LAX Time Lapse - 20D

reservoir said:
In terms of *Time Lapse*, what is the significant differences in the Digital Rebel and the 20D? I know, I know.....I could look it up on canon.com but I'm lazy. Also, let's say you wanted to use a *Canon* timelapse in your DVX film? Can you intercut that footage with DVX footage into a regular NLE like Final Cut, Vegas, Avid, Adobe? Just curious, because I've heard that the DVX more or less sucks for true time lapse.

~reservoir~
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Sure you could cut the camera timelapse stuff into any NLE. All you'll have to do is a batch process on your individual images to cut them down to 720x480 to fit a standard DV timeline.When you import them into your NLW just make sure you import them as 1 frame stills and then lay them into the timeline. That's the really great thing about shooting with a digital still camera. At the "medium" setting on the Canon 20d the images are 2336 x 3504 so you can crop them down to 1920 x 1080 and edit TRUE 1080P HD!
 
Sirius, that seems like a cool program. I don't know if its worth $95. The software that ships with the 20D and the Digital Rebel can control the camera. I just like having that little remote instead of my computer along for the ride.

Edalgo, here are the settings I'm using on the 20D. I haven't changed much in the camera as far as the processing goes. I usually just mess around with the ISO speed, shutter speed and aperture until I get the look I'm going for. BTW my time for shooting this stuff is on the settings.

Shooting Date/Time
06/03/05 21:59:26
Shooting Mode
Manual
Photo Effect Mode
Off
Tv(Shutter Speed)
2
Av(Aperture Value)
4.0
Metering Mode
Center-weighted averaging
ISO Speed
200
Lens
17.0 - 85.0mm
Focal Length
17.0mm
Image Size
2544x1696
Image Quality
Fine
Flash
Off
White Balance
Auto
AF Mode
Manual Focus
Parameters
Tone Curve Standard
Sharpness level 0
Color tone Normal
Noise Reduction
Off
File Size
1352KB

Reservoir, the major change in "Time Lapse" performance between the 20D and the Digital Rebel are that the 20D can handle more images in a row. The Rebel would choak on just four frames. The 20D at the medium setting can handle 36 frames in a row and that's at 5 fps. Using that little remote I got it hasen't choaked on any frames yet. Sirius kind of answered your other question. Yes you can intercut the 20D footage with with the DVX footage. Final Cut Pro will make the images to whatever resolution you set in the sequence settings. I did an earlier test with that LA stuff and outputed it to 720p and it looked badass.

Thanks for all the comments. I was going to get some more stuff tonight but I got out of work too late. Plus there was a little light rain. Might try again on Monday.
 
Thanx Drew. Sounds like I'm going to have to skip the Rebel and get the 20D. I love timelapse!! Nice to know you can mix it with your DV footage. Kick ass!! Two other small things:

1. What kind of remote / trigger are you using?

2. What song from *Collateral* was that?

Thanx....now let's see some more of that LAX footage!! :happy:

~reservoir~
 
cshelton said:
The DVX has half ass time lapse, however the intervals are not very useable since the minimums are far too high. It captures 0.5 secs of video per "snap" and I think the minimum time lapse between snaps is like 30 seconds. Having a snap of 1 frame would be great (but isn't really reliably possible with tape) and an interval time of 5 seconds would be awesome.

In the end, the DVX's mode is not very useable. I have found a script for Vegas though that will take running video and pull out single frames at a certain interval and it ends up working much better than the dvx's built in time lapse. Problem with that is you need LOTS more tape and battery to get the same result since you're taping nonstop instead of little pieces at a time.

That footage looks absolutely gorgeous Drew! Now I want a $1000 digital SLR!
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I have seen some nice TL work using the DVX100. The choices for Interval Time is:

15s
30s
1m
5m
10m
 
Reservoir, I'm using the TC-80N3 Timer Remote Controller and its a must if you want to do time-lapse stuff. The song is track# 13 - Car Crash, at least that's what it says on my iTunes. Get the 20D, if you have the money do it. I don't know how the new Rebel XT works compaired to the 20D. But that 5fps is sweet. I couldn't believe it when I started firing off frames at first. I'll have some new footage up soon. I just need to go and get some more. Next week I might do some daylight stuff. I just love the way the night stuff looks.
 
Drew....I guess my only other question about the LAX footage is:

How often were you shooting? In frames per second I mean. Did you just let it keep rolling for 5fps for the entire shot? I guess what I'm asking is what time increments you used. Thanx again. Great stuff!!

~reservoir~
 
Reservoir, I guess it would have been at a rate of 1 frame every 2 seconds. I would have the shutter open for 2 seconds and then as soon as it closed I would take another frame or in this case the remote would handle this.
 
I really liked the first shot. I only wish I could have gotten a better shot but there's just so much stuff in the way. Next time I go out there I'm going to get a longer shot of the air traffic because I could watch that all day.
 
I nver said it Drew; I loved it. Super Uber Eye Candy. The only problem I have is that it wasn't long enough.
 
I know John. It needs to be longer. It just takes a while to get the shots. Also the driving around looking for a good spot to shoot is a total pain in the ass. That LAX stuff involved a lot of driving and walking. For the last shot in it I had to go into this closed off area by LAX. I think it was only closed off to cars. That's where I got the new picture for my avatar. I'm glad you liked it.
 
Was it all time-lapse? I looked it up on Imdb and someone on there said that the only cool thing about it was the time-lapse.
 
bgundu said:
keep in mind you need a laptop to do timelapse on the D70.
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What'r you talking about man? Check Ebay for the ML-L3 controller for the D70, only costs $20 and is a genuine Nikon product. :thumbsup:
 
Very cool
I've been considering getting a DSLR recently, this is just one more item on the "pro" list for buying one now
 
Drew599 said:
Was it all time-lapse? I looked it up on Imdb and someone on there said that the only cool thing about it was the time-lapse.
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I'd say it was about 75% timelapse. I wish I had some way of pulling a clip from my cable DVR.
 
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