The Big DSLR (tracking) Time-Lapse Thread!
- Thread starter Tom Lowe
- Start date
Tom Lowe
Well-known member
rasquachi said:
Yeah it was wide -- maybe f/4. for the shots with the joshua trees in foreground it was maybe f/8.
What kind of issue? Yes, it's a canon 10-22mm EFS lens.
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
Member
Tom Lowe said:
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
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
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
Tom Lowe
Well-known member
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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?
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?
tippert said:
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
Member
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?
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?
quenchstudios said:
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?
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?
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?
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)
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)
tippert said:
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.
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!!!
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-known member
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.
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.
Tom Lowe
Well-known member
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.