time lapse settings

M

marin415ca

Member
I know there has been a lot said about time lapse, but without getting extremely mathematical, what setting is optimal for capturing things like moving clouds, sunsets, shadow movements etc? In the ON mode (interval rec), would you recomend 15, 30, 60 seconds? And how long should the record time be? .5 sec?

Thanks~
 
I would imagine it depends on how much you want to compress time. If you want to show a whole day passing by in a few seconds, a 15 second interval is probably overkill. Try to work it out with a little bit of math beforehand to save yourself editing headaches.

As far as recording time, I dunno; I've only done time-lapse with still cameras ...
 
I'm not looking to capture several hours at a time... maybe an hour of real time. I'm looking for smooth movement of clouds rolling by.
 
Thanks Sirius... Any suggestions on what to do if I wanted to shoot for more than 1 hr... say 3-4 hours of sun/shadow movement?
 
Also, the .5 second record time will not give you the smooth motion you desire. You would have to edit out all but one frame from each recording interval for the smoothest motion. That could be a real pain in the arse depending on how many intervals were recorded.

If you have a laptop, then there is software that will do a better job of recording various interval parameters with minimal wear on your camera.

Unfortunately, I do not know the names of said software, but I'm sure someone will come along and tell you. :)
 
In that case, if you can't change tapes real fast without physically moving the camera, maybe you should try something like DVRack and capture straight to your laptop harddrive.
I really wouldn't use the interval recording in the camera only because it is very hard on the camera heads and transport mechanism.
If you do use it, then set it to record .5 sec every 15 seconds. I believe that is the fasted interval you can record and will give you the smoothest timelapse.

DVRack will not do the interval recording that Terry is talking about.

Check out this link and you'll see what the in camera interval recording looks like.
http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=30288
 
Thanks guys! I really apprecieate it.

And Terry... "Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more cowbell!
 
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