The Big DSLR (tracking) Time-Lapse Thread!

[Tom Lowe]

I have a bunch of questions and ideas about time-lapse.

I just got a Canon Rebel XT and I want to start shooting time-lapse sequences. My ultimate goal is to be able to do motion-control (at least dolly and pan) like in the movie Baraka. But for now I just want to get started. And I want to keep the system as simple and light as possible, so I can shoot in the mountains, etc.

So the first thing I need is a remote trigger/intervalometer. I am looking at the following products:

1) The Canon TC-80N3 Timer with cable modified to include mating plugs to allow normal use (http://www.hapg.org/astrocables.htm)
This is the standard remote intervalometer, but it needs to be modified to trigger the 350D XT.

2) The Zigview R (http://www.adi-digital.com/Zigview/Zigview_R/Zigview_R.htm)
This is a cool-looking angled eye-piece thing that also works as an intervalometer. I don't know about having a power source for it, though.

3) The Time Machine (http://www.bmumford.com/photo/camctlr.html)
This thing looks awesome, but it's very expensive. One of the benefits of this machine is that it can trigger a stepper motor, which in theory could pull or push the camera along a dolly for tracking shots.

Any suggestions on which would be the best?

Next, I need some kind of way to SLOWLY move the camera down a long, curved track (about ten feet). What I was thinking of doing is using ten feet of large-gauge model-train track, at a slightly curved angle (to simulate panning on distant objects), and somehow either powering a "rail car" down the track with a stepper motor, or using a stepper motor or heavy clock motor as a winch to slowly reel the "car" up the track. For example, the "rail car," which would have my DSLR mounted and fixed on top of it with a standard tripod head, might move ten feet down the track in 10 hours. If I was shooting in daylight I guess my shutter speeds would be fast enough not to worry about the very slow motion of the stepper blurring the shots. (At night with long exposures my stepper motor would have to be timed to move between exposures... which is something I think the Time Machine can do).

So I would need to figure out several things:

1) Either choose a model train track and flatcar I can mount my DSLR on and somehow set up a drivetrain from an onboard stepper motor (would this cause camera vibration?) to propel the car down the dolly tack, or pull it along a tack with a motor winch (but this will be a little troublesome because of the curved track).

2) Another option might be to use a robotic-type linear slide powered by a stepper motor.

http://www.motioncontrol-products.com/SingleAxisLinearStepperMotor.jpg

I don't know much about these. It would have to be able to travel down a slightly curved rail, and be big and powerful enough to mount the DSLR on. The only real "control" I would need is to be able to set the stepper motor's RPM. This way I could do some tests and figure out how fast the motor needs to turn in order to move the camera 10 feet down the track in ten hours or whatever.

I'd like to make a stand for this whole track system on six saw-table-like telescoping legs, so I could easily level it in remote, rugged locations. This would bring the whole track up to about torso level.

General time lapse question: How do I control the exposure on a long day-to-night timelapse, when lighting changes are very dramatic. Is the camera set to auto exposure? Will I have to do those types of shots tethered to my laptop with remote capture software?

Any thoughts or other other ideas about how to do all of this?

[dsleep]

I wish I had more answers, I am looking into all of this stuff right now. Bonus points for mentioning Baraka, beautifully shot.

you shouldnt have to tether to a laptop for basic time lapse work. beyond that I have more questions than answers....

[Tom Lowe]

Just an update here. The Zigview R is not really an option for this type of thing, because its internal battery only lasts about 4 hours, so you'd have to power it externaly.

I've been thinking of using a simple wind-up clock motor to slowly propel the dolly car down a track. This would only be good for day-time stuff, though, because it would have no interval option, which would be needed for long night exposures. However, the clock motor option is cheap! I just have to figure out a way to gear a spring-driven clock motor to a drivetrain on a "locamotive" platform where the camera would be mounted. The cool thing about powering the dolly car with an onboard motor is that the track length is easily scalable. You could potentially do 20- or 30-foot dolly moves with your DSLR timelapse shots!

