Anyone tried to do timelapse-alike at DVinfo.net

James Connors · February 15th, 2005, 10:01 AM

with the inbuilt function to take short video every so often? annoyingly it doesn't combine the frame record and the inbuilt "timelapse" (I forget what its labeled as... interval record?) to do proper 1 frame per x minutes etc style, but nevermind.

i never found anything interesting enough to point my camera at for such a long time (whilst keeping the camera safe from being stolen!) so has anyone else? what were the results like?

Boyd Ostroff · February 15th, 2005, 10:08 AM

My VX-2000 has an identical feature which I used once to film a snowstorm overnight. I set it to shoot 1/2 sec every 30 secs (I think) and let it run almost 12 hours. I then sped the results up to create a 10 second clip that was pretty interesting.

However for shorter timelapse projects you're better to just let the tape roll, then capture and speed up in post as long as you don't exceed the limit of a 60 minute tape. I have done this extensively to shoot skies with moving clouds and the results are terrific. Only downside is that you need to capture the full hour tape which eats up disk space. But after speeding up the results I then export the final clip and delete the original capture file.

Another option for timelapse would be to connect your camera to e a laptop computer running some special software. On the Mac BTV Pro will do this, although I have never used this feature myself.

James Connors · February 16th, 2005, 03:25 AM

Yeah thats a good idea, alas impossible with the 950 as it shuts down after inactivity... but the VX and the PD's don't, so could try it with that.

Big fan of Koyaanisqatsi, so really should take a stab at doing some work like this at some point :)

Tom Hardwick · February 18th, 2005, 09:23 AM

Big fan of Koyaanisqatsi here too! Like Boyd says, shooting in real time lets you make your decisions later - on the timeline. The interval record feature doesn't work too well for most subjects as the 12 frames released are in real time, then the long wait till the same thing happens again.

I filmed from a 'cross-counrty' chair lift in Austria. Used the TRV900 in real time and boy, did my arms scream blue murder with the ache after 22 minutes. But on the timeline I could ramp up the speed to 3000x (you read that right) and decelerate before entering the chair lift's base station. The swooping over hills and valleys is a pretty impressive piece of timelapse.

tom.

James Connors · February 18th, 2005, 10:01 AM

Hehe sounds fun! Definitely feel you on the 22mins thing, I shoot my PD150 handheld at gigs, and I have to keep it as stable as possible for 30-35 min sets, and try not to let it go to hell during the splits between songs.. it HURTS. I've done up to 8 bands in a day once, and I've sure felt it the day after.

Would definitely go for the realtime method, but it restricts you to 90mins (in LP) recording alas, no impressive day to night visuals unless you have a harddisk recorder or something. But yeah, thats the problem with the 12frames method, i'm sure it'd still look interesting mind, but possibly unusable!

Jesse Rosten · February 18th, 2005, 10:09 AM

Another option is to use a digital still camera and a laptop running a remote capture utility. Depending on your subject matter, this method may work better for you. Here's a timelapse I did of some clouds using a Canon 10d and a laptop.

http://www.savvyproductions.com/clouds.mov

Boyd Ostroff · February 18th, 2005, 10:33 AM

That was a nice clip Jesse! Are you limited to 640x480 when using the laptop with a still camera? As mentioned above, BTV Pro can capture to your laptop from both still and video cameras. You can capture continuous DV output via firewire to your hard disk, or set it for time lapse. It seems very versatile for this sort of thing, but I haven't explored those possibilities.

I have also thought of using my Nikon digital camera to capture stills at intervals. The nice thing about that wouild be you could get HD resolution. You could import the series of JPEG's into your NLE afterwards. Seems like a lot of work though...

Jesse Rosten · February 18th, 2005, 10:45 AM

No, you are not limited to DV resolution. In fact the video has a resolution around 3000 X 2000 much higher than HiDef - more like a 2k DI!!! Whatever the megapixel of your still camera is the resolution you end up with.

It's great working with this resolution cause you can pan and zoom your footage in a DV timeline without losing any res. Most NLE's have a function that allow you to import still frames and treat them like video. I used AE to import the frames and turn it into uncompressed SD timelapse.

