TimeLapse

Donald McPherson · January 4th, 2012, 01:17 PM

And to the best of my knowledge no one has permanently damaged their cameras using Magic lantern.
Go on load it, you know you want to.

Neil Macdonald · January 4th, 2012, 02:42 PM

Don't want to be negative but Philip Bloom reported it bricked his 550D,I had it on mine for a while and it worked fine until one day the camera locked up, something it did not do before, I removed battery for a while and rebooted camera with memory card without ML on it. Everything was fine after that but it put me off ML.

For timelapses I use a cheap Intervalometer I got from ebay,does the job.

Tariq Peter · January 8th, 2012, 09:02 PM

Has anybody had an issue with creating a time-lapse sequence from a tricky location?

I will be filming a wedding at this location Nawaab‎, Manchester, M19 3WN and would love to create a nice piece of time-lapse footage of clouds moving over the building. I had planned to park across the road and shoot from within my car until I realized that any car or truck passing buy would simply ruin the shot as its a busy road. I can kiss goodbye to my camera if I was to stand outside with it.

Any tips or advice would be great.

Mark Watson · January 8th, 2012, 10:09 PM

Tariq,

I'm trying lots of timelapses these days also, and by no means am an expert, but will offer a few observations I've made:

1. If no movement in the scene, it's very boring just watching sunset/sunrise in high speed. Need something moving. So if no clouds, I'd say forget it.
2. Clouds coming right at the camera is best, followed by laterally moving clouds. If you can check the weather report for that location and get the wind direction, and whether there are clouds, then try to set up your shot to get the clouds coming directly towards you.
3. I would not recommend shooting from a car, since any movement of the camera will likely result in some bad footage. You want the camera to be rock steady, especially during low light where the shutter stays open longer. (Personally, I like clouds shot on a video camera better than a series of still shots. Very fluid motion when shot in 24p.)
4. For your stills camera, use Aperture priority, and add a ND 0.9 to 1.8 depending on brightness of daylight For white balance I like to set a color temp to something slightly warm looking and leave it at that. If that option isn't available on your camera then I think you would be fine with AWB. You will need to snap a photo every few seconds so it looks as smooth as possible. The ND filter is supposed to help with smoothness also.
5. If shooting stills, shoot RAW and then you can easily tweek the colors, perhaps make the clouds look more purplish or whatever.

There're lots of other tips on this forum. I'm trying to follow of Jon Fairhurst's tips.

Good luck,

Mark

Colin Rowe · January 17th, 2012, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tariq Peter

What are the pros and cons of Magic Lantern? I am so scared about installing it since my t3i is only 6 months old.

No cons whatsoever, it will transform your camera, and the way you use it. A must have for Canon DSLRs

Tariq Peter · January 18th, 2012, 08:49 AM

Are you able to restore the camera to the factory settings should one want to sell it?

Colin Rowe · January 18th, 2012, 12:27 PM

Google it, all the information you need is out there. To reiterate, install ML, it is a Canon transformer.

Chris Westerstrom · February 18th, 2012, 04:58 PM

i read somewhere that because of the mirror to the eyepiece, that light can leak in there and create flicker, so putting some gaffer tape over the eyepiece might be a good idea

another tip might be to always consider your 180degreeshutterspeed

if you shoot 25fps and have your shutter at 50, then maybe consider a 2second shutter for your 4 second exposures

those are just technical tips, and Mark I appreciated your aesthetic tips above!

a static foreground object will definitely give depth and reference to the picture

moire can occur if you don't compress it right

Mark Watson · February 19th, 2012, 03:04 AM

I checked this shoot location [Nawaab‎, Manchester, M19 3WN, UK] on Google Map and can see the challenge for getting a decent time lapse. I would have approached the shop owners across the street from the banquet center and asked to shoot from inside one of those buildings, either ground floor or 2nd level. That health club looks good and would probably be off-center enough to keep the light pole out of frame.

Mark

January 4th, 2012, 01:17 PM	#16
Donald McPherson Major Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Aberdeen Scotland Posts: 815	Re: TimeLapse And to the best of my knowledge no one has permanently damaged their cameras using Magic lantern. Go on load it, you know you want to.

