Huge Timelapse Disapointment!

I

Indy

Well-known member
Was passing through Alexandra Palace last night and was really taken by the stunningly clear view over the east end of London coupled with a huge orange moon.

I had the HVX with me so I hurriedly set it on a wall and pointed it at Canary Wharf. I set the HVX to record a frame every 5 seconds to P2 using 720 25p. The sequence is 16 seconds in full.

I rushed home to check out what I though was going to be STUNNING footage unfortunately it was poor beyond belief :((

Its slightly out of focus and has a weird 'shift' motion for a second towards the start (the camera was rock steady for the whole capture) then about half way through the colour changes.... then finally to ad insult to injury the moon which starts out nice and detailed gets blown out to a white disk :(

This is my first night time timelapse (I've only had the HVX for 10 days or so!) so I guess that its to be expected that its not perfect but I'd REALLY appreciate so tips on nailing this.
Cheers

Indy...

The 1.4mb file can be downloaded from here....

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L1QY5421
 
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Sounds like you put to many things on auto. Whitebalance (colourshift), exposure (blowout), etc. About the shift motion. I think you thought it was rock steady while in fact it was moving very slowly. Could be the OIS in some circumstances, but not here. A camera does not move on its own...
 
Agreed.....

Agreed.....

OliverM said:
Sounds like you put to many things on auto.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I took the camera out fiipped it on set the interval, framed then pressed record. Is there resource anywhere that goes through the points that need to be concidered in a simple way to get great night timelapse sequences?
Cheers

Indy....
 
i dont know a place where this is explained, but i always do all settings manually when doing timelaps, cause otherwise there might be changes you dont want(like you have seen!)

Focus is indeed a problem, in general i can only suggest to take more time to set up the cam, specially when you feel to be "in a hurry"(use focus assist to find the right focus and set up all the things manually...maybe a bit harder in the beginning, but definitly the way to go!)

You can upload it on www.megaupload.com for example..its free
 
Indy said:
then about half way through the colour changes....
Click to expand...

...I wonder if a passing light might have caused the color shift? Like a boat with a spot light or something? If you had it on Auto White Balance, that might've caused the shift? Just a thought.
 
Didn't see the footage, but--what kind of wall was it on? I've had locations move--e.g., a bridge with a truck crossing it; a tall building in the wind; a second floor with someone walking by.

And I never use auto anything, especially for time lapse. Makes it hard to run and gun it, but you can rarely have speed and beauty.
 
If anyone saw the wall then they wouldn't be asking if it 'moved'! Its like a solid 3 foot thick. Its been suggested that the OIS is at 'fault' and I'd go with that.... just need to work out how to switch it off.

I agree that the auto thing is a big no no but its trying to work out what needs to be changed and how.
Cheers

Indy....
 
Is it possible that the shift could be caused by the image stablilizer being turned on? Should be turned off if it is on a tripod -- or isn't moving. Another poster had a problem similarly (though I'm not sure -- didn't watch your footage). His image shifted to the right during an interview. He was using a tripod and had Image Stabilizer on.
 
I just looked at your footage. The shift in color is from the primary lighting temp. change. You went from the 5600*k light of the sunset to the tungsten 3200*k city night lights. You must have had the auto on. Although your clip starts off when the sun is almost gone, the whitebalance is set on the 5600*k. It "pops" to adapt to the 3200*k.

That "bump" I have seen before, and it always ends up being the Image stabilizer boogie man. There was a thread with the exact same bump. It was footage of a man digging in his ear. This is the link: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=62605.

Your bump was small compared to his. Always turn off image stabilizer when you do not need it. I am a huge opponent on the use of electric image stabilizers. I don't trust computers making decisions about my footage.

I do not know of any tutorial that teaches the best way for time lapse. I would suggest doing sample timelapses everynight. It doesnt have to be scenic to be practice. :)
 
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Beyond all the auto stuff, interval time lapse over the course of a few minutes is way less interesting than just rolling the whole time and then speeding up the footage (or dropping frames if you decide you wanted an interval afterall).
 
That can work.... But with HD P2 technology, and the 4-8gig cards available now, you can not do very long continuous recordings for speeding up in post. Time lapse interval recording is space efficient.

To add to earlier: I still think the color shift is due to your camera automatically adjusting white balance, but upon further review of the clip, I would also say this might be due to the moon. When the sun or moon is on the horizon, certain optical illusions take place. Ever notice the sun and moon looks larger when over the horizon? The moon will also appear more red. The reason is the light coming from the sun/moon has to travel further through more (thicker) atmosphere, when we are viewing it on teh horizon. The thicker atmosphere willl scatter and create red light.

I would now guess the camera might be judging the color temp change from the moon (which is the primary light source). Not sure which, but it is an auto problem either way. :)

Go science! Here is a little pic I whipped up to show what I mean about the atmosphere... (we have to look through thicker slice of it when looking at the horizon):
atmops.jpg

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Dude, just always switch the OIS off. It takes the edge off the bumps a bit, but I don't like it. I trust a good shoulder mount far more. Those things always keep moving 'after' the movement...
 
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