SF Bay Time Lapse

[Drew599]

This is something I just did over the weekend. There are two clips in this link. The first was just a test of what the stars would look like and the reason why its so short is because it was really cold out. The second one I drove around SF looking for something to shoot and found a nice view.

http://599productions.com/SFBay.html

[Blaine]

I enjoyed the shot of the bridge. I haven't shot any time lapse. Is it something that's been covered here? If not can you give a brief explanation?

[Drew599]

It has been covered in length here. Just do a search under my posts and you'll find out how I did it. I just wish I could post this in the clips section so more people could see it.

[Tainted]

Nice!

BTW, I've done a couple of really interesting foggy time-lapses in SF with my GS400 last summer. If anyone is interested, you can check them out here (http://www.swerbo.com/index.php?s=fog).

[Drew599]

I checked out the first fog clip and it looked really cool. I've been thinking about getting into doing some day timelapse but I love doing it at night too much. I'm sure I'll find something that I can get in the day.

[JimtheJib]

i was wondering what settings you used for the stars moving (tainted)?

[Tainted]

I didn't do the stars, I did the fog. BTW, my other clip was one of the most amazing natural sights I've ever seen. The sun coming through the fog did the most incredible phaziness craziness I've ever seen in real life. People ask me all the time what I did in post to make it look like that, but I swear to God it actually looked like that in real life. It had a circle of yellow, a circle of orange, and a circle of red with clearly-defined edges. The refraction of the sun through the fog was simply ridiculous.

[WaveRiderXIX]

NIiicice stuff Drew.

Your time lapses are awesome.
But aren't you afraid of the wear and tear on the shutter?

[Drew599]

I do think about the wear and tear on the shutter. But I've sold enough of these clips to pay for a new one when the time comes.

[WaveRiderXIX]

I do think about the wear and tear on the shutter. But I've sold enough of these clips to pay for a new one when the time comes.

Nice. Does that mean we will be seeing these shots in a movie intro some day? :D


Tainted, just saw the fog rolling in. Awesome.
What were the settings on your cam when you shot those?
And was it a Nikon or Canon?

[Tainted]

Tainted, just saw the fog rolling in. Awesome.
What were the settings on your cam when you shot those?
And was it a Nikon or Canon?

Was my loley GS400 in manual mode (I'm lurking here b/c I'm close to buying a DVX100A/B), which BTW doesn't have interval recording. I'm not sure if I applied any fx in vegas like 24p or movie looks -- can't remember now. But I just shot 30 minutes of footage and used an app called Scenalyzer to capture it as time-lapse. I could have just brought it all into my NLE, but the AVI would be freakin' huge for no really good reason, and NLE's can only speed up so fast. Scenalyzer (besides being a cool capture app) permits you to capture x frames for every y frames on tape, and then it lines them up right next to each other as 60i. Not as good as interval functionality, but it works.

[Drew599]

WaveRiderXIX, I wish I could sell my stuff to a big production and cash in. But for right now I have to do small things like websites and infomercials. I'm also using some of these clips in addition to some new ones that I haven't posted here yet for a short that I'm going to start shooting once my HVX comes in. Which should be sometime this month...I hope. I'll post it here when I have some stuff to show.

[dustindementia]

Hey Drew,

Thanks for sharing the amazing footage. I read a while back that Tim Burton's Corpse Bride was shot with a Canon 1Ds.

Could you please point to the forum where you explain how you made those images? I would like to know the timing and exposure for the shots.

I am however concerned with damaging my shutter. Does this method really put that much stress on the camera?

Thanks,
D

[Drew599]

Dustin, I also heard that "Corpse Bride" was shot with a Digital SLR. I'm not sure which one but the 1Ds would be a good choice.

I all honesty I'm not sure where the section I posted all the details on how to do this went. There use to be a section in the screen grabs scetion where you could post anything. But that changed. I'm sure its still somewhere on this site. Just do a seach under all my posts that I've done here.

I've been told that doing timelapse with a digital SLR will wear out the shutter and it would make sence that it would. But if you just do it every once in a while you should get another camera before the shutter wears out. If I keep doing this I'm sure it will fail on me. But I have the money to buy a new shutter when that time comes. I've been told its around $200. Not sure if that's right or not but it sounds right.

If for some reason you can't find that section where I posted how to do this just let me know.

[Dyan]

Does anyone know if there is a remote similar to the Canon TC-80N3 but for the Nikon D50/D70s? I've looked around but the only things I have found or seen suggested on these forums are the ML-L3 or the MC-20, but with both I would end up wearing my finger to the bone.

I think I've exhausted the search, but figured I might take a shot in the dark here and see if there is a proper timer remote for the lower end Nikon DSLRs.

Otherwise I know I can just use Nikon Capture and a Laptop, I would just prefer to not lug it around with me.

Thanks.

