The time course for the calcium entry that triggers release was studied at the squid giant synapse by imaging light emission from n-aequorin-J intracellularly injected into the presynaptic terminal. The imaging utilized a video system capable of acquiring 4000 frames per second. The results indicate that the calcium entry triggered by action potentials reaches a peak within 200 microseconds and has an overall duration of close to 800 microseconds, closely matching the duration of the presynaptic calcium current determined by voltage clamp results under similar conditions.