Time Lapse 4 Doco

K

Kay O. Sweaver

New member
I've got some questions about doing a long (2+ week) time lapse project.

First of all how can you get a relatively consistent exposure over the course of the time lapse, day to night, night to day, etc. I don't want jarring exposure changes when clouds fly overhead or when the sun sets, I'd like things to remain fairly smooth.

Second what about maintenance. I'm hoping to pretty much leave the camera running, hooked up to a big battery and a solar panel and not have to visit it too often. Any thoughts on that (aside from securing it against theft).

I think those are my primary questions right now. I'm unsure of what camera I'll be using. I have a Sony DSR-PD150 but I'm open to renting other video or film gear for this project.

Thanks all.
 
Sorry to tell you but I don't think there's any way for you to do the time-lapse without there being drastic changes in the exposures between night and day. You could try and get more frames through out the day and night. Then at least that way it won't look quite as drastic. But you might have problems getting the night stuff to look okay without blowing out the stuff in the day.
 
I'm going through this myself, and so far I've decided to keep the exposure locked (but at what is another problem), and build a special low-power rig with a SBC (single-board computer) for capture (at HD resolution) and either a 2.5 HD or CF cards for storage.

Anyone else doing time lapse?
 
You can always shoot it on a digital 10d or 20d with an intervalometer. Set the camera to aperture priority and you should be able to accomplish your shot. You'll need to get a time lapse chart to figure out your actual exposures for your on screen run time. I've shot a few sunsets this way and the quality is far superior than any mini dv camera.

sponester
 
sponester said:
You'll need to get a time lapse chart to figure out your actual exposures for your on screen run time.

sponester
Click to expand...

Could you clarify on this, please? Maybe it´s my english...
And where do I get the intervalometer for a 20d?
 
I've tried capturing time lapse sequences with my dvx100a and run into the problem of having to toggle the ND filter when it gets to bright or dark, which is jarring. Choosing to not adjust the ND filter ruins all sunrise time-lapses I've done as it just gets too bright as the sun comes in and washes everything out. I ended up buying an interval timer for my still canon eos 10d and used the aperture priority setting. Works much better, but now I have to figure out battery/CF card issues. will likely have to just buy multiple 4 GB CF cards and multiple batteries and switch them out between intervals.

I don't see a point in doing time-lapse stuff with a video camera unless you want the option of playing some sequences at 24/30 frames per second. Maybe someone can correct me here though, i do consider myself a beginner.
 
Just use a laptop connected to your digital camera along with capture software. Several of the Canon models come with software that supports interval capturing.

For long time-lapse it's always better using a digital camera rather than your video camera. Here's another thread with some info:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=7461
 
John_Hudson said:
Is Auto Exposure not available using DVX Timelapse ?
Click to expand...
It is available. But, it sounds like he wants more control over the exposure during the capture. When I've done time lapse with the DVX I leave it on manual and when the critical light changes occur, change the exposure between captures. I try to adjust the exposure changes so that they are not extreme.
 
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