Hi Guys,

I looking into purchasing my first Timer Remote so I can create a 5-10 second piece of footage of clouds going over a house from night till day. I am planning to camp out with my Tamron 17-50 and 600D and some hot coffee! Does anybody own this remote Timer Remote Control RS-60E3 For Canon 1000D 450D 500D: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics if not any reason it can't do what I need it to.

Thanks

I haven't used that brand. I've had success with an Aputure timer for the 5D2.

Some tips:
* An AC adapter would make sense for this shot. You don't want to be replacing batteries.
* A BIG memory card is a must.
* You can shoot HDR (three exposures) to capture night, twilight, and day. Yet more memory required!
* For an all day shoot, you will want a VERY long interval to keep the memory requirements reasonable. This might allow you to shoot RAW. I've read that small RAW is not good. If RAW is too big, go for JPEG.
* If you want smooth motion, you will want a ND filter, probably a 1.8 (4 stops) or more.
* Stop down for deep focus and a long shutter speed.
* For small aperture shots, the camera will open and close the iris for each shot. Every time it closes, it will be slightly different. That causes flicker. To solve it, set your aperture (to, say, f/16), press the DOF button, and untwist the lens.

Best of luck!

Also, if you want the proper exposure from day to night, you either use av with some possible flicker, or run bulb exposure with this guy:
How To Order (http://www.thewhippersnapper.com/LittleBramper/Site/How_To_Order.html)

That looks exactly like one of the cheap timers that I have. They work great. Here is a link to the very first timelapse that I created using my 5DII including a technical description of how I did it My First Timelapse on Vimeo

I have come to realise that for simple timelapse of clouds it's much easier just to shoot a few minutes of video & speed it up in post than to deal with hundreds of still images.

I've had that one from Amazon. It worked absolutely fine and was very easy to use. I use the past tense because the batteries leaked and killed it. I still plan to buy another - I'll just take the batteries out while not in use.

Ben.

Try the Magic lantern hack. I am sure you will be impressed with it.
And best of all it's free. check out some of the youtubes

magic lantern time lapse - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=magic+lantern+time+lapse&oq=magic+lantern+time+lapse&aq=f&aqi=g2g-m1&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=3737l18857l0l21495l24l24l0l3l3l0l285l4414l0.8.13l21l0)

The RS-60E3 is just a remote shutter control, without any timer functions. If you can tether to a laptop, you can use the Canon Utility software that came with the camera and connect the camera to the laptop via a long USB cable and setup the timer functions in the software program, in which case you won't need to buy a hardware timer.

I don't know if there is an equivalent to the TC-80N3 Remote Timer Control for the 60D. The TC-80N3 won't work with the 60D due to the type of connector it uses. It works great on the 7D. Someone came up with the instructions on how to modify this timer so it will work with the 60D.
http://www.camerahacker.com/Canon_Accessory/N3_E3_Convert.php

Mark

The RS-60E3 is just a remote shutter control, without any timer functions. If you can tether to a laptop, you can use the Canon Utility software that came with the camera and connect the camera to the laptop via a long USB cable and setup the timer functions in the software program, in which case you won't need to buy a hardware timer.

I don't know if there is an equivalent to the TC-80N3 Remote Timer Control for the 60D. The TC-80N3 won't work with the 60D due to the type of connector it uses. It works great on the 7D. Someone came up with the instructions on how to modify this timer so it will work with the 60D.
Camera Hacker: Converting N3 Accessories to E3 (http://www.camerahacker.com/Canon_Accessory/N3_E3_Convert.php)

MarkWhile the Canon RS-60E3 is indeed only a remote control device the one that Tariq linked to is a timer for the 600D (amongst other cameras). If you look at the item description & read the feedback it is clear that it does work as an interval timer.

I stand corrected...
I Googled the model number and got the authentic Canon version, which didn't have a timer function.
Apparently Neewer makes this timer that Tariq is looking at and they give their product the same model number as the original manufacturer' items; same as with the Sony RM-S1AM Timer.
According to a video on fstoppers.com, they also produce some totally fake products like the Nikon battery grip discussed in this link.

Fake Nikon Gear Alert! D7000 MB-D11 Knockoff | Fstoppers (http://fstoppers.com/fakembd11)

Mark

Do you sometimes wonder if the original poster ever reply s to his post.

Magic Lantern is very handy.

Thanks guys. I have ordered it from Amazon and looking forward to using it and sharing my results with you all over the next few weeks.

