Timelapse and slow shutter

[kubalsky]

Hello All,
Played around with some timelapse on Sunday. It was shot in Shibuya, a shopping area of Tokyo. Never short on crowds and traffic. I especially wanted to try some slow shutter night timelapse to get the stream of traffic effect. I had some success as you'll se on the last shot. It was set to Ex Slow Shutter 16 frames for that shot. Some shots have wobble because of the strong wind shaking the tripod, I also accidentally left it on auto focus at times so it goes in and out of focus here and there. Good fun though. Eventually I want to do some dolly and pan shots while interval recording. Has anyone done that?
Would like to hear any timelapse experiences or advice.
Heres the link, Thanks.

EDIT. VIdeo no longer up. Heres another one with some same shots reused. http://www.vimeo.com/778037

[Michael Hurdle]

Very Nice Work.

[tjpowers]

I love the motion blur on the last shot. Did you alter any picture profiles before shooting it? Do you know if the slow shutter introduces noise into the image? Seems like some grading would make that shot AWESOME.

I LOVE the video itself. I am from the Boston area but my girlfriends mother lives right up the street from where you shot that... between Shibuya and Roppongi. I love it there. So different from things around here. Do you have more scenic stuff from Tokyo posted anywhere? I would love to see it.

I really want to bring my EX1 on the next trip but it might be a bit much. I would love to do a panning timelapse from the middle of the road in Ginza on a sunday when they close the roads for foot traffic. By the way if you are interested in panning timelapse a la Philip Bloom or Tom Guilmette... look in to robotic telescope heads. Get one that you can modify and drive manually via the controller. That way you can mount your camera to it and move a given amount over the course of a long interval. Theres a youtube video. Search for panning timelapse.

Please let me know about other Tokyo vids. They make me happy :)

[kubalsky]

Thanks Michael.

tjpowers, I'm pretty sure I had the camera set on standard PP for the night shots although it may have still been set on Bill Raven's PP from earlier in the day.
I havent got anything else up on vimeo except some shots I did a few days later and combined with the first shoot. When I get time Ill create a longer sequence and add music. I have quite a bit of night footage but nothing Im proud of. Shaky stuff from when I first started using the camera.
I really recommend bringing your EX1 to Tokyo. It is an amazing camera for cruising around at night with. The camera picks the night light up beautifully. The short stuff you saw here doesn't do it justice.
That idea about a telescope head is brilliant. Ill look into it. Panning would be great.
Anyway, Ill try and get out more and film now the weather is good, Ill post here when I put something new up. Let me know if your'e in town.

thanks again, Kubalsky

[thxdave]

This unit is a little pricey:
http://www.harbortronics.com/productsSnap360.asp
but I've used their 2000-series timelapse modules:
http://www.harbortronics.com/products2000.asp
for shooting TL with small digital cameras. I think the telescope drive unit would be great if you can snag a used one somewhere.
dave

[tjpowers]

my buddy got a floor model telescope at BJs for 200 bucks and ripped the telescope off and mounted his camera on it with parts from home depot. works awesome.

[kubalsky]

I found a cheap motorized tripod head in a telescope store today that may support the EX1, see link bellow, its called MD-motor mount and is the fourth tripod head listed on the page. Its made in japan by Mizar. Its 17000yen which is about $150. Tried it out without camera and it seems smooth and slow. Could work but the Ex may be a little heavy for it so Im going to bring the camera in and try it out in store tomorrow. Ill let u know how it goes. Excited about the things I can do with this.

http://www.mizar-optical.com/tele/parts.html

[Stevet]

Looks good, you may want to invest in a heavier tripod, or was the the wind that bad?

[kubalsky]

Looks good, you may want to invest in a heavier tripod, or was the the wind that bad?

The tripod was extended to its height limit and there was strong wind on some shots but I think the movement was actually because I left it on auto focus by mistake in some shots so the focus is moving around.

[tjpowers]

I found a cheap motorized tripod head in a telescope store today that may support the EX1, see link bellow, its called MD-motor mount and is the fourth tripod head listed on the page. Its made in japan by Mizar. Its 17000yen which is about $150. Tried it out without camera and it seems smooth and slow. Could work but the Ex may be a little heavy for it so Im going to bring the camera in and try it out in store tomorrow. Ill let u know how it goes. Excited about the things I can do with this.

http://www.mizar-optical.com/tele/parts.html


Awesome. If I were there I would head down to akihabara and hit some of those small electronics shops that you can find every two feet. My Japanese isn't great, but if yours is Im sure you could find something there for next to nothing that moves really slowly.

The telescope mounts are nice because they are made to handle the weight of a telescope.

PS- I wish 17000 yen was 150 bucks... take a look at the rates these days. The dollar is crap!!

[kubalsky]

havent had a chance to get back to the shop yet but will do later this week. actually I live 10 min walk from akihabara and the telescope shop is close by, its a great place to wonder around if u have the time..and money. My Japanese isn't too bad but I must say some of the tech geek guys in the stores can be hard to communicate with even for Japanese people. Interesting place though.

[kubalsky]

I finally got time to testing the new MIZAR tripod head taht I picked up at a Telescope Shop here new for 17,000yen which is about $170. It is geared for horizontal and vertical pans at two speeds marked High and Low. It has a four button remote like a game controller that lets you move horizontally and vertically at the same time. Low is the speed I used on all these shots. It moves extremely slow on this setting and fluidly.....to my eye at least. Mostly horizontal pans with some simultanious vertical movement on a few shots. Looking forward to trying some more calculated vertical/horizontal movements in some short films I'll be uploading in the months to come.

Special thanks to THXDave and TJpowers for recommending telescope, geared tripod heads. They Rock!!

Once again. No sound. These are only test shots.

Cheers, kubalsky

http://www.vimeo.com/932669

[Sumfun]

Nice shots. I'm surprised you were able to stand on that corner without being told to move along.

[spa_edwards]

video not found? did you remove it?

[kubalsky]

video not found? did you remove it?

Try again. It happens sometimes.

[Steve Shovlar]

VIDEO not found and deleted.

[kubalsky]

Hmmm....thats odd. Its there but some people are getting the "Video not found" page.
Its had 65 viewings so someones managed to view it. I had the "Video deleted" pop up on one of my other clips the other day, maybe theyre server has a few bugs. All I can say is try again. If anyone else has the same problem post here so I know.
Thanks, Alex

[Gerald Loidl]

"Tokyo Timelapse Shibuya" not found
"Tokyo Timelapse Shibuya" was deleted at Wed Apr 16 10:23:56 2008. We have no more information about it on our mainframe or elsewhere.

[kubalsky]

Guys, I think some of you are clicking on the link I posted at beginning of this thread. That timelapse was deleted two weeks ago. I'm talking about my newest tests titled MOTION. Once again here is the link

http://www.vimeo.com/932669

Alex