[queglay]

i've never needed to use a timer for that stuff myself. i just use my 350d with a cable that i made myself (why would i buy a switch thats 100$) to keep it shooting pics onto an 8gb card. more than enough space to shoot heaps of hd content.

i was considering the timer for a while which i would have just made myself, but i realised the easiest and i think better way to do it is control the duration of the shot with nd filters. i always like the blur in between frames. so you just end up controlling your frame rate that way and just have the camera set to speed priority. works like a charm and its also incredibly compact!

but of course, your limited to the maximum of 30 second exposures, which for me isn't much of a problem. you just have to remember to turn off noise reduction because that can add varying delays between shots while its computing it.

we are thinking of setting one up on a gig im doing at the moment over a 3 month period and will need to use a computer though. what capture software could i use do you think?

[Tom Lowe]

i've never needed to use a timer for that stuff myself. i just use my 350d with a cable that i made myself (why would i buy a switch thats 100$) to keep it shooting pics onto an 8gb card. more than enough space to shoot heaps of hd content.

i was considering the timer for a while which i would have just made myself, but i realised the easiest and i think better way to do it is control the duration of the shot with nd filters. i always like the blur in between frames. so you just end up controlling your frame rate that way and just have the camera set to speed priority. works like a charm and its also incredibly compact!

but of course, your limited to the maximum of 30 second exposures, which for me isn't much of a problem. you just have to remember to turn off noise reduction because that can add varying delays between shots while its computing it.

we are thinking of setting one up on a gig im doing at the moment over a 3 month period and will need to use a computer though. what capture software could i use do you think?

I've begun to experiment around with this. I ordered the Canon TC-80 intervalometer, which should be arriving any day.

Last week, I went to Joshua tree and experimented a bit with night-time stuff. Basically, 30 seconds was not long enough to the capture stars, especially if you want to set your F/stop high enough to include rock formations and things in the foreground. A more ideal exposure time seems to be in the 1-minute neighborhood.

Two questions:

1. One thing I noticed is that the time between intervals makes the timelapse look really jumpy. For example, if you do a 30 second exposure, followed by a thirty-second pause, the stars "jump" across the screen. The obvious way to avoid this is to set a 5-second exposure, with only 5 seconds or so between exposures. This would rule out using noise reduction, however. Is there any way to "interpolate" the images in After Effects or Premiere to get rid of the jumpiness and smooth out the stars? Or is it better just to go with longer exposures and shorter spans between exposures?

2. I want to incorporate these timelapses into cinema projects at 2K resolution with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. So obviously I need to crop. Would it be possible for me to set an "action" or something in photoshop or after effects to 1) crop 2) scale and 3) color time the images in one click? Would I be better off trying to do this in Premiere once I have the clip assembled?

thanks!

[queglay]

1. the best option is certainly to expose for longer and try your best to eliminate the gap between exposures. you need to have noise reduction turned off, but if you shoot raw i think you can do this processing later. programs like realviz retimer are usefull for retiming shots if you need to but i wouldn't recomend them if you can get it right the first time.

2. I prefer to use after effects for all my animation processing. that allows you to crop and even animate the cropped area to give the illusion of a pan which works well with ultra wide shots.

[Tom Lowe]

queglay, thanks. If you don't mind, what are the exact steps you use in After Effects to animate the jepgs or RAWs, and to crop and do the crop pans? I'm very new to After Effects, so assume I know nothing.

[Petrus]

I have experimented with Canon EOS-1DmII and the PC program that came with it. It has an intervalometer function, time between shots can be set between 5sec and several hours, up to total 1999 shots (. Just plug the camera to laptop with firewire cable, pictures are recorded on hard disk. The only slight problöem is that both camera and laptop should be mains powered while shooting.

One thing to note: as DV has lousy resolution there is no point in shooting anthing than smallest and worst quality jpeg. Even that is much better than SD DV.

