Best settings for timelapse?

Norm_Li

Norm_Li

Well-known member
Hi everyone,

What are the best interval / duration settings to use on the DVX for smooth timelapse? I remember I played with it briefly once a long time ago but it appeared all choppy as it was played back. I didn't experiment with it enough to find out how do it properly. However, I don't have much time to experiment this time as I have to do it for a client this weekend! We need to shoot from sunrise to sunset from a condo on the 33rd floor.

I saw some nice timelapse footage that fellow DVXusers posted a while back so I'm wondering if any of you can shed some light onto how to do this best.

Thanks everyone.

Norm Li
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

I think one of the smoothest "faux timelapses" I've seen was just shot at regular speed and sped up in post.  I suppose you just have to be quick changing tapes when one ends.  I've never tried it for that length of time. If I had to shoot an entire day, that's what I think I'd try, with the camera hooked up to an AC power source.

There was a post in the screen grabs of a day over looking San Francisco bay.  Very well done.  I don't remember who posted it, but it is probably worth searching for.
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

I remember someone telling they had a program that can capture timelapse off their laptop. He said you can adjust the amount of frames you want to capture every min or so using a timelapse program. I never heard from the guy agian. I'll see if I can find something simalir on the net.
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

For a timelapse shot that long you can use the chain recording function of the DVX, i.e. hook up a second deck or cam to the DVX via Firewire and activate chain recording, when the tape ends on the DVX, the other deck is activated automatically and you can record seamlessly.
On the other hand if you use the timelapse function of the DVX and record 15 frames every 30 seconds one tape will last the entire day.
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

So If I record at 15 frames every 30 seconds, will the footage appear smooth when played back or is it always choppy and needs to be speeded up in post to make it smooth?

Thanks,

Norm
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

My suggestion would be using a laptop hooked up to the camera via fire wire, or even a desktop deppending on your location. This will allow you to use time lapse software and capture to the hard drive using the specifications you want.

To get a smoother looking time lapse you might try lowering your shutter speed as much as possible provided you can afford to stop down the iris or put in ND filters. This will give your frames a little more blur for anything moving in it which can help the frames blend together in the end.
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

Do you have access to a laptop and a digital still camera? If so try this solution:

http://www.lightbyeye.com/more/morestuff/timelapse.html

If your digital camera came with remote capture software you can connect your camera to the computer and record an image to the hard drive at a set interval. Then import those images into your nle and it will create a clip of your timelapse.

I've experimented with this and have had pretty good results.

FYI... I can't take credit for the tutorial, that's someone elses web site I stumbled across.
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

The only weak thing about using the intervalometer is that is doesn"t shoot in 24p.
That's why people shoot in real time and speed it up.
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

[quote author=B._Summers link=board=Events;num=1101441537;start=0#9 date=11/28/04 at 16:20:28]The only weak thing about using the intervalometer is that is doesn"t shoot in 24p.[/quote]

I'm not sure I understand you. If someone is using the interval capture feature then they are normally capturing at intervals other than the builtin framerates. So, what does supporting interval mode in 24p give you?
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

I did a timelapse using my DVX last week at work. After doing several tests, I ended up recording .5 seconds every 30 seconds. When I played the tape back after recording about 2 hours (15 minutes or so worth of timelapse footage) it was choppy. I imported it into Final Cut Pro and sped it up to 300%. It still was choppy but moved sort of like a cartoon you make flipping pages through a book. It had that effect rather than being a nice smooth timelapse. I was trying to demonstrate a oven cooking a turkey. I basically took all my footage and sped it up to equal 7 seconds of total b-roll. It was okay but I know it could have been a lot better and a lot smoother.
 
Re: Best settings for timelapse?

[quote author=DVX100Shooter link=board=Events;num=1101441537;start=0#11 date=11/29/04 at 07:12:07]I ended up recording .5 seconds every 30 seconds.[/quote]

Yes, since the DVX records in bursts you end up with a bunch of frames that you need to remove in post. The smallest interval still records 15 frames every capture. So, in the case of the 0.5s interval, for every single frame you need to remove 14 frames. If you speed this up by 300% you will still have 5 frames per interval. Those 5 frames are giving you that "comic book" look. It would be interesting to expriment with your video and try speeding it up by 1000% to see how it looks.

I wondered how your cooking timelapse went. Any chance of looking at a clip?
 
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