. As my camera is mirrorless, this may not apply to yours but it does sound like that is the issue.

 

[SquarePeg]

Also I needed to turn off the "auto shut off" feature.

 

[WayneF]

Hi guys, have a bit of a problem with using the interval shooting to shoot timelapse/star trails here.

I didn't have such problem before, so it's something that started recently.
Basically, it won't finish taking the proper number of shots it's been set at. Sometimes it takes 4, sometimes 9, sometimes 25.
I've tried the following settings recently:

1. 5sec shutter, 6 sec interval, 1 interval, 100 shots per interval. Only 4 shots recorded and stopped by itself.
2. 5 sec shutter, 6 sec interval, 9 intervals, 9 shots per interval. Only one interval was successful, thus 9 shots.
3. 30 sec shutter, 31 sec interval, 1 interval, 50 shots. Only 25 shots were taken.

I also tried giving 2 sec between each shot, eg 30 sec shutter with 32 sec intervals. Same thing, it only took a random number of shots.

I used fully charged batteries too. SD card has been formatted before shooting. All NR functions turned off.

Also, one photo I took that only recorded half the shots left a big gap between each shot.
Eg. 30 sec shutter, 31 sec interval, 1 interval, 120 shots. Only 60 shots were taken. You can see that the shots are spaced really far apart.

Welp!

UPDATE

So I was tying the setting 30 sec shutter, 32 sec interval, 1 interval, 50 shots, the camera will take a shot for about 30 sec, close and wait for another 30+ sec before taking the second shot. And the counter goes down 2 shots at once! Meaning, it will go from 30 to 28 straight, when it only took one shot! What's going on?!

Sorry I am so late to your question.

The cameras shutter speeds are all actually full powers of 2, because our expectation is powers of 2. So 30 seconds shutter is actually 2^5 = 32 seconds, and speaking of Nikon, the interval timer needs to be set to 33 seconds. That will work fine then. Saying, 32 seconds is the exact design goal, and the marked 30 seconds is just historical nominal, not actually existing in reality.

5 and 6 seconds requires at least one extra second, and I'd think that would work, but if that gives the interval timer trouble, two seconds should do it.

See my web site at Computed Charts of Camera Nominal and Precise Goal Values of Shutter speed, f-stop and ISO for exact information about exact shutter design goals. Nearly all of the marked shutter speeds are just nominal for humans, and the camera knows to do the exact job with powers of 2.