- shoot the sequence, file names have automatically consecutive numbering
- make an automatd batch thingy in Photoshop to resize all pictures to DV specs (720x576 pixels in PAL)
- set still picture duration to 1 frame in Premier
- import pictures to Premiere
- drag the pictures to timeline
- voilá: automatic animation!!!

[Tom Lowe]

http://i12.tinypic.com/352rns5.jpg

Well I tried my first full-on timelapse this weekend out in Joshua Tree, but it didn't work out. I left the Auto White Balance on my Canon 350 set to auto, so there were some major color temp changes in the middle of my timelapse sequence! haha. Also, my battery died after just 160 frames, so I am going to have to buy a battery grip to extend the life of the batteries, or hook the camera to an AC adapter. Each exposure was something like 45 seconds, at f/11, with a five-second interval between.

[Tom Lowe]

It seems I am carrying on a conversation with myself here. :)

Anyway, here is a sample of some DLSR timelapses I did over the last couple days.... very short in 1080p anamorphic.

http://digitallions.org/1080anamorphicsunset.wmv

[Spartacus]

I´d like to see it, but a 1080 wmv with variable bitrate kills my internet box...
Sth smaller...?

[MojoTrancer]

Very cool. I think I'm about to buy a DSLR myself and try some time-lapse. Yours looked awesome. I'd love to see more.

[Matt Grunau]

Holy crap!

Grat work on the video. The colors are just . . . wow.


Awsome piece.



I hope you plan on making some more of those.

[Tom Lowe]

Thanks, guys. Yeah, I know, the colors just pop! I tried to match some of my DLSR timelapses to some HVX footage.. LOL. The DLSR stuff is off the chart by comparison, even when downrezed to 720p.

I shot this night stuff over the last few days up in Lone Pine and Joshua Tree.

http://digitallions.org/night.wmv

There was no moon, so on average these were about 90-second exposures at ISO 400 with 5-second intervals.

[soeborg]

Those timelapses look great. Im really fascinated by it, definately something i will look into as well.

Now i know this is something you just put together quickly. But the last one would have looked better if you had blurred the water or something. Doesent really fit the pace of the clouds and the music. Just my 50 cents


btw. whats the music track called you used in the one with the stars.

[Tom Lowe]

That's led zepellin's NO QUARTER.

Yeah, water is a big problem for timelapses. Same thing with trees if there is any wind at all.

[quenchstudios]

Hi Tom,

My name is Nick from Quench Studios. I've been experimenting with motion timelapse for a while now & the time machine is expensive, but does the job well.

As for a rig, i use a basic camera dolly with a custom built stepper motor on it to drive the system. I can send you links to examples if you like?

Nick

[rasquachi]

Nice Work Tom,

I'm wondering a few things. What F stop are you typically using on the night shots - is it all fully wide open. Have you noticed any issued going to f8 or f11 in daytime shots? - and Canon lenses i assume? Also - how are you getting a 90 second exposure? It thought the max was 30? What is the trick? And at that long of an exposure I'd expect hot spots all over the frame. Are you doing NR in camera or removing in post or is this camera just better about it than others? Are these all RAW images? And Finally, are you getting a lot of noise in the image - hard to tell from the compressed shots. Most of all - thanks for sharing. ...And nice choice of locations to shoot. Aint we lucky to be under those stars!

So far the only advice i can give regarding your motion rig plans - keep in mind wind. if you get up off the ground and things are not rock solid, something like a track on legs might get lifted a hair at times and create bumps - which can take a lot of time in post to fix.

Cheers,,
Todd

[Mythopolis]

Hey Tom - Skipping over here from my post on my time-lapse movie STEEL SKIES, per your invitation.

