Timelapse Thread
 

I put together a short edit of some timelapse footage I've been shooting in my free time around Tokyo with my EX1. Experimenting with the EX Slow Shutter function and Cine1-4 Picture Profile settings at night. I thought I'd place it in this section in the hope of starting a timelapse thread here where people might share footage and tips. Speaking of tips does anyone know a better way to upload 720p quicktime files to vimeo? I'm not sure why my footage looks so compressed on the upload. Last Train To Beethoven on Vimeo

Anyway. Most shots in this piece were shot with the Sony Wide Angle Adapter. Slow Shutter 16 Frames. Some of the more saturated color shots were done using Bill Ravens 2nd PP but most were shot using a simple Cine1 setting that gave a much more muted image and retain alot more detail in the black. Only 2 shots were shot using the Letus Extreme and are noticeably less sharp.

Thanks. Alex.

As I said in my Vimeo comment, It's disturbingly surreal at times, turning a city transit system into a giant toy train set.

But interested in whether this is a final grade. Maybe it's to do with the encoding, but would like to see a slightly more dark-weighted grade based on what I see on my Mac laptop screen. All tones present and correct, but compressing rather than crushing the blacks might give a bit of richness and punch.

Very interesting look, Andrew. I do agree with Matt, too, about the look of the blacks. I wish there was some more depth to those blacks and not look so pale. The look you got with the 16 frame mode was very cool. It was interesting to see that the only sharp thing in those crowd shots were the people's feet. Their footfalls were the only thing that stayed stationary long enough to accumulate a sharp image....very interesting. My only good TL footage so far has been some good cloud formations but nothing long-form such as this. Very good work.

On a side note but related, are you still in contact with the guys in Japan where you were getting the geared/motorized camera mounts? I wanted to order one last year but never got around to it but they really make TL footage look great. Any updates?

Nice job, Alex. I commented on Vimeo as well. Perhaps an adjustment to the profile would increase some of the blacks - but lets face it, you are shooting TL - so light is accumulating. Blacks lighten! It's tricky to keep them dark. Certainly this can be adjusted in post, but in camera, a special PP would need to be implemented to keep the contrast rich.

And I know you weren't asking for this, but the pacing was very cool - particularly the last minute.

Thanks!

Thanks guys.
I should probably try adjusting the blacks but I was so impressed with the way the camera could see into pitch black like that that I left it all ungraded. The original footage is 1080 24P and shows a lot more subtle shades of black in the shadows. It looks much better than the uploaded version. The vimeo compression definately hasnt helped the dark areas at all. The 720P version I have on my desktop looks much better too. I would have thought the vimeo upload would look identical but it doesnt. Anyone know why?

If I had more time I would have liked to have shot some panning shots with the Mizar Motor Mount for the finally. Its a great tool but hard to justify lugging around an extra 2kg. A lot of walking to get those shots. I'm still in touch with the Mizar guys. They have talked about making a few products for Digital Film Makers including a new motor mount but it will be some time yet.

Alex, do the Mizar guys still sell the head that was popular here several months ago? What were they proposing? Also, very nice job cutting to the music, too....forgot to add that compliment the first time!

Hi Dave, Yes they do still sell it. A future Mount aimed at the DV market will have greater speed control and a better base if I remember correctly. The current one is great value for what you get though. Try googling KD Motor Mount by Mizar Optics. Lonnie is the guy who deals with international sales. Let me know if you cant find the site.

alex

This is the kinda thing you can do with the Mizar, its very cool:

Agua Blanca Sunrise Timelapse - Test on Vimeo

Paul

I've got some time lapse in these two, first one was almost total darkness most of the time. Amazing how much light is actually there once you watch the video... I believe both were 32frame slo shutter set to take a frame every second. Plus I used my crude nighttime profile which just has everything pushed very far.

Dumont Dunes, New Years Eve 2008 on Vimeo

Nellis Airforce Base at dusk on Vimeo

EDIT hey I have a question. How are you guys shooting the sun for hours on end without hurting the camera? I would think it would cook an ND filter or burn off a coating or something!

Wow Alexander that was a really nice piece. Thought the cut to the music was great. I like the frame accumulation modes in that kind of urban environment, without lots of leaves or branches to blur out. I agree though with the other comments about the blacks.

Interesting that this thread should come up at this time. I've got a two day time-lapse shoot of a small construction project later this week. 1080p, 1 frame per 30 sec and slow shutter set at 64 looked pretty good in a test today. I experimented with both auto and manual iris and think that auto may be the way to go considering light changes throughout the day.

See any problems with this plan?

Sounds like a good plan Bill. I haven't shot any slow shutter with auto iris but it seems like the way to go. Will the shot be a full two days from day to night and back again?

