Control a Canon from your PC

Courtesy of njnightsky.com

Can I add something from the article...

Whie it says about the use of Firewire (IEEE 1394), most old Pentium 3 and early P4 pc's do not have this. It can be added in the form of a PCI card, but, the older the compiter, the slower it will be.

Best to have the kettle on stand by if you do this transfer from a camera via Firewire on an old computer!

Courtesy of njnightsky.com

you can do the same with astroart 3 and the appropriate drivers. been messing with this but haven't quite figured it out yet. it interfaces with some software that comes with it called remote capture.
stephen,

Folks,

There is also the DSLRFocus software as well as MAXIM/DL which both allow for focusing via PC and using a variety of tools (such as FWHM, max pixel etc).

Anthony.

... and for Canon DSLRs and the Nikon D70, there's also ImagesPlus which in addition to image processing will do acquisition and camera settings as well as FWHM focusing and custom imaging sessions (10 at x exposure, y delay, 20 at z exposure, etc.) One caveat: you need a custom serial or parallel cable to control the shutter for 'bulb' mode, i.e., shots over 30s. A gentleman named Hap Griffin has these available or you can make your own.. sorry, don't have a pinout.

-- Denis S.

Yip,
you need those serial cables to make use of exposures greater then 30 seconds. Its basically an electronic version of the button cable.
I'll be making up one in the weekend, I'll let yee know how I get on.
I might make a few more and sell them on if anyones interested ?!?