DVX Post: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=76617

Time-lapse Movie: http://cinematiccd.com/votesteelskies

But wow, honestly I don't think I have too much info to add on what you guys have already covered. Like QUEGLAY, I like to move all of my shots around in AE, sometimes creating simulated dolly moves in 3D space (ie, the barn shot in STEEL SKIES.) I have a FAQ page that outlines my process using long shutter and AE here:

http://mythopolis.com/faq.htm

But I'd love to see some final results of the rigs you are planning to implement.


Have you noticed any issued going to f8 or f11 in daytime shots?

Todd - Funny you should mention this. I usually do long exposures on time-lapse (about 2 seconds) but for some recent shots during the day I did shorter exposures and used F8- F11 and I got inconsistent exposures - a sort of subtle flicker between shots in my sequence. Do you know why? Is that what you are experiencing?

tk

[HagerNYC]

Beautiful work.
I was trying this just last week with some clouds out my bedroom window. I used a Nikon D70s, but when I brought the image sequence into After Effects there were brightness fluctuations frame by frame. Has anyone else had this happen, and also doesn't After Effects have a filter that balances out brightness fluctuations?

[Tom Lowe]

Hi Tom,

My name is Nick from Quench Studios. I've been experimenting with motion timelapse for a while now & the time machine is expensive, but does the job well.

As for a rig, i use a basic camera dolly with a custom built stepper motor on it to drive the system. I can send you links to examples if you like?

Nick

yes! can you please share with us as much information as possible about your rig?

I appreciate it!

[Tom Lowe]

Nice Work Tom,

I'm wondering a few things. What F stop are you typically using on the night shots - is it all fully wide open.

Yeah it was wide -- maybe f/4. for the shots with the joshua trees in foreground it was maybe f/8.


Have you noticed any issued going to f8 or f11 in daytime shots? - and Canon lenses i assume?

What kind of issue? Yes, it's a canon 10-22mm EFS lens.


Also - how are you getting a 90 second exposure? It thought the max was 30? What is the trick? And at that long of an exposure I'd expect hot spots all over the frame. Are you doing NR in camera or removing in post or is this camera just better about it than others? Are these all RAW images? And Finally, are you getting a lot of noise in the image - hard to tell from the compressed shots. Most of all - thanks for sharing. ...And nice choice of locations to shoot. Aint we lucky to be under those stars!

I use the Canon TC-80N3 interval remote timer, which controls the BULB function for long exposures. No hot spots yet. No noise reduction either, because I can only have about a ten-second inteval between shots... anything longer (like the time it would take the camera to do night noise reduction) would make my timelapses look "choppy." Yes, I am shooting RAW. Not much noise that I can see so far.

[quenchstudios]

yes! can you please share with us as much information as possible about your rig?

I appreciate it!

Hi Tom,

Here is a link to our timelapse work which includes motion control timelapses: http://www.quenchstudios.com.au/tlapse1.htm

I have several rigs - all custom made. Driven by step motors with controllers.

The Dolly rig is built on metal tubing as tracks and a unit sits on top with little wheels guiding the unit along the tracks. One wheel has the stepper motor attached driving the unit.

If you got the budget you can buy Genuflex MKII motion control rig. That is a sweet machine!

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Regards,

Nick

[upshot]

I just thought I'd chime in on this thread... I've done lots of timelapse on a budget (ie I'm just an addicted hobbiest)

for motion I use a telescope head, for extened battery life in the field I use a jumper battery, lately I'm using a D200...

Here's some samples on fuzzy youtube: www.youtube.com/milapse

[upshot]

The Dolly rig is built on metal tubing as tracks and a unit sits on top with little wheels guiding the unit along the tracks. One wheel has the stepper motor attached driving the unit.

Ah you answered my question from another thread... thanks.

[jbauer]

Hey Tom, really awesome stuff you got there! Did you end up having to modify that TC-80N3 to work with your Rebel? I was looking at going with a laptop setup until I ran across what you've done here. Any help on what you did to modify it would be greatly appreciated.

