Self-Portrait Burst?

September 30, 2009 8:18 PM

I'm looking for a digital camera with the ability to do some sort of "burst" mode for self-timer / self-portrait shots. Does this exist?

I feel like all the digital cameras I have seen can only do single shots in self timer mode. The need for burst shots seems obvious. Any ideas? Ideally not looking for something too expensive.

posted by jameslavelle3 to technology (12 answers total)

I am not aware of any canon that fires multiple shots though I have once seen a nikon being thrown into the air and still burst out continuous frames until it was caught again. I'm not sure if that was a taped shutter button or a selected option.

there is one option that is readily available: get your average canon or nikon and a remote trigger. that way you can still step away and fire shots for as long as you press the remote shutter button and your camera can still burst out images. you should be able to find a radio controlled shutter release on ebay for any rebel or higher canon for well under $100, so I thought I'd at least mention that option to you.
posted by krautland at 8:27 PM on September 30, 2009

The camera I just got does three shots in a row at the end of a self-timer sequence and I think it may be configurable to do more/less. It's slow though. It's a Canon PowerShot SD960.
posted by jessamyn at 8:31 PM on September 30, 2009

My point & shoot Panasonic Lumix will do a 3-shot burst on a 2-second or 10-second timer, but only for exposure bracketing, i.e. I can set it to take 3 shots in a burst, the first at exposure X, the second at X+1, the last at X-1. It's useful for HDR photography, but I just tried it and it won't burst on timer at a single exposure level.
posted by kid_dynamite at 8:38 PM on September 30, 2009

My Canon SX10 IS will take a programmed number of shots (1-10) after a programmed delay (0-10 s).

Granted, it's not cheap, but I assume some lower-end Canons have the same feature.

It also has the neatest feature I never knew I needed: face recognition self-timing mode. The camera won't take a picture until a new face appears in the frame, allowing plenty of time for the photographer to get in the shot, situate himself, and finally look up at the camera. It then autofocuses on the faces, and takes the 1-10 requested shots at the requested interval.

Damn, I love that feature.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:56 PM on September 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

My PowerShot A590 will take up to 10 shots spaced 1-10,15,20, or 30 seconds apart. And the hackware CHDK will allow practically unlimited interval and duration settings. CHDK works with a great many Canon cameras.
posted by Mitheral at 9:19 PM on September 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

My Canon Powershot a590IS (which is a great camera for the price/even more customizable with CHDK) can do up to 10 shot continuous shooting (at intervals, or if set to 0 seconds, it will take them as quickly as possible)
posted by bradly at 9:26 PM on September 30, 2009

and on review, Mitheral and I may be separated twins. wow..
posted by bradly at 9:28 PM on September 30, 2009

My sony cybershot can do this. Point-and-shoot.
posted by that girl at 9:46 PM on September 30, 2009

My Canon Powershot SD 1100 IS has a self timer mode with a configurable delay and number of shots taken.
posted by JiBB at 11:34 PM on September 30, 2009

I haven't seen any of these actually work fast enough to be what I consider a "burst", though... my Canon takes a good three seconds between shots.

What sorts of interval are you folks getting at minimum-delay?
posted by rokusan at 12:29 AM on October 1, 2009

My Canon G7 does exactly this. You can set a custom timer "2-lotsofseconds" delay and "1-lotsofpictures" that are to be taken. If you want specifics I could check this tonight on my camera.

The burst is fairly bursty as the camera does not renew its autofocus between pictures. BUT: the self-portrait bust slows the burst down on purpose, so its about 2 seconds between pictures.
posted by mathiu at 1:33 AM on October 1, 2009

Nikon DSLRs do this. you just have to program burst mode before setting the timer.
posted by Gungho at 6:54 AM on October 1, 2009