Using a $6 lamp timer as a camera mount/drive

In another cheap experiment, I put a hose clamp on a Timex electric lamp timer that I bought in Walmart for 6 bucks and mounted my Kodak on it to get these 64 second 400 ASA shots

Comet Holmes (the red orb) and M45

http://setisociety.org/CometHolmesandPleiades.jpg


Mars, Orion and The Pleiades
http://setisociety.org/OrionMarsM45Dec607-185.jpg

I know this next one is noisy (and I live in a light polluted area), but considering that it is only a 14mm camera objective on a cheap point-n-shoot camera mounted on a lamp timer, I couldn't believe that the stars came out that round or that the Orion Nebula would even show up!

http://setisociety.org/OrionandMars.jpg

I very roughly aligned it to Polaris (no scope, just eyeballed it) Here are some shots of the timer (yes that is a bungee cord and yes those are twist-ties :^)

http://setisociety.org/TimexTimer1.jpg
http://setisociety.org/TimexTimer2.jpg
http://setisociety.org/TimexTimer3.jpg
http://setisociety.org/TimexTimer4.jpg

Regards, Jason H.

Jason,
That is brilliant!
Larry

Cool stuff!
Looks like a fun project to try! 8)
Thanks Jason!

I like that. I guess you don't have a shot of your camera all mounted up... How heavy is it?

A few years back I built a hand cranked "barn door" mount and did a bit of experimenting with film. I usually pushed to 1600 and found that with a "standard" or wider lens that I only needed to turn about every 15 seconds.

Charlie