[Tom Lowe]

Wow, I haven't check this thread in a while. Great stuff.

quench, that was some really beaiutiful work! Just gorgeous, and well edited. How did you expose that final sunset shot of the city? I know when I shoot sunsets I usually start by over-exposing about 3 stops, and hoping I hit perfect exposure right during the sweet spot for a sunset. It looks like in this case, the city lights themselves might have kept you exposed. Either way, brilliant.

upshot, i'm checking out your vids now on youtube.

jbauer, this dude Hap Griffen (http://www.hapg.org/astrocables.htm) will hook you up for like 20 bucks. I ordered my TC-80 from B&H and had it shipped to his house. He modded it and sent it to me a few days later. He is providing an awesome service. Don't mess around with a laptop -- the TC80 is what you want.

If anyone is interested, I shot a couple new timelapses out in Anza Borrego a few weeks ago. The sunset/mountain shot is a fake pan, using After Effects.

http://www.digitallions.org/Borrego.wmv

I'll post here again once I get my rig built this summer. Right now I'm just going to go with the Dream Machine and its rotary table pulling a dolly down some "live steam" 1/8th scale model train tracks, for simple forward dolly motion. It can also do 360 pans.

Then the next rig will be 3 or 4 axis, when I have more money to spend on it.

[jbauer]

Thanks Tom for the info. I found (google) a tutorial for modding it myself. Im using it now and it works great with a 8GB compact flash. Really glad Im not lugging a laptop around and the extra battery pack for the Rebel XTi makes the camera last a long time with display and preview off. Ill be sharing some as soon as I get a chance.

[tippert]

Great Thread.
Has anyone figured out how to adapt the motion control telescope heads so they don't move while the shutter is open? I've also come across the many automated tripod heads for security cams. It seems like one of these systems could be modified for pan/tilt motion control timelapse?

Any thoughts?

[upshot]

Great Thread.
Has anyone figured out how to adapt the motion control telescope heads so they don't move while the shutter is open? I've also come across the many automated tripod heads for security cams. It seems like one of these systems could be modified for pan/tilt motion control timelapse?

Any thoughts?

unless your doing extremely long exposures the movement during exposure is negligable... I'll bet your average security cam is too quick for the application. Here is an example of 360 degrees at 4x right ascention (60 degrees per hour) and 5 second per exposure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhRz5oMhu_c

The biggest improvement I'm looking for is maybe up to 32x RA and in my wildest dreams something that would speed curve in and out for smooth starts and stops... It's out there for big bucks with stepper motors but time will tell...

[quenchstudios]

Thanks for the compliments on our work Tom.

The final shot was put together in post. But that is a good question to ask in this thread. Does anyone know of a camera or software where you set exposure "a" to gradually move to exposure "b" over a nominated timeframe?

[upshot]

Thanks for the compliments on our work Tom.

The final shot was put together in post. But that is a good question to ask in this thread. Does anyone know of a camera or software where you set exposure "a" to gradually move to exposure "b" over a nominated timeframe?

one solution is HDR (which I have been experimenting with lately: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iLfqpIaKCs ) the HDR software will do it's best to pull the 'best exposure' out of the multiple frames so at least you can get a +-2EV range... Ih that example the very end was well under exposed but looked decent - I added the fade in post.

I'll bet you do what I do when faced with dusk and start slightly over exposed?

[tippert]

upshot- great images. The more research I do on this the more I seem to come across your work.

How long can you leave the shutter open with your celestron system before you notice streaking? What about when using the HDR technique? Can the HDR compositing recoognize a slight shift between exposures?

I still want to develop something with stepper motors for nightime shots, have you tried using your system with a 30sec exposure?

[upshot]

I think it would totally depend on the subject matter.. 30sec exposures would blur anything that's moving unless your shooting stars and using a telescope mount that is aligned and moving at 1x slew (what it's made to do). You'll notice in this clip where I was doing something like 10-15 sec exposures (cant remember): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hjLG7IEMBY that the stars are slightly streaked and choppy.

