I went to Radio Shack to buy parts to build myself a cable release
for the *istD. They had submini phone plugs, but only mono, not
TRS, and it turns out that shorting ring to sleeve keeps the
autofocus constantly activated (which I presume costs battery life).
And they didn't have cheap IR LEDs to make an invisible flash with,
either. Though there was a spot marked for them in the drawer.
*pout* (Unsurprisingly, they didn't have PC connectors either,
so I'll probably look for the cheapest PC-cord accessory I can
find and snip the plug off it when I do build the invisible flash.)
Question: when emulating a locking cable release for long exposures,
should I disengage the autofocus connection once the shutter is open,
or does the camera automagically do that internally? (Or should I
just not worry about the battery drain of having the autofocus system
powered while the mirror is up? Is the cost of holding the shutter
open high enough to swamp having the autofocus powered? I've no idea
what aspets of the camera's operation cost how much juice, but I'm
guessing that electromechanical aspects -- and lighting the LCD
backlight -- cost more than purely electronic operations ... right?)
-- Glenn, starting to wonder
how much an *istD repair
manual would tell me about
the electronics.
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