[xl70e3]

Drew, not that you'd change the camera now, but maybe someone else will find this interesting...
You made want to try and shoot some time-lapse with my Dynax (Maxxum in US) 7D (your stuff is great, really inspiring). I got it back in May and I love it. Had a few good lenses left from old Minolta film SLR so that was one of the reasons for the choice, plus I did a lot of research before springing for my first DSLR. Here (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/konicaminolta7d/) is the camera.
Anyway, I couldn't be happier with it, but I had a friend upgrade firmware on it at some (not really official) place. To speed up processing, menu and stuff. But it's only today that I realized what my baby is capable of now... In Continuous shooting mode I can take *get this* AS MUCH PICTURES AS I WANT. I don't have a remote yet, so I only got to 113 photos (at 4 sec exposure) before my finger was hurting too much. But 113! Geez, all the specs list 7D at 19/JPEG and 9/RAW... I used Continuous mode a lot before, but just never really paid attention to the number of frames. It's your other thread (LAX, where you explained why you chose 20D over Rebel) that made me wonder about this particular spec, so I just took the camera and started shooting until I got over 19 frames. And right after that I placed it on tripod pointed to the sky out of the window and did the 113-frames run (really nothing special picture-wise, but I can post it).

Soo, if anyone is looking to do time-lapse photography, this is not only a great cam for the task, but a darn good DSLR overall, that I personally like more than both Digital Rebels (haven't tried 10/20D or D70 yet).

[WaveRiderXIX]

You made want to try and shoot some time-lapse with my Dynax (Maxxum in US) 7D

I heard Konica is officially discontinued and will be merged with Sony. And that Sony is going to take the Minolta technology under their wing. So then there would be Canon.. Nikon... and now Sony.

is that true?

[MattinSTL]

yeah... I feel somehow sad about it... and a little excited. I always wanted to listen to mp3s with my dslr while doing spec work.

[Drew599]

xl70e3, thanks for the info on the camera. I looked at it and the specs really don't do anything for me. I'm glad that its working out for you. Be careful trying to do timelapse holding your finger on the button. You will see movement. I don't know about you but I have to redo stuff if I see that. But thanks for looking at my stuff.

Also I went and changed my site. So now all of the static timelapse shots are in one place with two different files sizes. Check out the link below.

[xl70e3]

That's what I was saying, the specs are nothing special in that area. But by upgrading firmware you get unlimited number of frames in Continuous shooting mode. It processes and writes pics down onto the CF card fast enough not to use buffer at all. Even at long exposures.
Oh, and I'm definately getting a remote, won't even try doing this with a finger again lol

Just checked your site. Cool stuff :) Saved both timelapse videos. But, aren't you gonna put SF and LAX ones there too?

[Drew599]

xl70e3, both the SF and LAX clips should be in that one timelapse clip. I just recently changed the site. So you might have to clear your cookies then go to the site. The page should have a B&W picture in the background.

That's cool that your camera can keep up with your shooting. I wasn't trying to say anything bad about that. The camera that I had problems with the buffer filling up was the 300D Digital Rebel. My 20D takes it all. That drivelapse sequence I did was 813 frames, all shot in a row. Of course I also shoot my timelapse stuff in the medium format to give myself more space on the card. I'm thinking about going down to the small jpg because I just need stuff to match my HVX or the 720p specs. All of the clips that I've sold have been DV rez. So if they aren't up to 1920x1080 I don't think anyone is going to cry about it.

[xl70e3]

Yeah, not much point in having 2k+ res pics for what will end up on an SD tv screen, anyway.

I found both clips, btw. It's just that I saved the video before fully watching it at first hehe

[Boy]

hey, nice timelapses... it's cool to see another's takes on the idea.
here are a few of mine i used in my latest film: http://www.colinpeddle.com/hiatus/chris_nicholas_timelapses.mov
all were shot on a canon 20d

[Drew599]

Boy, the stuff looked really good. I was trying to figure out how you did that star stuff and I think I did. Did you shot the longest exposure first and then work your way back to a shorter one. Then in post play it in the reverse order you captured them in?

[Boy]

Boy, the stuff looked really good. I was trying to figure out how you did that star stuff and I think I did. Did you shot the longest exposure first and then work your way back to a shorter one. Then in post play it in the reverse order you captured them in?
ah nope but good guess, what i did was shot a series of 30 second exposures and then brought them into AE and set the blending mode to lighten on all of the layers. this will essentially contribute only the brightest pixels from each given frame to the overall image. i then staggered the layers such that a new layer was added every frame, so the timeline starts to look like an ascending staircase as a new layer is added every frame. (and consequently the render time increases exponentially :P) . anyway i figured this method out because that's how i shoot star trails anyway - in a series of shorter exposures so the sky doesn't blow out due to light pollution. it's just i do the work in photoshop. actually come to think of it all i did was composite the original image together in photoshop, saved as a PSD with 70 odd layers, and then imported it into AE as a comp so everything like the blending modes were already set up and intact... just needed to stagger the layers over time. i really wanted to simulate what it looks like as the image is being exposed on the film.. err sensor.

[Taylor Moore]

Great stuff guys,
Boy did you do the Pans and tilts in AE as well?

Also if anyone is interested in selling their timelapse footage my good buddy Rene has a site where he specializes in timelapse shooting and sales. Also alot better deal that you will get with either Getty Images or Artbeats.

www.timelapsedigital.com