P3D Re: PHOTO-3D digest 3775

[JNorman805@xxxxxxx]

PD asks:

<< Does the Rebel X have some external electronic shutter jack that can be 
 twinned easily?>>

Yes.  I purchased two remote shutter release cords (which plug into a socket 
on the end of the camera body), cut them about 3 inches away from their 
buttons, then electrically spliced both of them into a single button.  I made 
sure to keep the wires separated until I was sure that they were spliced into 
the right places, then I soldered everything solid and used heat-shrink 
plastic tubing to insulate them from each other.  Now, when I press the 
button half-way down, both cameras focus together and set their exposures 
together, and when I press the button all the way down, they fire together.  
For outdoor use, camera-to-camera synch approaches 100 per cent, with a few 
very rare situations having stymied the autofocus.  For flash, see below.

<<Does it sync well enough for flash?>>

Generally, yes.  However, in an autoexposure and autofocus modes, it is 
possible for each camera to sense different light conditions and to be 
focusing on different elements in the view.  When that happens, one camera 
will be "hunting" while the other is ready to go, and the synch will be off.  
 My practice is to stick with auto focus, but use manual exposure, with the 
shutter set at an appropriate speed to pick up ambient light and the aperture 
set according to what the scale on my Vivitar 283 tells me.  My flash synch 
success rate is about 90 to 95 per cent.

<<If so, does anyone 
 know a way to connect a flash so both cameras think it's "theirs?" >>

Yes.  I use the Vivitar remote sensor cord.  This allows me to remove the 
exposure-sensing "eye" from the front of the flash unit and mount it on the 
hot shoe of either camera instead.  A coiled cord connects the "eye" to the 
socket on the flash where it used to be.  If the cameras are both functioning 
according to factory specs, the flash synch will be perfect for both cameras, 
even though the flash is connected to only one of them.  A defective camera, 
of course, will throw the whole thing off.  That actually happened to me 
early on in my experimentation, and I was ready to give up on the whole thing 
as a dumb idea.  In desperation, I sent both cameras back to Canon, 
complaining that the synch was off in both of them.  Canon checked them out 
and told me I was wrong about one camera, but right about the other, which 
they repaired under warranty.  Since then, no problems!

Jim Norman