How to do Time Lapse?

mischiefman05

mischiefman05

Member
I got a DVX recently and have been itching to learn how to do some great Time Lapse shots. I'm going to be taking the camera to Europe and would love to get some great sunrise/sunset shots, as well as some high angle master shots of thousands of people bustling around...you guys catch my drift. I've read a few threads on here, but all I've seen is some people shooting in 30fps at 1/8. What do you do in post? What are the best ways to do this during this day and at night?
Thanks so much for your help!
 
You can even try 60i. Use a 1/60 shutter. And keep your iris on automatic. (especially if your going from night to day or day to night)

Speed it up in After Effects (or final cut, but I have heard AE is better)

Take a look at this video:

http://blip.tv/file/261248/

At the very end I do a time lapse.
 
Frame rate doesn't matter too much if you're speeding your footage up. If you plan to export as 24fps you don't need to shoot in something like 30p.

Shutter depends mainly on how you want your footage to look.
 
I know this is pathetic, but I actually don't have Final Cut or After Effects. I'm still using a PC and just using Pinnacle at the moment, I mean I just spent all my money getting the DVX, so the editing equipment comes next. I can still speed up the footage on Pinnacle, but what is my best bet for time lapse since I don't have those programs? Just shoot in 60i and on 1/60? How long do you have to shoot for? Thanks...
 
Time lapse...

Time lapse...

It really depends on personal preference. Say if you want a sunrise. Station your camera on a good tripod and hit record. Your settings, I think, would be best at 24p or 24p advanced; however, you mention you're running pinnacle so I would suggest to just film in standard 60i. Then import footage and you can adjust the speed in the program. When it comes to getting enough footage just keep in mind how fast you want the time lapse to be. If you're going say three times as fast then you're going to want to make sure you film three times as long as the desired length of the desired time lapse because when you speed up a clip by a factor of 3 you're actually shortening it. So a clip that is 30 seconds sped up 3 times will actually be 30/3=10 seconds.

For example: t=total time needed x= Desired length of time lapse b= speed (ex. 3 times as fast=3)

Therefore: t/b=x t=bx So if you wanted a time lapse of a length of 15 seconds going three times as fast as standard time then you would substitute and write....

t/3=15s--------> t=(3)(15s)=45 total seconds will need to be filmed in order to make a time lapse three times the speed and for a duration of 15 total seconds. So as you can see the faster the time lapse the more you will need to film. The above makes sense as well because 1/3 of 45 is of course 15s which will be the clip size once sped up.

Evidence: at four times: t=(4)(15s)=60s

So the above is just what I made up to help myself. Just remember a rule of thumb is the faster the time lapse the more film you will need to get. So mess around with pinnacle for a bit and figure out a good speed you like and work with it. Furthermore; the faster you want the time lapse to be the shorter the clip. In short, just be sure to get more then enough footage and you should be fine. Feel free to plug the numbers in to the above equation to hep you out as well. For me it really helps.

The one key thing you need to remember is how long will I need? For a sunrise most likely an hour or half an hour.
 
Hey man thanks for the help. I'm assuming Pinnacle's timeline is 60i...is there an option to change it to 24p or do you have to have a higher up editing system like vegas or FCP?
 
You can edit 24p standard in pinnacle, since it is 24p in 60i. You con not edit 24pA in Pinnacle.

Check out the next episode of Life on Wheels and Boards for some more timelaps shots. Theres one in the first episode in the "DVX Clips" forum.
 
Pinnacle???

Pinnacle???

Well first off let's look at pinnacle. For the cost, pinnacle is a very nice program to edit in. However, from my little personal experience, it seems to crash way to much and just isn't reliable when working on a lengthy project. Movie maker also shares this frustrating quality. So if I were you, depending on your computer and the amount of money you can afford to put out, I would highly recommend investing in a new editing program. Adobe Premiere pro, Final cut pro, and sony Vegas, are all great choices but somewhat pricey. This being said, they all offer 24p and are just a lot more reliable and professional. So I guess it depends on what you are editing and if it's just home video then pinnacle will suffice; however, if you want to record and capture in true 24pa with drop down then you may want to think of one of the above programs. For myself, I only have experience in adobe, movie maker, very little in pinnacle and mostly FCP which I currently edit in. All I can say is the small jitters you get while editing in say imovie or movie maker using 24p are completely gone and you get to appreciate the true quality the dvx100a/b has to offer. So I guess what I'm saying is the investment doesn't stop with the camera. If you want to get the best from your dvx then you should also think about programs and computers. Although this is true, I do also think some very stunning video's can be produced filming in 60i in say imovie or pinnacle etc.. So, to make this lengthy response even more lengthy, it's really up to you. Ask yourself what you want and go from there. Ask yourself what you will be filming? If you want effects like color correction, freeze frame, chroma key, etc..? How much money, if any, you are willing to put out? And are you happy with what you are currently using? At the end you should be able to figure it out for yourself. Just be sure to really look into programs first and make sure it's really worth the money for your use. So hope this helped you out along with the time lapse reply. Good Luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top