I really want to get into stepper motors but they are so darn complicated... I've been looking for a turn key software, controler, and motor combo.. but not much luck (under like $500 at least)

[upshot]

oh and in terms of HDR... photomatix does have an align option but how much correction it's going to handle remains to be seen. It's a one click on/off type thang.

[upshot]

How long can you leave the shutter open with your celestron system before you notice streaking?

Yet to experiment with that. It could be figured out mathmatically or experimentally.. the math: 15 degrees/hour (1x slew) / 120 exposures (every 30 seconds) = .125 degrees per exposure. The lens would come into play as well since a tele would 'travel' further than a wide...

I think it would just require some experiments but a custom stepper would negate the issue.

[tippert]

Upshot,
what have you found in the $500 dollar range for a stepper motor w/ control? I can't seem to find anything.

The celestron system seems great for all daylight work, and night if you want the stars to be sharp. I was hoping to have the stars streaking while the foreground stays sharp.

I also like to layer a lot of ND during the day so moving objects like people and clouds are streaking blurs rather than sharp.

Regardless, I think you've sold me on the celestron cg-4 (can't seem to find a cg-3) in the meantime.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!

[Tom Lowe]

Well for night star stuff, you're looking at 30-second exposures, so the telescope thing probably won't work.

quench, I don't think you can really adjust the exposure as the sky changes, because you'd either have to change the shutter time or the aperture -- and either one of those are going to make noticeable effects on your timelapse, big leaps in brightness, for example.

in theory, it seems, you might be able to design a system that very, very gradually changes the ISO rating. But that would result in different amounts of noise or grain in the timelapse as it went on. in other words, the shot might start in the afternoon at 100 ISO and change super slowly to 800 ISO for night stuff.

in some of Fricke's work, it seems like he might be riding the iris to go from day shots to night, but that would be very tricky, and I don't even know whether he actually did that or not.

[upshot]

My HDR experiments are showing some hope... I can start two stops up and end two stops down... Then photomatix 'evens out' the range in post.

[Tom Lowe]

I thought about HDR early on, and saw a few timelapse samples, but I think the problem is, as the scenery changes from frame to frame, the HDR algorithms apply themselves differently to each frame, so you see a lot of severe flickering in an HDR timelapse. At least from what I am have so far.

[kevo7]

new to the forum, but have been shooting timelapse for several years, originally on 16mm and 35mm motion picture film, then on DV with interval record feature, and most recently with a CANON 20D controlled by laptop. just ordered the TC80N3...

to address exposure questions for sunset or changing scenes, depending on what DSLR you are shooting, on the CANON 20D for example, it is possible to use the Exposure Bracketing to create multiple exposures of a single frame/instant.

once in post, you assemble multiple timelapses animations of the same scene, one at normal exposure, one under exposed, and the third overexposed... then you merely dissolve between animations at the point you wish to have more or less exposure... long dissolves even out the change.

the main drawback to this method is image processing times... for the multiple bracketed exposures. this dictates slightly longer intervals between capturing frames, which depending on the subject, may or may not be acceptable. shooting JPEG instead of RAW makes this almost a non-issue.

as far as Ron Fricke, they did do some iris riding, but traditionally for filmed time lapse most of the exposure differences are worked out in post... with film having considerably more latitude than DSLR's etc... and the ability to take multiple passes in telecine if necessary, then combining them via dissolves in post.

i recently did a cross country time lapse with the CANON 20D mounted in the dash of a U-Haul truck driving from PA to CA through winter storms, etc... this was triggered via laptop using the Canon software. both camera and laptop were powered from a 12V DC to 120V AC converter from the cigarette lighter. mount on dash was pro quality ball head mounted to a piece of 12" x 12" birch wood and ratchet strapped down to points on dash, with a black fabric matte box or sorts fabricated from inside the windshield to control light and windshield glare.

other than feeling like i was flying the Millenium Falcon when the periodic software freeze occurs, requiring me to shut down both camera and laptop, unplug controller cable, reboot, etc (thru a heavy snowstorm that eventually required turning back and finding a hotel), it was a pretty good way to do things. captured over 25,000 frames thru the course of a five day drive.

