sorry about the typos above - i had a sherbert or 9 last night, its all that boddies fault really
what i meant to say is that if you buy a camera that has an electronic cable release rather than a manual one, you can extend the cable with a piece if coax out to about 10m. some manufacturers also make IR releases.
It is also relatively simple to adapt the circuitry on an old digital camera to take 1 shot per second until the battery is flat , or the card is full. or to addapt a household security PIR sensor to tripthe shutter when activated.
welcome to wab by the way (it doesnt really stand for wild about booze you understand)