January 4th, 2012, 02:42 PM	#17
Neil Macdonald Tourist Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Western Isles Posts: 3	Re: TimeLapse Don't want to be negative but Philip Bloom reported it bricked his 550D,I had it on mine for a while and it worked fine until one day the camera locked up, something it did not do before, I removed battery for a while and rebooted camera with memory card without ML on it. Everything was fine after that but it put me off ML. For timelapses I use a cheap Intervalometer I got from ebay,does the job.

January 8th, 2012, 09:02 PM	#18
Tariq Peter Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Manchester England Posts: 435	Re: TimeLapse Has anybody had an issue with creating a time-lapse sequence from a tricky location? I will be filming a wedding at this location Nawaab‎, Manchester, M19 3WN and would love to create a nice piece of time-lapse footage of clouds moving over the building. I had planned to park across the road and shoot from within my car until I realized that any car or truck passing buy would simply ruin the shot as its a busy road. I can kiss goodbye to my camera if I was to stand outside with it. Any tips or advice would be great.

January 8th, 2012, 10:09 PM	#19
Mark Watson Major Player Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Whidbey Island Posts: 873	Re: TimeLapse Tariq, I'm trying lots of timelapses these days also, and by no means am an expert, but will offer a few observations I've made: 1. If no movement in the scene, it's very boring just watching sunset/sunrise in high speed. Need something moving. So if no clouds, I'd say forget it. 2. Clouds coming right at the camera is best, followed by laterally moving clouds. If you can check the weather report for that location and get the wind direction, and whether there are clouds, then try to set up your shot to get the clouds coming directly towards you. 3. I would not recommend shooting from a car, since any movement of the camera will likely result in some bad footage. You want the camera to be rock steady, especially during low light where the shutter stays open longer. (Personally, I like clouds shot on a video camera better than a series of still shots. Very fluid motion when shot in 24p.) 4. For your stills camera, use Aperture priority, and add a ND 0.9 to 1.8 depending on brightness of daylight For white balance I like to set a color temp to something slightly warm looking and leave it at that. If that option isn't available on your camera then I think you would be fine with AWB. You will need to snap a photo every few seconds so it looks as smooth as possible. The ND filter is supposed to help with smoothness also. 5. If shooting stills, shoot RAW and then you can easily tweek the colors, perhaps make the clouds look more purplish or whatever. There're lots of other tips on this forum. I'm trying to follow of Jon Fairhurst's tips. Good luck, Mark

January 18th, 2012, 08:49 AM	#21
Tariq Peter Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Manchester England Posts: 435	Re: TimeLapse Are you able to restore the camera to the factory settings should one want to sell it?

January 18th, 2012, 12:27 PM	#22
Colin Rowe Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Cornwall UK Posts: 793	Re: TimeLapse Google it, all the information you need is out there. To reiterate, install ML, it is a Canon transformer. __________________ Colin

February 18th, 2012, 04:58 PM	#23
Chris Westerstrom Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Gothenburg, Sweden Posts: 259	Re: TimeLapse i read somewhere that because of the mirror to the eyepiece, that light can leak in there and create flicker, so putting some gaffer tape over the eyepiece might be a good idea another tip might be to always consider your 180degreeshutterspeed if you shoot 25fps and have your shutter at 50, then maybe consider a 2second shutter for your 4 second exposures those are just technical tips, and Mark I appreciated your aesthetic tips above! a static foreground object will definitely give depth and reference to the picture moire can occur if you don't compress it right

February 19th, 2012, 03:04 AM	#24
Mark Watson Major Player Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Whidbey Island Posts: 873	Re: TimeLapse I checked this shoot location [Nawaab‎, Manchester, M19 3WN, UK] on Google Map and can see the challenge for getting a decent time lapse. I would have approached the shop owners across the street from the banquet center and asked to shoot from inside one of those buildings, either ground floor or 2nd level. That health club looks good and would probably be off-center enough to keep the light pole out of frame. Mark