Once again we’re putting our money where our big fat mouths are and have entered an in camera edit, single cartridge competition.

Last time around we developed elaborate cue sheets and timed everything as best we could to make sure that our non-sync sound hit the key edits and of course to ensure we completed the film before the cartridge ran out.

With this stress (or fun) in mind we wanted a timer, one that could start the camera – run for so many seconds – then stop the camera.

We’ve just taken delivery of a Digital Countdown Timer kit that should do just that, it can be set either from 0 to 99 minutes 59 seconds or from 0 to 999 seconds in tenths of a second.

To use it, the timer is first primed with the required duration, pressing the start button closes (or opens depending upon what you want) a contact which remains in that state until the counter reaches zero – then the circuit reverts back to the original state. In short this little gadget could control the remote circuit on many Super 8 cameras and will allow us to precisely time shots.

Our soldering iron is warming up – we’ll let you know how it fairs in practice once it’s built and we’ve literally burnt our fingers.

[Via Quasar Electronics – 1173 Digital Countdown]