new to the forum, but have been shooting timelapse for several years, originally on 16mm and 35mm motion picture film, then on DV with interval record feature, and most recently with a CANON 20D controlled by laptop. just ordered the TC80N3...
to address exposure questions for sunset or changing scenes, depending on what DSLR you are shooting, on the CANON 20D for example, it is possible to use the Exposure Bracketing to create multiple exposures of a single frame/instant.
once in post, you assemble multiple timelapses animations of the same scene, one at normal exposure, one under exposed, and the third overexposed... then you merely dissolve between animations at the point you wish to have more or less exposure... long dissolves even out the change.
the main drawback to this method is image processing times... for the multiple bracketed exposures. this dictates slightly longer intervals between capturing frames, which depending on the subject, may or may not be acceptable. shooting JPEG instead of RAW makes this almost a non-issue.
as far as Ron Fricke, they did do some iris riding, but traditionally for filmed time lapse most of the exposure differences are worked out in post... with film having considerably more latitude than DSLR's etc... and the ability to take multiple passes in telecine if necessary, then combining them via dissolves in post.
i recently did a cross country time lapse with the CANON 20D mounted in the dash of a U-Haul truck driving from PA to CA through winter storms, etc... this was triggered via laptop using the Canon software. both camera and laptop were powered from a 12V DC to 120V AC converter from the cigarette lighter. mount on dash was pro quality ball head mounted to a piece of 12" x 12" birch wood and ratchet strapped down to points on dash, with a black fabric matte box or sorts fabricated from inside the windshield to control light and windshield glare.
other than feeling like i was flying the Millenium Falcon when the periodic software freeze occurs, requiring me to shut down both camera and laptop, unplug controller cable, reboot, etc (thru a heavy snowstorm that eventually required turning back and finding a hotel), it was a pretty good way to do things. captured over 25,000 frames thru the course of a five day drive.
working on animating them now. will keep you all posted.
kevo
to address exposure questions for sunset or changing scenes, depending on what DSLR you are shooting, on the CANON 20D for example, it is possible to use the Exposure Bracketing to create multiple exposures of a single frame/instant.
once in post, you assemble multiple timelapses animations of the same scene, one at normal exposure, one under exposed, and the third overexposed... then you merely dissolve between animations at the point you wish to have more or less exposure... long dissolves even out the change.
the main drawback to this method is image processing times... for the multiple bracketed exposures. this dictates slightly longer intervals between capturing frames, which depending on the subject, may or may not be acceptable. shooting JPEG instead of RAW makes this almost a non-issue.
as far as Ron Fricke, they did do some iris riding, but traditionally for filmed time lapse most of the exposure differences are worked out in post... with film having considerably more latitude than DSLR's etc... and the ability to take multiple passes in telecine if necessary, then combining them via dissolves in post.
i recently did a cross country time lapse with the CANON 20D mounted in the dash of a U-Haul truck driving from PA to CA through winter storms, etc... this was triggered via laptop using the Canon software. both camera and laptop were powered from a 12V DC to 120V AC converter from the cigarette lighter. mount on dash was pro quality ball head mounted to a piece of 12" x 12" birch wood and ratchet strapped down to points on dash, with a black fabric matte box or sorts fabricated from inside the windshield to control light and windshield glare.
other than feeling like i was flying the Millenium Falcon when the periodic software freeze occurs, requiring me to shut down both camera and laptop, unplug controller cable, reboot, etc (thru a heavy snowstorm that eventually required turning back and finding a hotel), it was a pretty good way to do things. captured over 25,000 frames thru the course of a five day drive.
working on animating them now. will keep you all posted.
kevo
