JJC Intervalometer

mojo43

mojo43

Well-known member
Going to pick one of these up, but I have read that some people are experiencing breakdowns with them. Is this still the best bang for the buck in terms of intervalometers for the GH1 or is there something better out there that you can suggest?

Thanks in advance...
 
Forget it... I just bought a random timer off of ebay. They are all so cheap that I'll just give one a shot.
 
If it works, please let us know which one you bought.

But it is very unlikely that a "random timer off of ebay" will work with the GH1. That timer would need a 2.5mm jack with a very specific pinout & voltages/resistances to activate autofocus & shutter.

Panasonic did a pretty good job of making this difficult for most folks. :p

J
 
jaydil said:
If it works, please let us know which one you bought.

But it is very unlikely that a "random timer off of ebay" will work with the GH1. That timer would need a 2.5mm jack with a very specific pinout & voltages/resistances to activate autofocus & shutter.

Panasonic did a pretty good job of making this difficult for most folks. :p

J
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There are plenty of timers on eBay made specifically for G-series cams with 2.5mm jacks.

As for all of the stories about their timers being defective, I'm wondering if the jack on the GH1 is easily broken? I got a cheap Chineses shutter release, and it wasn't long before it started malfunctioning. I have a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter for plugging in my shotgun mic, and have many problems with it...pretty much unusable now because of a bad connection...apparently inside the camera. Either the jack is REALLY weak, or Panny has made it to be very picky about aftermarket things being plugged into it. I'm just not going to use it for anything anymore.
 
swyzlstyx said:
There are plenty of timers on eBay made specifically for G-series cams with 2.5mm jacks.
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Could you please link to one that you have used successfully?

I did an ebay search for "gh1 timer", and about half of the results have a picture that shows a 3-conductor jack. But...the gh1 uses the 3rd and 4th conductors of a 4-conductor jack to activate the shutter. So either the pictures are wrong...or those ebay timers don't really work with the gh1?

This would be easily solved by looking at an ebay timer that is confirmed to work.

Thanks! :)

J
 
jaydil said:
Could you please link to one that you have used successfully?

I did an ebay search for "gh1 timer", and about half of the results have a picture that shows a 3-conductor jack. But...the gh1 uses the 3rd and 4th conductors of a 4-conductor jack to activate the shutter. So either the pictures are wrong...or those ebay timers don't really work with the gh1?

This would be easily solved by looking at an ebay timer that is confirmed to work.

Thanks! :)

J
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I haven't tried one yet on the GH1. I guess I can buy a cheap eBay one and try it out next week. It'd be a lot of fun if it works...and if my GH1 jack isn't defective. Here's the one I was looking at: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330429091650
 
swyzlstyx said:
I haven't tried one yet on the GH1. I guess I can buy a cheap eBay one and try it out next week.
Click to expand...
Good luck!

Let us know if you buy one that works.

It is funny that so many of the products on ebay emphasize a jack that obviously won't work with the GH1. :cheesy:

Then again, most of those ebay timers come from China or HK, so it isn't worth it for a US buyer to return them. :nads:

J
 
jaydil said:
Good luck!

Let us know if you buy one that works.

It is funny that so many of the products on ebay emphasize a jack that obviously won't work with the GH1. :cheesy:

Then again, most of those ebay timers come from China or HK, so it isn't worth it for a US buyer to return them. :nads:

J
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Are you saying that the jack won't work with the one that I purchased?
 
mojo43 said:
Are you saying that the jack won't work with the one that I purchased?
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If you bought one where the ad said it DOES work with the GH1, I'd wait and actually TRY it before getting worried about what someone else tells you. If it has a 3.5mm connector, it won't work. If it has a 2.5mm TRS...it might work. If it has a 2.5mm TRRS...your odds improve. REAL advice comes from people like you who actually buy and use these kinds of things...and can help the rest of us. :)
 
swyzlstyx said:
If you bought one where the ad said it DOES work with the GH1, I'd wait and actually TRY it before getting worried about what someone else tells you. If it has a 3.5mm connector, it won't work. If it has a 2.5mm TRS...it might work. If it has a 2.5mm TRRS...your odds improve. REAL advice comes from people like you who actually buy and use these kinds of things...and can help the rest of us. :)
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Fair enough. I'll report back later with the results...
 
