So lately, I've noticed that my D7000 just stops shooting while doing time lapses. It doesn't matter what interval I choose or whether it's in manual or aperture priority. I thought I figured it out when it quit on me while I had a slow card in, but the card I have in right now is a 16GB class 10, so that's not the issue. Also, the interval timer shooting is set to 999.

It was working fine a couple of months ago in February. I've only started having this issue in recent weeks. Anyone come across a similar problem? Thanks!

-David

Not all Class 10s are the same. I have some really old 2g cards that don't even have a Class number assigned them, so they're pre-Class 1 yet they outperform some Class 10s I bought recently.

How often is the shutter set to trip? Does it shut down after the same amount of time or the same number of shutter actuations?

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I have been having a similar issue. Doing star trails set for 30 second exposure with 20 second gap in between exposures and set for 450 exposures. tried this twice and the camera stopped at 179 exposures the first time and 129 the second. I can't believe it's a write speed issue given the 20 second gap between exposures - set at JPEG medium. It is a Class 10 16GB card also. Given previous experience in burst mode, this pace of writing to the card should be no problem. Could it have something to do with the sensor given the continuous long exposures?

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Yeah, I only mentioned the card details because I wasn't able to use interval timer shooting on a slower card not too long ago. I didn't want anyone to recommend using a faster card as a solution because I don't think that's the issue. Also, I used the same card back in February and shot several time lapses consisting of 800+ exposures without any problems.

I've used various settings, but most recently, I had it set to take four-second exposures at one-second intervals with a maximum of 999 exposures. It only took 243 and by my math, it should've taken around 350 or so by that time.

@jamoran

I thought it might be an issue with the long exposures as well, but then I remembered the first time this happened to me, I was shooting at fast shutter speeds.

I've had this body since launch day last fall and have shot many time lapses with it. I've only been experiencing this issue over the last week or two.

Also, I haven't updated to the latest firmware yet. I don't remember seeing anything pertaining to this issue on the update list though. Maybe I'll try updating and see if that helps.

Not clear to me what the issue is. I plan to try different patterns of exposure times and delays and image sizes to see if anything changes. I'll post anything that seem significant. Would love to hear of other people's experience on this. BTW, my D7000 was purchased in Jan.

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>I have been having a similar issue. Doing star trails set for
>30 second exposure with 20 second gap in between exposures and
>set for 450 exposures. tried this twice and the camera stopped
>at 179 exposures the first time and 129 the second. I can't
>believe it's a write speed issue given the 20 second gap
>between exposures - set at JPEG medium. It is a Class 10 16GB
>card also. Given previous experience in burst mode, this pace
>of writing to the card should be no problem. Could it have
>something to do with the sensor given the continuous long
>exposures?

I think you're falling into a trap that many have visited before you. The 'interval' is not the time between the end of one exposure and the start of the next, but the time between the camera triggering one exposure and attempting to trigger the next. Since you have 30s exposures and 20s interval, the camera tries to trigger the 2nd exposure before the first completes. You'll only get, at best, half of your intended exposures. I suspect you may have Long Exposure NR on, which takes the time for each exposure out to a bit more than 60s, so you get just 25% of the programmed shots.

Hope this helps
Chris

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>I've used various settings, but most recently, I had it set to
>take four-second exposures at one-second intervals with a
>maximum of 999 exposures. It only took 243 and by my math, it
>should've taken around 350 or so by that time.

As above, you can't have 4s exposures with 1s intervals, though the camera will not prevent you from setting it. The interval must be longer than the shutter speed since it is the time from the start of one exposure to the start of the next. If the camera has not completed the first exposure when the second is triggered, and that includes noise reduction etc., the second will not happen.

Chris

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I do have long exposure NR on and the timing issue makes complete sense. I was thinking the interval was indeed the end of the one exposure and the beginning of the next. Thanks for the insight.

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Thank you, Chris. After some more testing, I have confirmed what you were saying. When I used my D300 primarily (before my D7000), I was using a Hahnel Giga T Pro intervalometer for time lapses, and I completely understood the concept of intervals. But for some reason, when I got my D7000, I reverted back to incorrectly thinking that "interval" means the time between each exposure. I guess I assumed that since this feature was built by Nikon into the camera itself, it wouldn't allow the user to select settings that are mathematically impossible. Kinda strange that Nikon would allow it to.

At any rate, thanks so much for the insight and the slap to the back of my head.

David

Not a problem, glad to help. I think the functionality is a hangover from the MC-36 and similar remotes, where the remote control literally fires the shutter every 'interval', or at least tries to.

Chris

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>Doing star trails set for 30 second exposure with 20 second gap in between exposures and
>set for 450 exposures. tried this twice and the camera stopped at 179 exposures the first time and 129 the second.
snipped
> Could it have something to do with the sensor given the continuous long exposures?
It could be the sensor temperature - I would ask Nikon.
A 30 second exposure generates a lot of sensor heat.
Liveview and video recording is limited to about 20 minutes to prevent overheating.
If the overheating is temperature rather than time controlled a temperature cut out could be operating.
You could experiment with 15 second exposures and 40 second gaps. If you get a lot more shots shooting this way the issue is likely connected to sensor temperature.
Digressing the reason for suggesting asking Nikon is what you are doing is very unusual - and may be something Nikon did not think to try when testing the camera.

Photography is a bit like archery. A technically better camera, lens or arrow may not hit the target as often as it could if the photographer or archer does not practice enough.

Len Shepherd

Similar problem. I'm taking time lapse setting say 1 hr 4 time 3 per hour. segments. This means total time 4 hours with exposure every 20 minutes. That is 12 shots
Quits prematurely. The "interval" stops flashing. On showing the menu "Interval" starts flashing again but mo shots are taken. Any answers?

I posted this item. The camera is working properly.I made a couple of mistakes. (1) shooting in nef I read the space left as the number of frames. This is not true. (2) The setting 12 HR 4 intervals 6 times results in 24 shots. True. The last parameter 6 times is the number of burst exposures not the sub intervals. So I got 6 exposures at each of the 4 hours. The fact that "active" is not flashing while the screen is blank is irrelevant. This was a good though time wasting experience.