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Minimal Off-Time Between Shots

If your Pentax camera doesn’t trigger correctly with the SmartTimer, don’t worry! Pentax cameras require a few specific settings to work with external triggers like the SmartTimer — but once set up correctly, everything works smoothly.

Here’s a tested setup that worked reliably for a Pentax KP and should apply to many other Pentax DSLRs and mirrorless models.

What’s the challenge?

Most cameras need a short pause after each exposure to process and store the image.
If your interval is too close to the exposure time — for example, 2.0s exposure with a 2.0s interval — the next trigger might arrive too early, and your camera won’t be ready, causing it to miss the shot.

With the SmartTimer, the shortest reliable gap you can achieve is usually between 0.2s and 0.8s, depending on the camera model, firmware, and internal processing time.

Default buffer recommendation

If you’re just starting out or using longer exposures, we recommend the following:

  • 2.0s exposure → 2.5s interval
  • 10.0s exposure → 10.5s interval

Rule of thumb: Always add ~0.5 seconds on top of your exposure time.

Best practices for high-speed shooting

To get the most out of your camera when aiming for short intervals:

  • Use manual focus to avoid autofocus delays
  • Use a fast memory card (e.g. CFexpress Type A)
  • Use mechanical shutter if silent/electronic shutter introduces lag
  • Disable in-camera features that slow down shooting (e.g. noise reduction, image review)

Use a cable for maximum speed and reliability (wireless is always slightly slower)

Advanced Fine-Tuning (for experienced users)

To reduce the gap even further, you can fine-tune the Trigger Settings inside the SmartTimer app.

Try the following values as a starting point:

  • “Signal Duration”: 10 ms
  • “Focus Delay”: 10–50 ms

You can experiment with even shorter times. Some cameras may require longer durations, depending on their internal electronics.

Alternative Method: Maximizing Focus Time

Another method that has shown great results is increasing the focus delay to the maximum — something the app automatically does when the interval is set below 0.5 seconds.

However, if you’re working with a longer interval (for example, 1.0s / 1000 ms), you can try manually fine-tuning the trigger settings like this:

  • Signal Duration: 20 ms
  • Focus Delay: 979 ms

This adds up to 999 ms, leaving a 1 ms safety buffer for the SmartTimer to prepare the next shot.

It’s a simple trick worth trying — especially if you’re aiming for precise, frame-perfect timing.

Bonus: Continuous Shooting Hack

If you want to shoot continuously without intervals (e.g. during a storm), try this alternative method:

  1. Set your camera to Continuous Shooting Mode
  2. In the SmartTimer app, enable Bulb Mode
  3. Set a long duration (e.g. 99 hours)
  4. The SmartTimer will simulate holding down the shutter continuously
    → Your camera will fire as fast as possible, for as long as needed
    → Ideal for star trails, lightning, sprites…

Final Tips

  • Test each setup individually — different cameras behave differently
  • If you’re missing frames: increase the interval slightly
  • Going below 0.2 seconds may not provide any noticeable benefit, depending on your camera’s internal limitations.
    → Keep in mind that your camera needs time to process each image — and 0.2 s is already an extremely short buffer.
  • Wireless triggering on Sony cameras can introduce a slight delay.
    → For critical timing and maximum reliability, we strongly recommend using a cable connection instead.
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