Time lapse-Very fast to a complete stop?

Thanks for the suggestions, Matt and Dorock. The only thing is, I don't have two camcorders to use and I don't even have one DSLR camera to use if I was to shoot this scene with a still camera. Dorock, I was kind of worried about how the scene would look when I have everything come to a dead stop but, I looked at some videos on youtube that people did with a camcorder where they did the "time freeze" trick in After Effects and when the people are "frozen" in the videos, they look pretty sharp to me. No bluriness or any jerky effect. If I had a DSLR like a Nikon D20 (I think thats the model number) or something similar, I would just shoot the scene with that but, I spent all my money on my HPX170. Curse this economy! Anyway, I'm going to try the 2fps, then 60fps this weekend and I'll let you guys know how it works out! Although, I don't have After Effects yet. Does anyone know if I can use After Effects CS4 with Premiere Pro CS3 or will there be some compatability issues there? And why does Twixtor have to be so dang expensive?!!!
 
No "Dang The Economy" there! You got a sweetheart of a camera, for sure. You'll be fine with the 170. Keep in mind, even the cheapest, no frills still camera will do the job...HD video is only 2megapixels....compared to the relative size of still shots, even a friends el-cheapo ELPH, 7mpxl cam will give you some decent shots.

Dunno...you seem to have some excellent ideas, and yes....After Effects will work (mostly) backwards compatible from CS4 to 3...Premier is where your limitations will be, if any. It matured as a program right along with the HVX200 and HPX170...you'll be fine. A bit of a learning curve with After Effects, but worth a shot if you're proficient with Premier...and a helluva lot cheaper than going the Twixtor route. (Does Twixtor have a trial?)

Guess it might be kinda tough to match up bookend shots from a still camera to the footage from the 170...I'm curious how it's going to turn out, keep us posted.
 
Okay, guys, I went down the street and just did a test shoot at a nearby four-way intersection of cars going by, stopping, etc. The first shot I did was 12 minutes long at 2fps and 360 degree synchro scan shutter. Then, since the camera was on the tripod, I did the same exact shot at 720/60p and 360 synchro scan shutter. The problem is, when I played back the first shot, which was recorded at 2fps, the cars were blurry but, they weren't going super fast like they should for a time lapse shot. Do I still have to speed the footage up in post to get that blurry super fast time lapse look or did I do something wrong? Now, the second part which was shot at 720/60p and 360 synchro scan shutter looked exactly like 720/60p should look, obviously. Would it be better to shoot at 1080/60i instead since I'll be speeding up and slowing down that part to a complete stop? Sorry, I'm a total noob when it comes to time lapse stuff. I'm willing to learn to get it to perfection though! Hey, Dorock, what $200- $300 still camera would you recommend for doing HD quality time lapse shots? Obviously, the Mark II is out of the question! Thanks.
 
You probably recorded in a P format like 720 24P instead of PN which would have got your footage to be xlrated
 
Hey, Phenixone, you're right. I did shoot in P instead of PN. What do you mean by xlrated? I don't understand. Why is PN better than P when doing time lapse? And, should I shoot in 30PN instead of 24PN? By the way, when I put the footage in Premiere and sped it up to 2000%, I got the blurry fast time lapse effect I was after. One more thing, my 60i footage, when I slow it down to a stop, the cars are fuzzy instead of in sharp focus. I know camcorders aren't meant to take sharp still photos but, I expected the cars to be somewhat in sharp focus even with the HPX170. Is there any way to get around this with a certain shutter speed or will I have to do my time lapse with a DSLR camera if I want the traffic and people in sharp focus when its at a dead stop? Thanks.
 
Hey guys, I'm thinking about doing what you said using a DSLR camera, taking still photos and time re-mapping in post. How would I go about doing this with a DSLR camera, say, using the Nikon D5000? Also, can I get smooth looking "super fast down to dead stop" motion using this method? I know the dead stop, frozen in time part of the scene will look better using a DSLR camera since it captures still photos so, that's why I'd like to use a DSLR camera to do this scene. Can you guys explain how I would go about doing this? Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top