The work will start about an hour after sunrise and end before dusk, weather permitting. With the sun peaking in and out throughout the day there isn't a single iris setting suitable for both, hence auto. My tests today, while lacking somewhat in the character that lighting changes would have added, looked fine in auto. I changed the interval from 30 seconds to 10 just in case.

Can't beat the shooting location, though. The concrete front steps/porch of my house are being ripped out and replaced with beautiful stone. Worked a partial barter with the stonemason in trade for cinematography and editing. The new currency.

Will work for steps!

I can tell you from experience that auto is not the way to go for any timelapse. It will ruin the shot totally because even clouds covering the sun etc will affect it and all your time will have been wasted.

One tip I got off a film guy doing timelapse from day to night was to use one exposure for the day until the sun goes down, then another exposure for night and then do a subtle cross dissolve between the two states in post. I have yet to try it properly though. But I'd say it stands more chance of being successful than an auto iris.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Simon. I've got an opportunity during demolition today to experiment with a fixed iris and compare the results to auto before I must commit. The shot starts off in the shade, then full sun, then back to shade. Getting the setting right will be tricky. Perhaps the best route would be to check the setting in full sun at high noon and stick with it throughout the day.

Hi guys
Perhaps this is an appropriate place to ask a question I had about time lapse. I was experimenting with my new EX1 over the Christmas break trying to take some shots of flowers opening, etc. and I discovered that the length of my shots appears to be dictated by the battery - ie even if I am shooting one frame every 5 minutes the camera does not automatically power itself off and then power back on again to take the frame... Is that right? Do you have to be connected to a DC out source to use this feature over long periods of time?
Or is the camera saving battery in some way I didn't notice?
This just makes it difficult to take day long exposures like the ones described by Bill if you are out in the wilds far from a DC power source. I live in Zimbabwe, Africa, so it is tempting to do quite a lot of nature type stuff which would be many miles from the nearest electrical wall socket.
Anyone got any ideas on this? Change batteries, start a new clip with the same settings, making sure you don't bump the camera and combine the clips in post?
Simon

At some point, one has to consider doing timelapse the old fashioned way - with a DSLR. Plenty of little magic boxes to run them off car batteries, take images when something happens, be out in the open for weeks or months in locked down enclosures and so on.

A couple of things to note: DSLRs can work in raw mode, which means exposure variation and white balance can be sorted out in post, and that most shoot at a high enough resolution that - with a good wide - you can do some pan & scan work even at 1080p with resolution to spare.

The EX's timelapse and over/undercrank are great 'tricks' but it's not exactly industrial strength. Even a little Pentax Optio had a 99 frame 'all day' timelapse function that got me some great 4 second shots.

BTW, I had a great 'cloudscape' shot ruined recently when a robin decided to sit on the lens shade for a while. Big c/u of birdie bottom. I can only be thankful he was 'empty'.

Funny how stuff somehow decides to plant itself right in front of the camera while doing timelapse huh? Happened two or three times while I was doing the Dumont timelapse. Once while filming the moon sinking below a dune a friggen sandrail parks right in front of the moon. That is VERY hard to do it was very steep... they had to go to alot of trouble. Then as I pulled the camera back another rail did the same thing. Neither of those shots made it in the video. But later while I was filming us around the campfire you can see the big truck that parked in front of us... that was not planned... They NEVER park there.. but since I had the camera running of course they did.

I still used that shot..

How do you guys film the sun all day without damaging the camera? Wouldn't it cook an ND filter or something?

I've not done very long timelapse, but long enough to cook the videographer! In Morocco and Spain, I've fashioned little camera hats out of hotel face flannels (usually white) and tin foil - not wrapping the camera, just bouncing off the direct sunlight and letting lots of air circulate round it.

As for cooking NDs, you'd have to point it at the sun I think...

BTW, heard stories about the viewfinder being damaged by extremely hot sunlight, though IIRC a loupe style magnifier may have been involved, in which case, hardly surprising. To bear in mind if you use a Hood Pro.

LOL about the robin! Better a ruined shot than a crappy camera, usually...

Of course you are right about DSLR. For any serious, extended-duration timelapse job (ie, a large enough budget), there are far better options than an EX. But I've got this hammer that can drive a screw, the workflow down pat and it will definitely wow my barter client (as his craftmanship wows me).

Speaking of timelapse, I offer more observations regarding manual vs auto iris. A 3 hour test from mid-afternoon to almost dusk while in manual iris was gorgeous in full sun with lots of shadow play. That is, until it neared dusk and levels sank in the mud. So I'm thinking of setting a fixed iris until I lose direct sun, then change to auto for the duration.

I was thinking how annoyed you must have been when the car parked in the shot. It always happens that way. The dune scenes with the lights are amazing. looks like science fiction.

