Timelapse???

During the opening shot, did you manually adjust the camera for each shot as the sun went down? I'm amazed at how consistent the contrast is before and after the sunset. The shadow on the streetlight doesn't fluctuate much.

(Sorry for all the questions but the footage is inspiring)
 
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there are plugins that create motion blur by analyzing the motion in the video... I know it's a poor substitute, but
 
Drew.. I remember reading a while back that I think it was minolta of all companies, produced an intervelometer that could be used with canon cameras that would trigger a 1000 exposures and it was like 350 bucks. I've used the canon 99 trigger controller and it's nice, but only good for like 3 or 4 seconds of timelapse for that one time.

Anyone else know of the other intervelometer or other options? I personally love shooting with my canon digital still, but I ADORE the HVX more for its simplicity and instant return... It's hard to beat that footage quality that drew pulls off with his cam.


Anyone gonna buy the D30? I saw one the other day.. was really sweet! I'm still a canon guy at heart... just betrayed them on the video side.
 
Justyn said:
Anyone else know of the other intervelometer or other options? I personally love shooting with my canon digital still, but I ADORE the HVX more for its simplicity and instant return... It's hard to beat that footage quality that drew pulls off with his cam.

I found a trigger for the D70 made by Harbortronics. It says that you can shoot up to 30fps with it, which doesn't make any sense to me considering that the D70 only shoots 3.5fps out of the box. It must not be using the shutter, because I think that you need a computer to use it. I can't Imagine that the images would be very high quality.
 
HowyDoo, on that opening shot of LA I didn't adjust the exposure on the shot. When I started shooting the sun was already down and it was getting dark. So I knew what exposure to use when its dark to get the buildings in the background. That's why its so bright at the beginning of the clip.
 
Justyn, I haven't heard about that controller you talked about but it sounds like a cool little thing to have. But for $350 I would much rather have my Canon controller, which ran around $160.
 
Drew... That's a good point to make.. plus you can trigger another 99 when those are done too.

I've used that controller a while back. Where did you pick it up at? I don't have the D20, but my old trusted Rebel and a nice set of lenses. Would be cool to do some timelapse with that as well. especially for sunsets. The HVX does a sweet job but at dusk.. here comes the noise. I've minimized it.. but it's darn hard when so much of the screen is murky and underexposed at the end of the timelapse.

Drew.. you certainly have set a high bar.. and I know we all appreciate your candid sharing and inspiration...

I'm going to the top of Mount Washington in NH in July and spending all day up there doing a 360 timelapse and some nature stuff. It's unbelievably beautiful in my home state and time for me to exploit it...
 
Justyn, I picked up the controller from B&H, which is where I get a lot photo stuff from. But I don't think the Digital Rebel 300D or 350D(XT) has the port that I use on the 20D for the controller. If your going to get it make sure you can use it with your camera. But it kind of sounds like you might have one already.

I'm really glad that all you guys on here like the timelapse. Its funny because as soon as I post a clip from my HVX or sometimes just repling to something, someone asks about the timelapse. I must be doing something right if everyone keeps asking about it.

What did you mean by a 360 timelapse. Are you going to have the camera on a moton controll rig or something? Personally I like to just lock the camera down when I do timelapse. If there's motion from the camera it kind of takes away the effect of the whole thing. I try and shoot all my timelapse just like its a nice long exposure picture.
 
All canon cameras have a remote-control utility. It has no time/frames limit. The problem is you need to take with you a notebook. An old iBook G3 12" with a new battery would make a good notebook to take with you.

Drew599, you have been designed by us all to make the next Koyanisquatsi film!!!! :)
 
After I started doing the timelapse stuff someone at work let me borrow all three of those films in that series. There was some interesting footage in there. But I think the whole thing went on for way too long. As I remember the last two were a little bit better because they had some more timelapse on them and they were shorter.

Don't worry, once I get 10-20 minutes of timelapse footage I might have to put it on a DVD and make it avalible for everyone. I plan to come up with a better title for it than "Koyanisquatsi".
 
Drew.. What I'm going to do is a full 360 degree shot from one corner of the mountain. I'm buying a remote head and I'm going to do it in timed stages as far as when the camera can move. I've seen some really awesome panning timelapse shots that are incredible. I also want to try and do a series of dolly type timelapses of peope and shadows and such.

It's just all fun.
 
Drew,

"Baraka" is the best time lapse film in my opinion. It's directed by Ron Fricke (the cinematographer of the Koyaanisqatsi films) and I think he did a much better job in the director's chair than Godfrey Reggio did. "Baraka" is more of a spiritual film. When I watch it, I consistently find myself emotionally engaged in the footage as opposed to the other films where I just wanted to see more fun time lapse stuff. If you are a time lapse artist, THAT'S the film to see. It's subtle and beautiful.
 
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"Koyaanisqatsi" - a Hopi indian term for "life out of balance"

Baraka is definately more accessable. Stunning imagery and a more varied soundtrack.

Drew - I'm surprised you're not cashing in on your timelapse (you aren't, are you?). It's inspirational - I'm sure you've got a few people wondering how they can include something like that in their first feature :)
 
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If you're using a Canon camera why use 3rd party software? The Canon Remote Capture program is FREE and it let's you capture RAW as well. It's perfect for time lapse and it works seemlessly with all Canon digital cameras. I just tried it out with my Canon Powershot G3 and it's fantastic. You can control all the camera's manual settings including zoom and focus and use your laptop screen as the LCD.
 
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