Sped up/Time lapse day & night shots SD 25p. at DVinfo.net

David Scattergood · February 22nd, 2007, 06:17 AM

Aside from my WB issue (thanks everyone!) I have to shoot some footage from a stationary vantage point over a site which is being developed.
Fortunately there is a car park nearby I can use to shoot down on this scene.
What I've been asked to do is shoot 20 mins of footage (day and night, possibly sunrise and clouds) which will then be sped up/condensed into seconds/minute (?) as per the classic shots of cars looking arterial and clouds quickly morphing across the sky (I'll have sorted the WB and filtering by then!).
Not, as yet, confident enough to shoot it in HDV (bearing in mind the recent footage I can't afford any other hiccups at this stage).
So, that leaves me with shooting in SD 25p over the site then giving this raw footage to the client who will then make the effects in After Effects etc.
Is there anything I need to be aware of? More keen on getting the night/lights shot spot on rather than the day scene.
I won't have any lighting and would prefer not to use any gain relying on the lights from nearby lights/car lights...perhaps open the iris a little higher than usual?
Might it also be worth considering HDV - SD50p??

Thanks.

Liam Hall · February 22nd, 2007, 06:41 AM

Sorry David, you can't do a day/night timelapse with this camera. Well, not without rigging it to a computer or an external hard disk recorder.

You need a camera with an interval timer (intervalometer). There are many stills cameras that can do this (eg D200) and many DV cameras (pd150), though I don't know of an HDV camera that can do this - certainly not the HD100 range.

You could hook up a laptop to your camera and record to the hard drive.

David Scattergood · February 22nd, 2007, 06:54 AM

It's actually only for 15 mins per shot (if that - it will more than likely be condensed into 10 seconds footage or thereabouts).
Trying to achieve an effect as seen in 'Koyaanisqatsi' - fast moving clouds, the moon rising quickly, people as 'busy ants' etc.
I called it 'time lapse' but I suppose it's more sped up film (car light trails etc). Has this been achieved with ok results?
I'm presuming I'll hand over a 15 min peice of footage (as a quicktime movie)which will then be sped up in after effects.

Liam Hall · February 22nd, 2007, 07:20 AM

Then you'll be fine. I do this type of shot all the time, it's child's play.
Just make sure you have the camera in full manual mode and expose it correctly - with the correct white balance, of course. Auto nothing - you don't want to spot fluctuations when it's sped up.

The wider your field of view the longer you need to run the camera for. If it's a big wide run for longer than fifteen as that is borderline for a 10 second timelapse. Have fun.

David Scattergood · February 22nd, 2007, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liam Hall

Then you'll be fine. I do this type of shot all the time, it's child's play.
Just make sure you have the camera in full manual mode and expose it correctly - with the correct white balance, of course. Auto nothing - you don't want to spot fluctuations when it's sped up.

The wider your field of view the longer you need to run the camera for. If it's a big wide run for longer than fifteen as that is borderline for a 10 second timelapse. Have fun.

Thanks Liam - soothed my nerves somewhat. Just hope the weather picks up though I suppose the nighttime shoot won't matter as much...if I can only book a full moon for sometime this weekend!

15 min for 10 seconds (when wide)? That's interesting. Not sure how wide the shot will be until I view from the roof of the car park - reccy required over the next day or so I reckon.
Actually, I don't think WB setting at night was mentioned...?

Liam Hall · February 22nd, 2007, 07:42 AM

Treat nighttime WB same as tungsten. There is a preset in the menu.

If you shoot a landscape on a wide angle lens, that can be a lot of sky - and a lot of distance for the clouds to travel to make the shot interesting.

David Scattergood · February 22nd, 2007, 09:00 AM

Cheers for the advice Liam, good point re the sky...I was hoping for a windy day but that would be counter productive due to camera wobble!
i'll probably aim for 20 mins for the day traffic, night traffic and sky shot each. As I type the sun is hitting the skies so hopefully I'll have a good run over the next few days...I'll need to get hold of those ND filters asap mind!

Thanks for the tips once more.

February 22nd, 2007, 06:17 AM	#1
David Scattergood Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 755	Sped up/Time lapse day & night shots SD 25p. Aside from my WB issue (thanks everyone!) I have to shoot some footage from a stationary vantage point over a site which is being developed. Fortunately there is a car park nearby I can use to shoot down on this scene. What I've been asked to do is shoot 20 mins of footage (day and night, possibly sunrise and clouds) which will then be sped up/condensed into seconds/minute (?) as per the classic shots of cars looking arterial and clouds quickly morphing across the sky (I'll have sorted the WB and filtering by then!). Not, as yet, confident enough to shoot it in HDV (bearing in mind the recent footage I can't afford any other hiccups at this stage). So, that leaves me with shooting in SD 25p over the site then giving this raw footage to the client who will then make the effects in After Effects etc. Is there anything I need to be aware of? More keen on getting the night/lights shot spot on rather than the day scene. I won't have any lighting and would prefer not to use any gain relying on the lights from nearby lights/car lights...perhaps open the iris a little higher than usual? Might it also be worth considering HDV - SD50p?? Thanks.

February 22nd, 2007, 06:41 AM	#2
Liam Hall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 969	Sorry David, you can't do a day/night timelapse with this camera. Well, not without rigging it to a computer or an external hard disk recorder. You need a camera with an interval timer (intervalometer). There are many stills cameras that can do this (eg D200) and many DV cameras (pd150), though I don't know of an HDV camera that can do this - certainly not the HD100 range. You could hook up a laptop to your camera and record to the hard drive.

February 22nd, 2007, 06:54 AM	#3
David Scattergood Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 755	It's actually only for 15 mins per shot (if that - it will more than likely be condensed into 10 seconds footage or thereabouts). Trying to achieve an effect as seen in 'Koyaanisqatsi' - fast moving clouds, the moon rising quickly, people as 'busy ants' etc. I called it 'time lapse' but I suppose it's more sped up film (car light trails etc). Has this been achieved with ok results? I'm presuming I'll hand over a 15 min peice of footage (as a quicktime movie)which will then be sped up in after effects.

February 22nd, 2007, 07:20 AM	#4
Liam Hall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 969	Then you'll be fine. I do this type of shot all the time, it's child's play. Just make sure you have the camera in full manual mode and expose it correctly - with the correct white balance, of course. Auto nothing - you don't want to spot fluctuations when it's sped up. The wider your field of view the longer you need to run the camera for. If it's a big wide run for longer than fifteen as that is borderline for a 10 second timelapse. Have fun.

February 22nd, 2007, 07:42 AM	#6
Liam Hall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 969	Treat nighttime WB same as tungsten. There is a preset in the menu. If you shoot a landscape on a wide angle lens, that can be a lot of sky - and a lot of distance for the clouds to travel to make the shot interesting.

February 22nd, 2007, 09:00 AM	#7
David Scattergood Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 755	Cheers for the advice Liam, good point re the sky...I was hoping for a windy day but that would be counter productive due to camera wobble! i'll probably aim for 20 mins for the day traffic, night traffic and sky shot each. As I type the sun is hitting the skies so hopefully I'll have a good run over the next few days...I'll need to get hold of those ND filters asap mind! Thanks for the tips once more.