Just before I left for the weekend I snagged a TC-80N3 remote timer from Glazer’s for the single purpose of shooting fireworks. It was a joy to sit back and watch the show with the timer and camera doing all the work for me. Three second exposures every five seconds for an hour? No problem at all. About half the show I had the timer churn out photos, for the other half I took over. Naturally the results were quite a bit better when I was at the shutter, buy hey, when your timer is churning out the shots there is a fabulous air of “free work” floating about. Or was that just the black powder I was smelling?

While the remote is versatile and effective, (details well defined in this Luminous Landscape article) my gripes are as follows:

• No OFF Switch?
  When is the last time you bought a $100 electronic device you couldn’t turn off? (Well, besides a watch?) Sure, the thing hardly draws any juice, but a complete lack of power control makes me think the one time I really need the thing is when the battery is dead and I can’t find a spare. “I dub thee Achems Timer.”
• It’s Not Small
  The TC-80N3 is about the size of a big squashed cigar…hardly an easily stowable item in a compact camera bag. It also feels extremely hollow, making me assume that it could easily be reduced in size by a few inches.
• Short Cord, Expensive Extension
  The cord built in is only about 2.5′ feet long, which is fine for most applications, but I’m sure I’ll end up rigging up a homemade extension for it. Canon wants $80 for 33′ of simple cabling? I don’t think so.
• Expensive!
  I’m not such a blind devotee to the palace of Canon to see that an item like this is absolutely unnecessary. Intervalometry should be built into every digital camera they throw out the factory door, it’s as simple as that.

So a few complaints but the device delivers exactly what is claimed. I can’t wait to shoot a meteor shower or try a bit of time lapse.

And what a Fourth! Many thanks to all who worked hard to make it happen. More photos to come.