I have never shot anything long enough to have cooked the sensor. Its a scary thought though. Maybe soemone else could answer that one.

a.

The biggest problem I find is with birds. Quite how some people manage to shoot great cloud timelapses without them darting throughout the shot is beyond me.

Simon, can you spell... s-h-o-t-g-u-n?

;o)

Is this a realistic option? For a 30 clip, I just couldn't see manipulating 900 frames individually or is there a more automatic way to do it. (I have no experience working with raw--dunno what software capabilities are out there.)

Could you elaborate? I was thinking that either Sony EX or the Pany HPX-170 would be great solutions.

Wish it was that simple. They're a bit more controlling of weapons in this country! Besides wouldn't that just replace entire birds in the shot with lots of feathers? ;-)

Thanks Alex. The truck worked out, kind of adds to the organic feel to the scene I guess. But I did want to see the moon disappear behind the dune which I was not able to film thanks to the sandrail.

I only asked about shooting the sun directly because it just seems like the prefect way to destroy a camera. Especially one with such a large aperture as ours. Gather sunlight from a relatively large area and focus it onto an area of 1/2 inch. I've seen what that does to ants... LOL

I debirdify my clips in AE. No choice. The birds are always messing things up...

You can run the EX cameras from a car battery via the DC input connector. Probably having a fuse between the camera and the car battery would be adviseable. Other alternative is a large(ish) 12V SLA battery. A 17AH SLA should run the camera for around 12 hours and is relatively cheap if you don't mind the weight. Both these options allow for simple charging from a vehicle as it's being driven.

A more expensive, lighter and more complex to charge option is the Li-Ion brick batteries with a D-Tap. We've been using ones made in China with the Comer brand name. Cables to power the EX from these are available or you can roll your own.

buy a cheap 20 dollar inverter from autozone and just use the power supply that came with the EX camera. The inverter plugs into the cigarette light of the car.

That is a bad idea! Depending on how long your shooting, you won't be able to start the car and get home! Since the point of this exercise is to shoot in a remote location, getting home is an important priority!

I just bought one of these 'silent generators'. It has a 18aH battery with an inverter built in. My first attempt at a time lapse, using a still camera and laptop, was less than stellar but the battery wasn't fully charged.

isnt that where the interval record comes into play? I know over and under crank is limited for timelapse options, but when you start playing in the interval record menu, you get a lot of options.

Andy the small ones (inverters) don't draw much, but hopefully they have two trucks? One could jump the other. Or they also sell batteries used to jump start cars. You could also use the jump start battery to power the ex camera..

Those usually have a light and air compressor built in too. Just throwing out ideas.

Aye, the one I have has 18aH battery, silly LED work light, air compressor, inverter and even a USB power jack.

what if you start the car every so often? let it run for a bit to keep the charge built up. I know with my truck you can start and stop the engine and it wont affect the power output through an inverter. but I am also fortunate enough to have two batteries so i dont have to worry about it too much. AND if you have a manual, you can always push start it! hahaha.

Still got the Tacoma? Mine does momentarily disrupt the lighter when you start.

And starting is a huge drain on the battery--you're better off leaving the car running. Certainly doable--on a certain September day in 2001, I ran a camera and microwave off of my car for hours but that is an expensive generator.

no, sold that before i left AK. had the 4runner for a bit, then moved to a dodge ram 2500 with a cummins. hence the two batteries.

but your right, it would be better just to let it run all day (not environmentally friendly, but in a pinch). I remember the toyota's did disrupt the power, which is why I checked on my truck. its really nice to have. I still need to get a big inverter though so I can run lights for standups at remote locations every now and then.

Thanks for that Bob, I have looked this up now and it seems like the only way to do what I want.

On EX timelapse not being 'industrial strength'...

Full-on timelapse kits allow for fractional intervals, external triggers, external power, working in conjunction with mechanised tilt/swivel, it's a bit more compact, and you avoid issues when shooting slow-shutter 32 frames with 1 frame per second...


and when using a stills camera for timelapse...

QuickTime will batch convert a folder full of stills into a QuickTime movie. Keep this at the native resolution and use AfterEffects or Motion to do your Ken Burns (or for UK folks 'Ken Morse') effects.

But don't get me wrong. I'm ALWAYS using the timelapse & slow shutter modes of my EX1 and it's one of the biggest reasons for going EX for me.

You mentioned using raw with the implication that you could even out w/b or exposure problems. Is there anyway to do this? Again, at least semi-automatically. I dunno--keyframing the problem areas?

Do you have any examples posted anyware?

I did a very short TL using Quicktime and my old Nikon Coolpix 990 seen here:

Twilight timelapse on Vimeo

Very easy to do and I'm much prefer having this camera (or similar) tied up on a job instead of my EX1.