I've been called to do a time lapse shoot at a facility oing 2 days of set up for a big event. They want the same shot over a two day period and want me to give them a vido clip between 1.5 and 2 minutes. I've never done time lapse with my 7d, and hopefully somebody can point me in the right direction.
I have plenty of cf cards, 5 batteries and a pearstone "shutter boss" which I guess lets you do all the timed shots. I was also thinking of getting the ac adapter for the 7d, so as to not have to change batteries.
We edit in Premiere CS5, which is where , hopefully. we'll do this.

If anyone can point me in the direction of a tutorialo about how to shoot this thing the simplest way possible, that would be great. Also, how do I calculate the number of shots I'd have to get per hour, in order to end up with a finished clip that's 1.5- 2 minutes long?
Thanks
Bruce Yarock

I haven't done timelapse over anything more than a few hours, so I'll refrain from advising any more than to say a quick google search should bring up plenty of solid youtube tutorials.

As for calculating the number of shots, pretty straightforward math.
Figure out your target frame rate.
Let's assume 24 frames per second.
And say we want a two minute video, that's 120 seconds.
120 x 24 = 2,880 frames.

Those frames need to happen over a two day period, or 48 hours.

2880/48 = 60 shots per hour, or one shot every minute (an interval of 60 seconds).

So let's check that math. We're doing one shot every minute. That's sixty shots per hour. Twenty-four hours in a day means 60 x 24 = 1440 shots per day. Two days is 1440 x 2 = 2880. Twenty-four frames per second is 2880/24 = 120 seconds, or two minutes for your final video.

So to plug in your own desired settings, the formula would be
[(framerate) x (total seconds in the video)] / (number of hours you'll be shooting) = shots per hour (divide by 60 for shots per minute)

Anyone want to check that math?

Bruce,

I think that Alex has his math right on this. Make sure that you are shooting JPEG and not RAW. You will need to fit all the stills on one card, unless you want to take a chance and change cards between shots. You might end up moving the camera though. If you shot medium sized JPEG files on a 32 gig card I would think that you should be able to get them all on the one card.

You can use CS5, but it is much quicker and easier to use Quicktime Pro 7 if you are on a Mac. The other thing to figure out is how do you set up the camera. Since you are doing this over two days and will have two day to night changes, I would probably set the camera on aperture priority.

I do a couple of practice runs as well if I were you, but I am guessing that you already decided to do that.

Good luck,

Daniel Weber

So, I am guessing you have to have some external device to trigger the shots on a 7D? I have never shot a time lapse but I would like to try it. Is there a preferred device for the triggering?

-Use a manual lens that does not 'speak' to the camera...you'll avoid flicker

-put some black tape over the eyepiece (it leaks light...I have proof, can show you a still) and you'll avoid more flicker

- foreground object, preferably static, will add depth

- if you are in Ap priorty, stick with it for sure but try and drag your shutter by stopping down.

here is a link that worked for me:

RAW workflow for timelapse | Philip Bloom (http://philipbloom.net/2012/01/24/raw-workflow-for-timelapse/)

With a lens that doesn't have an aperture ring, you can set the aperture, hold the DOF button (next to the lens) and untwist the lens a few degrees to disconnect the electrical connection. Now you can shoot without flicker.

I've done this a number of times and have never come close to dropping a lens. It's more secure than it sounds. :)

Will one minute between action catch enough without missing something? I.e. 1 minute is way to long for catching moonrise.

And practice before hand!

The 7D came with a cover for the eyepiece. You can take away frames that you shot but you can't add those you didn't, so oversampling is OK. Resolution needn't be set too high, but high resolution allows for motion effects.

I'd rent an EX1 or something.

Canon has tested the shutter unit to provide (on average) 150,000 shots before it breaks.

So if you shoot an hour timelapse at 1 shot per second, your camera will take an average of 41 timelapses before it breaks. Enjoy 1 of 41.....

Shutter replacement is only a couple hundred bucks. I wouldn't worry about it.

Here's a discussion I had earlier that might of help: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/photo-hd-video-d-slr-others/493552-60-day-time-lapse-dslr.html

I haven't done this with a 7d (dont have mine yet) but why not do it with a Go Pro hero 2 it does nice time lapses. as far as editing just high light the batch of photos go to the top menu your looking for "speed" and set that number very low drag to timeline and your done.

How can a Go Pro 2 shoot for 2 days? There is no AC adapter, and if you change the battery, there is no way to do it without moving the camera.

use 2 go pros.. lock the housing down and just change the camera. im not sure but you may be able to use extended batteries and change them with in a few seconds

Get a Brinno TLC200, does the trick.