Timelapse questions

[dean messenger]

Just had a go at shooting some timelapse. very boring subject just out the bedroom window as the rather stormy clouds are going by.

having never tried it before was winging it a bit.

using canon 60D and magic Lantern Intervalometer i set it to 200 shots 30 secs apart with teh adjustment for exposure set on.

software i tried was Vdub.

results were pretty jerky despite trying a couple of different frame speeds and i couldnt see a way of seeing a preview in vdub ( other than one that showed about 1/10th of the image ratehr than letting me zoom out to see whole image.
file size ended up silly too.

so questions are.. using magic lantern seems to be no issue and very easy so thats fine but...
whats a suitable interval between shots..

whats the best free software out there to then render the files into timelapse.

whats the ideal output in terms of FPS for timelapse
whats the best format to save it as ( AVI or something like DIV X codec )
what resolution is best to render it at ( i changed mine to 1920 x 1080 in vdub )

ive read 24 fps is suitable but looking at that its really jumpy and jittery though this in part could eb down to one frame per 30 secs
at 60 fps its still jerky playing rather than the smooth action ive seen on some sample vids
maybe its the software or again number of images ( i had around 200 in total )

like i say this was just a test as i dont want to do anything to long and find ive spent 8 hours sitting around only to have the timings out.

 

[Muzzieman]

If you want a smooth action you need to be around three seconds between frames and 200 frames is only going to be around 8 seconds of finished video. There are good free plugins for Lightroom to be able to export or if you wanna get fancy use after effects.

 

[MWHCVT]

The jerkiness will likely be down to the fact there is such a gap, I've done a few for the fun of it and I tend to shoot at least 4 times a minute often 6 times makes a much smoother TL also I set the fps at 30fps

 

[dean messenger]

silly question but then how do you get around doing timelapse when its darker and you need say exposures of around 5-10 seconds long to avoid totally blacked out images?

for instance if i was doing timelapse at night in London set up somewhere high up looking down on the city ( maybe looking across towards canary wharf from greenwich then the exposures would be longer than the time between shots.. or does the time not start until after each shot has been taken?

 

[Digisatman]

http://www.learntimelapse.com/time-...to-guide/how-to-select-a-time-lapse-interval/


To give you a feel on where to start here are some common scenes with possible intervals:

1 second


Moving traffic Fast moving clouds Drivelapses

1 – 3 seconds


Sunsets Sunrises Slower moving clouds Crowds Moon and sun near horizon (or telephoto) Things photographed with a telephoto

15 – 30 seconds


Moving shadows Sun across sky (no clouds) (wide) Stars (15 – 60 seconds)

Longer


Fast growing plants (ex vines) (90 – 120 seconds) Construction projects (5min – 15min)

 

[MWHCVT]

silly question but then how do you get around doing timelapse when its darker and you need say exposures of around 5-10 seconds long to avoid totally blacked out images?

for instance if i was doing timelapse at night in London set up somewhere high up looking down on the city ( maybe looking across towards canary wharf from greenwich then the exposures would be longer than the time between shots.. or does the time not start until after each shot has been taken?

Night time stuff my timelapse efforts have just been a constant stream of exposures the same as if I'm shooting a star trail...

 

[dean messenger]

never shot star trail eitehr lol.. im in a highly light polluted area so star trails and milky way are something i just sadly cant do here.. still will have a play sometime this coming week