One of the neatest additions that I ever added to my never ending collection of gear was Timer Remote Control for my Canon 20D.

I originally decided to buy it thinking that I would like to try some time lapse photos and then post them to the site as sequences. You can find a number of different places on the web where people have done time lapse, especially night shots and star trails.

They look very cool on the web. But after you spend a few nights out in the wilderness sitting in your parked car waiting for two or three or four hours to go by, the coolness wears off. Time lapse is neat to see, harder to have the time and patience to do.

But I still love this remote because it solved one problem for me forever. It is great for when you are using your tripod and taking shots that are not really long exposures. Everyone has problems with trying not to have the camera move when you press the shutter button when your camera is on the tripod. But you don’t have any problems if you use a remote.

Now, every time I use my tripod, I just automatically plug this remote in. It has a shutter release button right on it and it completely eliminates any camera shake. I used to goof around with mirror lock up and trying to remember how to set that and then forget to change the shot mode to single rather than continuous, etc.

Using this remote just makes it so simple. (It really works for fireworks!)

It’s a little pricey using it how it turned out for me, but you can check on Amazon (the little picture above is linked to them). They show their other options for less expensive remotes also.

However, if you think you ever want to get into time lapse, this remote has really got it all. And I’m still glad I’ve got it in my bag. Someday I might even get the hankering to go back out and try those star trail time lapses again.