10/09/12 Further information on the D600 and MC-DC2 & MC-36

MC-30 to MC-DC2 converter

I have done a bit more research on the D600 and the remote timer issues.  Both the D800 and D600 come with a built in set of timers called:

• Time lapse photography
• Interval timer

One of my main goals was to use the D600 in my night photography pursuits.  Over a year ago, I stopped taking just single long exposures on the blub setting, and started to shoot stacks.  An example of a stack, is to shoot over a period of 40 minutes, with a series of 45 second exposures.  For my night photography, I prefer to work with the illumination of the moon, so you really can’t leave the camera open for long periods of time or the sky will just wash out and or you will only pick up the brightest stars.  Stacking allows you to have much more control of your environment also.

In the past with Canon or Nikon, I would use the remotes that had the built in interval timer.  You need to use the timer for two settings, length of exposure and interval.  The interval is always 1 and the exposure varies depending on the amount of moonlight.   Using the Nikon MC-36 remote, this is easy to do.  Using the built in interval timer on the camera is not.  You can set the interval timer to do 1 interval and a certain number of frames, but the time relies on the cameras set shutter speed for the length of the exposure.  Thus the longest exposure will be 30 seconds and most times at night with stacks that is not long enough.  So the built in timer is not an option.  The time lapse timer has the same shutter speed limitation, requiring the camera to not be in blub mode.  However I have found a new solution from the folks over in China that should work.  A converter that allows the MC-36 to plug in to the port where you plug in the MC-DC2.

MC-30 to MC-DC2 converter

If this works as advertised a photographer should be able to use all of the functions of the MC-36 on the D600.  I have ordered one and will test it soon to make sure.  If it won’t work or all the functions don’t work, then for me all bets are off for the D600.  I will report back as soon as this converter arrives.