I played with the Magic Lantern timelapse feature this weekend. It is a very handy addition to my T2i. It's not as simple to use as a timelapse controller, but does a bang up job of controlling the camera. One caveat... don't try to use it on New Years' Eve when you're around those who have had a few to drink. They tend to ask too many questions, get grabby with the gear, or stick their faces in front of the lens to "get their picture took".

Other than that, it's a neat "free" add on!

What are the pros and cons of Magic Lantern? I am so scared about installing it since my t3i is only 6 months old.

Are there negatives? I've only seen positives: easy timelapse, continuous recording, audio levels, focus aids while filming, faster 3X button assign, white balance by KELVIN...

So much easier to change white balance!!

Also: all you need to do is get macboot and spend 10 minutes configuring all your SD cards the same way and then all your cards are ready to go. Unlike things I had heard in the past, you can format your cards without losing magic bullet every time. (Before format, Magic Bullet puts the files in the camera's memory and then re-transfers to your SD card, so it's always there. Your formatted card even remembers your menu settings. And you simply transfer those same Magic Lantern files to your other cards to have identical settings. Easy cakes!)

And to the best of my knowledge no one has permanently damaged their cameras using Magic lantern.
Go on load it, you know you want to.

Don't want to be negative but Philip Bloom reported it bricked his 550D,I had it on mine for a while and it worked fine until one day the camera locked up, something it did not do before, I removed battery for a while and rebooted camera with memory card without ML on it. Everything was fine after that but it put me off ML.

For timelapses I use a cheap Intervalometer I got from ebay,does the job.

Has anybody had an issue with creating a time-lapse sequence from a tricky location?

I will be filming a wedding at this location Nawaab‎, Manchester, M19 3WN and would love to create a nice piece of time-lapse footage of clouds moving over the building. I had planned to park across the road and shoot from within my car until I realized that any car or truck passing buy would simply ruin the shot as its a busy road. I can kiss goodbye to my camera if I was to stand outside with it.

Any tips or advice would be great.

Tariq,

I'm trying lots of timelapses these days also, and by no means am an expert, but will offer a few observations I've made:

1. If no movement in the scene, it's very boring just watching sunset/sunrise in high speed. Need something moving. So if no clouds, I'd say forget it.
2. Clouds coming right at the camera is best, followed by laterally moving clouds. If you can check the weather report for that location and get the wind direction, and whether there are clouds, then try to set up your shot to get the clouds coming directly towards you.
3. I would not recommend shooting from a car, since any movement of the camera will likely result in some bad footage. You want the camera to be rock steady, especially during low light where the shutter stays open longer. (Personally, I like clouds shot on a video camera better than a series of still shots. Very fluid motion when shot in 24p.)
4. For your stills camera, use Aperture priority, and add a ND 0.9 to 1.8 depending on brightness of daylight For white balance I like to set a color temp to something slightly warm looking and leave it at that. If that option isn't available on your camera then I think you would be fine with AWB. You will need to snap a photo every few seconds so it looks as smooth as possible. The ND filter is supposed to help with smoothness also.
5. If shooting stills, shoot RAW and then you can easily tweek the colors, perhaps make the clouds look more purplish or whatever.

There're lots of other tips on this forum. I'm trying to follow of Jon Fairhurst's tips.

Good luck,

Mark

What are the pros and cons of Magic Lantern? I am so scared about installing it since my t3i is only 6 months old.
No cons whatsoever, it will transform your camera, and the way you use it. A must have for Canon DSLRs

Are you able to restore the camera to the factory settings should one want to sell it?

Google it, all the information you need is out there. To reiterate, install ML, it is a Canon transformer.

i read somewhere that because of the mirror to the eyepiece, that light can leak in there and create flicker, so putting some gaffer tape over the eyepiece might be a good idea

another tip might be to always consider your 180degreeshutterspeed

if you shoot 25fps and have your shutter at 50, then maybe consider a 2second shutter for your 4 second exposures

those are just technical tips, and Mark I appreciated your aesthetic tips above!

a static foreground object will definitely give depth and reference to the picture

moire can occur if you don't compress it right

I checked this shoot location [Nawaab‎, Manchester, M19 3WN, UK] on Google Map and can see the challenge for getting a decent time lapse. I would have approached the shop owners across the street from the banquet center and asked to shoot from inside one of those buildings, either ground floor or 2nd level. That health club looks good and would probably be off-center enough to keep the light pole out of frame.

Mark