Newbi Needs help - D40 w/Remote Control

[dondford]

Just purchased a D40 and got a remote control for humming bird shots, but can't figure out to use the remote. The owners manual is very .slim on instructions. I have gone into the custom menu and set to "Remote on Duration" and 15 min (per David Rockwell's advice) but the remote will not take a shot. I have tried both pre-focusing and not pre-focusing... nothing. What am I missing?? Is the self timer button involved? The Remote is a new ML-L3 that included a battery. Any way to check the battery.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanking you in advance for your help.

Don

[Frog]

I don't know what remote you have. I think the Nikon one requires you to be either in front of or behind the camera? Can't remember but that's one of the reasons I got a third party one.

I did have some trouble with mine not working but that's because I lost the directions and forgot an important step that a friend here figured out for me. After hooking up you need to turn the camera off and on again....sort of a reset thing. Don't know if that applies to yours.

Welcome to the forums and let us see some of your hummer shots.

[dondford]

Frog:
Thank you for your reply and your welcome. I have the Nikon ML-L3 remote. After I posted my question I spent some more time on Ken Rockwell's site and found his write-up on the D40's Custom Menu setting. I needed to go into the shooting mode section and turn on the "Remote Quick Response Mode". The Remote now works perfectly. After you use the remote you have to change it to another mode to resume regular shooting. Rockwell recommends the "Continuous Advance Mode" where you press the shutter button once for one shot or hold the button in to take 2.5 shots per sec for as long as the button is depressed.

I highly recommend this site www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40 for any other newbi D40 owners. I feel this write-up did a much better job than the manuel.

Thanks again,
Don

[Franglais]

I don't know what remote you have. I think the Nikon one requires you to be either in front of or behind the camera? Can't remember but that's one of the reasons I got a third party one.
....

If you're outdoors then you may find that the range of the Nikon trigger is limited and you need to be round the front of the camera for it to work. The trigger sens a beam of infra-red light which is picked up by a sensor on the camera. In bright light the beam from the trigger gets overwhelmed by the ambient light.