With the Leica M240 I had three choices with regards to releasing the shutter button: just press it myself (which I used most, for obvious reasons), use the self timer in either 2 or 12 seconds mode, or use a cable release. None of these features worked in situations where I needed more time than 12 seconds, or wanted to be further away from the camera. This is why I don’t have a single photo of me and my wife in our canoe when we headed for Norway and Sweden last year.
While all Sony A7 users could control their cameras with an app on a smartphone, Leica users were left to work with the standard self timer solution. But then the SL came out. One of the additional features in the drive mode menu was ‘interval’. If you never missed it, you’ll probably won’t use it, but for me, and other outdoor photographers, this is a key feature.
How does it work? Very simple: you just select ‘interval’ in the drive mode. Directly underneath this menu is the ‘interval’ setting. You enter the menu, set the delay time (the timer, so to say), the number of pictures you want to take and the amount of time in between these pictures. Absolutely terrific! Now you can do time lapses and take pictures of yourself in your canoe/car/bike/plane/T-rex/whatever. It works better than using the app for your camera and you can focus on doing what you want to be documented in stead of staring on your phone.
The M10 has the same function and I’d recommend to give it a try.
The picture above is a very good example of what the interval setting can do. I set up the camera, set the delay time to one minute, the interval time to one second and the amount of pictures at 50. I hit the shutter, had enough time to get in my canoe, paddled to the area where I wanted to be and moved my canoe in a variety of positions. the result isn’t worse than what another photographer would get when he or she would be on shore with a camera.
Progress can be a good thing.