Time Lapse

AlexStirrup

AlexStirrup

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Apologies if this is in the wrong section, wasn't sure whether to put it in the video section, although my question is more aimed at the taking of the pictures rather than the compiling of the video...

I've recently been looking at some time lapse video tutorials and they all seem to say to have you're settings in manual mode. How does this work though if you are doing a scene that goes from light to dark, for example a sunset? If this isn't the case, which settings would work best?


Sorry if I'm missing something and thanks in advance for any advise given :thumbs:

Alex.
 
If you don't shoot in manual, you end up with tiny changes in light affecting the light across the whole scene. The result of which is this flickering mess: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFUnG-uCfX8
My first attempt, and you can see how the changes in light make a bit of a mess of the whole thing. :thumbsdown:

Far better to shoot in manual, then the camera captures the subtle changes in light throughout the scene, instead of changing the exposure of the whole scene to compensate for the little changes.

As for shooting at sunset, I'm not sure. I guess allowing the scene to gradually darken would create a more realistic effect anyway, but once it gets too dark you'll have exposure problems. Not sure how to blend from daylight to night seamlessly. Maybe someone can help us both out in that regard. :shrug:
 
You need to do it in manual as it will flickr all over the place if you have anything set to auto. The white balance is the one that you might want to worry about as you might want to it to be different towards the end of the shot than from the start.

I made a time lapse a few weeks back, 2 shots i had set to auto on something by mistake and you can see what happened here, the third shot it was all set to manual when it goes dark, no sun thou

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oClXCByy4wE
 
GrittyShaker said:
As for shooting at sunset, I'm not sure. I guess allowing the scene to gradually darken would create a more realistic effect anyway, but once it gets too dark you'll have exposure problems. Not sure how to blend from daylight to night seamlessly. Maybe someone can help us both out in that regard. :shrug:
Click to expand...

Interested to know this as well actually come to think of it. Just recently have got a programmable remote to try some time lapse stuff soon so this information would be very useful.
 
Thanks for the explanation and examples on why everything has to be manual. That time lapse was effective Scott, but can see how the flickering ruins it.

4747carlin, I've just watched your full video (not the reject one), that was really really impressive! The bits around the docks with the wheel and the roundabout by the tunnel were brilliant. The ones with traffic in - at what intervals where you shooting and do you just take one picture to start with, make sure everything looks exposed and composed correctly then set everything to manual?

I guess there is a few of us wondering how to do sunsets in this style eh.
 
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After a wee Google, it seems a few people us Av for sunsets/sunrises. That's what I used, and the effect was less than desirable, but maybe it isn't so bad during fading light. :shrug:

I'm not convinced. Not sure how you could get the right WB either, given the difference in colour temp from daylight through to tungsten, etc.
 
Maybe someone can correct me, but if you use stacker software to make the movie, isn't there some way to equalize the tonal image in each frame to make them match.
I've got startrails.de and combinezp downloaded but I havn't attempted to run them yet !
The other long winded way would maybe to hand adjust each frame in LR or your camera software:gag: so they match, before stitching together into a movie.

-I'm only a noob, so what do I know:lol:
 
AlexStirrup said:
Thanks for the explanation and examples on why everything has to be manual. That time lapse was effective Scott, but can see how the flickering ruins it.

4747carlin, I've just watched your full video (not the reject one), that was really really impressive! The bits around the docks with the wheel and the roundabout by the tunnel were brilliant. The ones with traffic in - at what intervals where you shooting and do you just take one picture to start with, make sure everything looks exposed and composed correctly then set everything to manual?

I guess there is a few of us wondering how to do sunsets in this style eh.
Click to expand...

Alex. glad you liked my short vid :)

Most of those traffic shots are at the most a one second exposure taken either every 3, 4 or 5 seconds depening on how busy it is. Yeah i took one shot, get everything how you want it, set to manual, take another to make double sure and once im happy away you go.

One thing i was doing all the trail shots in RAW just so i would have a RAW of each image but the rest which you can see in the time lapse are jpegs
 
buckas said:
to sort out flickering use this > http://lrtimelapse.com/
Click to expand...

This works quite well - when it works. It seems to be a bit hit and miss for me.

It will only work upto a point though, perfect day to night time-lapses need to use bulb ramping which can adjust the shutter-speed in smaller increments than you could manually.
There are external devices that do this, but i think the Magic Lantern firmware for Canon has it in-built now.
 
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