Robotic Panning Time Lapse
 

Some time ago someone posted a video of a panning time lapse shot (from Japan I think) and it was really cool. So we thought we might take a try at it.

Here is our first result.

Las Vegas Strip Pan on Vimeo

This video was shot down on the Las Vegas Strip. Sorry I don't have the log of the EX-1 camera settings handy.

Really we were just playing around so I just hope you enjoy the video.

Please forgive the giant key

David Schmerin

Hi David,

Nice work. Is that the Mizar KD mount you used? I think the Tokyo shot you were referring to was one I did last year. You can see it here.

Motion on Vimeo

I then helped Phillip Bloom create a similar shot a week later when he came to Tokyo.

Phil and I are big timelapse geeks.

Alexander,

Yes, yours was the video I was thinking of that inspired me to try it myself. And if the goal of film is to inspire kudos to you for your success.

One thing I can not understand is why the buildings in the background of my video are not smooth like yours but seem to jerk across the screen while traffic and street lights in the foreground appear to transition across the screen very smoothly. Sadly this effect seems to exaggerated by Vimeo.

For this test we did not use the Mizar KD, we used an Orion Tele-Track Orion TeleTrack GoTo Altazimuth Telescope Mount - Telescope.com

We got rid of the tripod that comes with the unit and mounted the unit to our own. The camera was filming at 1920*1080/30p HQ using the Slow Shutter setting. The motor on the head appears to be continuously panning, not a move and stop action.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Also a couple of notes on the Tele-Track....

1) The EX-1 is about as heavy a unit I would go with sans matte box, Letus, AB power, etc.
2) The axis motors appear to move at different speeds with the vertical motor much faster then the horizontal motor

Thanks for checking out my video and taking the time to respond.

Speaking for a minority of one
David Schmerin

HD and High Definition Time Lapse Stock Footage and Video - Royalty Free by GotFootageHD.com
My other time lapse work

Las Vegas is one of the most photographed cities in the world. Point a camera in any directrion and you have lights and action galore. I see it as unchallenging because the lighting and action is there ready for you to shoot it. I was wondering what motivated you to shoot in Las Vegas?

Could be "Because He Lives There"

I used the Mizar KD Motor Mount. It moves at 1 degree a second. This works well with EX Slow Shutter 16 Frames. The buildings in background stay in focus at this speed.
Set interval recording to 1 frame a second, also try 1 frame every 2 seconds for a smoother movement of people/objects. This may help with background objects too. Sometimes judder is caused by over sharpness or over shooting of backgrounds.

Alexander,

Thank you much for the suggestions and as soon as the winds die down here for a bit I will get right out to give them a try. I was already at 1fps using the EX Slow Shutter at 16 so changing to 1 frame every 2 seconds is no biggie. I also hope going from 1/2 to 1 degree per second will help some. Oh and my playback was set for 30fps.

When I shot this, I shot in Progressive. Mind if I ask if you shot yours in progressive or interlaced?

Thanks again for the advice and I will post the results as soon as I get them shot!

David Schmerin
Las Vegas Chapter President
Club Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I am not only the founder, I am the lead member!

Hi David, I shot in progressive mode. I never shoot interlaced.
It's a matter of trial and error to get the smoothest result. If I remember correctly I think Phil found that when panning at 1 degree a second, then Slow shutter 16, 1 frame every two seconds was the smoothest. 1 frame a second was more jittery somehow, maybe too much information in the movements. You may find different results with your motorised mount's speed being slightly different.