working on animating them now. will keep you all posted.
kevo

[mastroiani]

Hi, I am considering to Buy Canon Digital Rebel XTi (I think 400d). Would the Canon intervalometer also work with this camera as it does iwth 350D? I also chcked the link Tom suppplied for the guy who does modification to the intervalometer but the link doesn't work :(

Sincerely,

M

[Matt Grunau]

Beautiful work.
I was trying this just last week with some clouds out my bedroom window. I used a Nikon D70s, but when I brought the image sequence into After Effects there were brightness fluctuations frame by frame. Has anyone else had this happen, and also doesn't After Effects have a filter that balances out brightness fluctuations?


I'de love to find out if there is a filter for that as well. So many videos in this thread have remarkably little fluctuations in color and brightness, I'm wondering what the trick is, or do you just shoot when it is nor overly cloudy, and with something other than auto white balance?

[Tom Lowe]

new to the forum, but have been shooting timelapse for several years, originally on 16mm and 35mm motion picture film, then on DV with interval record feature, and most recently with a CANON 20D controlled by laptop. just ordered the TC80N3...

to address exposure questions for sunset or changing scenes, depending on what DSLR you are shooting, on the CANON 20D for example, it is possible to use the Exposure Bracketing to create multiple exposures of a single frame/instant.

once in post, you assemble multiple timelapses animations of the same scene, one at normal exposure, one under exposed, and the third overexposed... then you merely dissolve between animations at the point you wish to have more or less exposure... long dissolves even out the change.

the main drawback to this method is image processing times... for the multiple bracketed exposures. this dictates slightly longer intervals between capturing frames, which depending on the subject, may or may not be acceptable. shooting JPEG instead of RAW makes this almost a non-issue.

as far as Ron Fricke, they did do some iris riding, but traditionally for filmed time lapse most of the exposure differences are worked out in post... with film having considerably more latitude than DSLR's etc... and the ability to take multiple passes in telecine if necessary, then combining them via dissolves in post.

i recently did a cross country time lapse with the CANON 20D mounted in the dash of a U-Haul truck driving from PA to CA through winter storms, etc... this was triggered via laptop using the Canon software. both camera and laptop were powered from a 12V DC to 120V AC converter from the cigarette lighter. mount on dash was pro quality ball head mounted to a piece of 12" x 12" birch wood and ratchet strapped down to points on dash, with a black fabric matte box or sorts fabricated from inside the windshield to control light and windshield glare.

other than feeling like i was flying the Millenium Falcon when the periodic software freeze occurs, requiring me to shut down both camera and laptop, unplug controller cable, reboot, etc (thru a heavy snowstorm that eventually required turning back and finding a hotel), it was a pretty good way to do things. captured over 25,000 frames thru the course of a five day drive.

working on animating them now. will keep you all posted.
kevo

lol, you're an animal with that cross-country setup. trust me, as soon as you get that TC80 you are going to be stoked. btw, i can't wait to see the results. please do me a favor and post them on this thread, if you don't mind!

[Tom Lowe]

Hi, I am considering to Buy Canon Digital Rebel XTi (I think 400d). Would the Canon intervalometer also work with this camera as it does iwth 350D? I also chcked the link Tom suppplied for the guy who does modification to the intervalometer but the link doesn't work :(

Sincerely,

M
yes the intervalometer will work just fine with it.

here is the link to Hap Griffin's site... i'm very sure he can help you with the mod. maybe i posted the link incorrectly eariler...

http://www.hapg.org/astrocables.htm

[soeborg]

Hey Mythopolis, i love your timelapse video.. Very inspiring stuff

For the city shots, with the moving boats and cars.. what interval did you use?

There was a discussion somewhere else on the board about the "Lens Flickering" when using larger F/stops.