swyzlstyx said:
If it has a 3.5mm connector, it won't work. If it has a 2.5mm TRS...it might work. If it has a 2.5mm TRRS...your odds improve. REAL advice comes from people like you who actually buy and use these kinds of things...and can help the rest of us. :)
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Plus real advice comes from people who have personally TESTED all of the conductors on the GH1 accessory jack, and built their own shutter release switches. :)

As I did. Details here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=210082

In brief: The tip & first ring of the jack carry the stereo microphone channels, while the second ring & base of the jack provide ground for the microphone OR the shutter signals (half press and full press).

The link that mojo43 posted does not show a close up of the plug, so we don't know if it will work. The body of the unit looks identical to the ones on ebay that show a TRS (3 conductor) plug, but that doesn't mean anything. The chinese manufacturer might also make a TRRS (4 conductor) version of the same unit.

Perhaps someone who here who OWNS one of these units, and has used it successfully, will post a few close up pictures of the unit, model number, and plug so everyone else knows what to look for? THAT would be good advice. Otherwise as far as we know it is just product marketing. ;)

J
 
Got it today and seems to work just fine! Crossing my fingers that it doesn't crap out on me...
 
I'm one of the people that has reported breakdowns of these JJC intervalometers. You have purchased the correct one (JJC TM-D is the name of the model), so don't worry about that. Whether it will work for very long remains to be seen.

I've had two fail and have just received a replacement for the second one. Fingers crossed.

One thing that the manual states that I've probaby ignored on occasion is that you should turn both the camera and the timer off before connecting or disconnecting. It may be that, especially because the same port is used for microphone as well, somehow the camera itself is destroying the unit if it's not turned off before connecting/disconnecting. I doubt it, especially now, knowing the wiring scheme posted above. Still, I'll certainly be a lot more careful about that in the future.

Apart from building your own, there isn't an alternative out there (that I can find) for Panasonic G cameras, which is a shame as I'd happily pay more for something more robust. I believe there is a generic one which can be used for many systems by using a different cable (can't remember the name), but last I heard the Panasonic cable isn't available any more or at the very least is difficult to find.
 
Thanks, I will keep that in mind with this one. What happened to the other two units? Did they just die on you?
 
Yes, in both cases they appeared to be operating in that the LCD screen still worked, the unit still beeped, but they wouldn't fire the camera.

In both cases I managed to get them to work briefly after they had stopped working. I recall one of them let out a rapid sputter of focusing action and then never worked again.

I do wonder if it's just a resistor or something simple that could be replaced easily.
 
Well the third unit which never worked properly to start with (would only work sitting upright, seemed to be a bad connection somewhere?) now won't work at all.

I took it and the original JJC TM-D I had fail to a camera shop in Glasgow today and tested them both on a G1 in the shop - neither worked.

So it seems it is the JJC TM-D's and not my camera, at least (although I couldn't find a camera shop that had any sort of remote shutter for Panasonic, so I couldn't 100% rule out a dodgy port on my camera)

I'm pulling my hair out with this, I'll have to look at finding a decent intervalometer that is signal compatible and try putting a 4-pin connector on it..
 
Jalad said:
Well the third unit which never worked properly to start with (would only work sitting upright, seemed to be a bad connection somewhere?) now won't work at all.

I took it and the original JJC TM-D I had fail to a camera shop in Glasgow today and tested them both on a G1 in the shop - neither worked.

So it seems it is the JJC TM-D's and not my camera, at least (although I couldn't find a camera shop that had any sort of remote shutter for Panasonic, so I couldn't 100% rule out a dodgy port on my camera)

I'm pulling my hair out with this, I'll have to look at finding a decent intervalometer that is signal compatible and try putting a 4-pin connector on it..
Click to expand...

Just one question: why wouldn't the adapter cable i mentioned in my earlier post work w/ the GH1? After all it does have a micro-stereo jack, no?

Thx

Paul
 
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