Foto Timer

Foto Timer was originally written because I no longer wanted to count the seconds when I took photographs of the stars. With the input and help of many people, it then became a more or less universal interval timer. Foto Timer can be used for almost every stage in the making of a photograph...

Can beep at regular intervals (0s-9h)
Stops after defined time (1s-9h) or counts forever
Can 'chain' processes. When one process ends, the next one in the chain starts automatically.
Can drive any external hardware via the serial port
Stores up to 32767 processes
Has big Start and Stop buttons
Can attach notes to individual processes. Those notes can also be accessed through the 'Memo Pad' and 'Palm Desktop' applications.
Can write a log file entry when processes start and stop. The log file can be accessed through the 'Memo Pad' and 'Palm Desktop' applications.
Can block the hard keys on your Palm so you can have it in your pocket
Freeware!

Foto Timer has been downloaded over 20000 times so far! I would like to thank everybody for their ideas, their feedback, and for using Foto Timer, of course. I'm much obliged.

Download

Foto Timer 3.0 beta English version (compiled by Rüdiger Schneider) New user interface, easier for photographers!

Foto Timer 2.5 English version

Foto Timer 2.5 Deutsche Version (übersetzt von Bernhard Römer) Achtung: Die Dokumentation ist Englisch!

Foto Timer is compatible with Palm OS 3.x, 4.x and 5.x. Foto Timer needs about 54kB of memory.

Manual & Hardware Switch

A Foto Timer manual is available.

Wei Chong has written a step-by-step example of how he uses Foto Timer to develop black & white film.

Carsten Zahout built hardware for me and sent me pictures of his box. Denis Pleic also built a hardware box. He is explaining his approach on his Palm in the Darkroom pages.

Questions/Support

If you have any questions, rants or ideas, please write me an email.

Je réponds aussi en Français!

Und natürlich antworte ich auch auf Deutsch.

Older Versions of Foto Timer

During its life, Foto Timer changed significantly. If you don't need specific functions, you might want to download an older version. They are usually smaller and run on older devices.

ATTENTION: Do NOT just overwrite a current version with an older one! Do ALWAYS delete later versions before installing older ones. You usually can not use your process data on an older version.

Foto Timer 2.2.1: Works on Palm OS 3.0 and higher, needs 30kB of memory. [ English | Deutsch | Screenshot ]
Foto Timer 1.1.1: Works on Palm OS 3.0 and higher, needs 12kb of memory. [ English | Deutsch | Screenshot ]
Foto Timer 1.0.1: Works on Palm OS 2.0 and higher, needs 12kb of memory. [ Deutsch ]
Adapted and compiled for Palm OS 2.0 by Jochen Ackermann.
Foto Timer 0.9: Works on Palm OS 3.0 and higher, needs 10kb of memory. [ English | Deutsch | Screenshot ]
Foto Timer 0.8.2: Works on Palm OS 2.0 and higher, needs 10kb of memory. [ English | Deutsch | Screenshot ]
Foto Timer 0.7.1: Works on Palm OS 2.0 and higher, needs 4kb of memory. [ English | Deutsch | Screenshot ]

Please refer to changes.txt for information about specific versions and features.

Why Foto Timer? Why the 'F'?

"Foto" is the German word for "photo". I guess I just didn't think when I chose the name...

Many thanks to Thomas Stingl, Eric Mathieu, David Buckle, Snorre Selmer, Carsten Zahout, Thomas Rauers, Jochen Ackermann, Michael Liczbanski, Materne Linder, Roman Rohleder, Ron Shenk, Philippe Vuille, Bojidar Dimitrov (highly recommended: his k-mount pages), and Bernhard Römer for help, inspiration and debugging.