*edit*

lol, didnt see there were 3 pages more to read before i replied.. good thread

Anyway, heres the other thread i was talking about http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=79086

[upshot]

wish I had got a Cannon

What nikon do you have? I've used nikons exclusively for my timelapse work since I already had a nice collection of lenses...


it is possible to use the Exposure Bracketing to create multiple exposures of a single frame/instant.

You should check out HDR... here is one of my HDR sequences that I started at +2ev and ended at -4ev with three bracketed shots (+1,0,-1) and post processed in Photomatix. Very similar to the process your talking about except the HDR software does the calculation for each bracket rather than doing three separate streams in the end. Actually... here are a bunch of examples I've done:

www.imapnet.com/jay

The one I'm referring to is the top left one.

[upshot]

I'de love to find out if there is a filter for that as well. So many videos in this thread have remarkably little fluctuations in color and brightness, I'm wondering what the trick is, or do you just shoot when it is nor overly cloudy, and with something other than auto white balance?

So far the options I know about are gbdeflicker and red giant film fix... If you start with everything 'locked down' - manual exposure, fixed F, fixed WB - then your 90% there.

[Norbert]

I've thought about making timelapse videos ever since I saw Baraka, and when I found this thread I got even more eager to get started.
Do you guys have any good tips for a good intervalometer for the Nikon D80 cameras? Or does the D80 have an intervalometer on it's own like the D200?

[upshot]

I've thought about making timelapse videos ever since I saw Baraka, and when I found this thread I got even more eager to get started.
Do you guys have any good tips for a good intervalometer for the Nikon D80 cameras? Or does the D80 have an intervalometer on it's own like the D200?

The D80 was shafted by nikon as far as timelapse. If im not mistaken, No ten pin connector so no 'unaltered' mc-36. You'd have to get an aftermarket int. timer or be teathered to nikon's capture software via usb.

I would have picked up the d80 in a heartbeat if it had an interval timer. The bastards force you up to a d200. But hey I love the camera in so many ways so.... yummy expensive pill to swallow.

[elellilrah]

Hey Tom - Skipping over here from my post on my time-lapse movie STEEL SKIES, per your invitation.

DVX Post: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=76617

Time-lapse Movie: http://cinematiccd.com/votesteelskies

But wow, honestly I don't think I have too much info to add on what you guys have already covered. Like QUEGLAY, I like to move all of my shots around in AE, sometimes creating simulated dolly moves in 3D space (ie, the barn shot in STEEL SKIES.) I have a FAQ page that outlines my process using long shutter and AE here:

http://mythopolis.com/faq.htm

But I'd love to see some final results of the rigs you are planning to implement.



Todd - Funny you should mention this. I usually do long exposures on time-lapse (about 2 seconds) but for some recent shots during the day I did shorter exposures and used F8- F11 and I got inconsistent exposures - a sort of subtle flicker between shots in my sequence. Do you know why? Is that what you are experiencing?

tk

In order to get consistent exposures, you must use the aperture control ring on the lens rather than the control dials on your camera. Here is a link on the issue:

http://aaronlinsdau.com/gear/articles/time_lapse1.html

The camera computes the position to push the arm to control the lens aperture. There are slight variations in that. But, if you control the f-stop ring, the camera hits a hard stop and makes the exposure much more consistent.

Now, if I can figure out how to get a Meade telescope head for pan/tilt and mount another to a track for dolly, I'll be set!

[upshot]

Actually gbdeflicker works quite well on slight flutter due to aperture variations in post...

I've just figured out how to feed commands to a meade system like my custom made head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJf-ZgTKBcw

So what is the dirt on a good budget dolly? I'm sure I could figure out how to drive it...

[upshot]

My tell all on budget motion control for timelapse is up! Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni89TBOTCUA

[Tom Lowe]

wanted to let you guys know that we have a timelapse discussion forum up now:

http://www.timescapes.org/phpBB3/index.php

i think it is the only forum really dedicated to digital timelapse.