February 15th, 2005, 10:01 AM	#1
James Connors Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cardiff, UK Posts: 223	Anyone tried to do timelapse-alike with the inbuilt function to take short video every so often? annoyingly it doesn't combine the frame record and the inbuilt "timelapse" (I forget what its labeled as... interval record?) to do proper 1 frame per x minutes etc style, but nevermind. i never found anything interesting enough to point my camera at for such a long time (whilst keeping the camera safe from being stolen!) so has anyone else? what were the results like?

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February 15th, 2005, 10:08 AM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	My VX-2000 has an identical feature which I used once to film a snowstorm overnight. I set it to shoot 1/2 sec every 30 secs (I think) and let it run almost 12 hours. I then sped the results up to create a 10 second clip that was pretty interesting. However for shorter timelapse projects you're better to just let the tape roll, then capture and speed up in post as long as you don't exceed the limit of a 60 minute tape. I have done this extensively to shoot skies with moving clouds and the results are terrific. Only downside is that you need to capture the full hour tape which eats up disk space. But after speeding up the results I then export the final clip and delete the original capture file. Another option for timelapse would be to connect your camera to e a laptop computer running some special software. On the Mac BTV Pro will do this, although I have never used this feature myself.

February 16th, 2005, 03:25 AM	#3
James Connors Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cardiff, UK Posts: 223	Yeah thats a good idea, alas impossible with the 950 as it shuts down after inactivity... but the VX and the PD's don't, so could try it with that. Big fan of Koyaanisqatsi, so really should take a stab at doing some work like this at some point :)

February 18th, 2005, 09:23 AM	#4
Tom Hardwick Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Billericay, England UK Posts: 4,711	Big fan of Koyaanisqatsi here too! Like Boyd says, shooting in real time lets you make your decisions later - on the timeline. The interval record feature doesn't work too well for most subjects as the 12 frames released are in real time, then the long wait till the same thing happens again. I filmed from a 'cross-counrty' chair lift in Austria. Used the TRV900 in real time and boy, did my arms scream blue murder with the ache after 22 minutes. But on the timeline I could ramp up the speed to 3000x (you read that right) and decelerate before entering the chair lift's base station. The swooping over hills and valleys is a pretty impressive piece of timelapse. tom.

February 18th, 2005, 10:01 AM	#5
James Connors Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cardiff, UK Posts: 223	Hehe sounds fun! Definitely feel you on the 22mins thing, I shoot my PD150 handheld at gigs, and I have to keep it as stable as possible for 30-35 min sets, and try not to let it go to hell during the splits between songs.. it HURTS. I've done up to 8 bands in a day once, and I've sure felt it the day after. Would definitely go for the realtime method, but it restricts you to 90mins (in LP) recording alas, no impressive day to night visuals unless you have a harddisk recorder or something. But yeah, thats the problem with the 12frames method, i'm sure it'd still look interesting mind, but possibly unusable!

February 18th, 2005, 10:09 AM	#6
Jesse Rosten Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Redding, California Posts: 114	Another option is to use a digital still camera and a laptop running a remote capture utility. Depending on your subject matter, this method may work better for you. Here's a timelapse I did of some clouds using a Canon 10d and a laptop. http://www.savvyproductions.com/clouds.mov

February 18th, 2005, 10:33 AM	#7
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	That was a nice clip Jesse! Are you limited to 640x480 when using the laptop with a still camera? As mentioned above, BTV Pro can capture to your laptop from both still and video cameras. You can capture continuous DV output via firewire to your hard disk, or set it for time lapse. It seems very versatile for this sort of thing, but I haven't explored those possibilities. I have also thought of using my Nikon digital camera to capture stills at intervals. The nice thing about that wouild be you could get HD resolution. You could import the series of JPEG's into your NLE afterwards. Seems like a lot of work though...

February 18th, 2005, 10:45 AM	#8
Jesse Rosten Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Redding, California Posts: 114	No, you are not limited to DV resolution. In fact the video has a resolution around 3000 X 2000 much higher than HiDef - more like a 2k DI!!! Whatever the megapixel of your still camera is the resolution you end up with. It's great working with this resolution cause you can pan and zoom your footage in a DV timeline without losing any res. Most NLE's have a function that allow you to import still frames and treat them like video. I used AE to import the frames and turn it into uncompressed SD timelapse.