time lapse and user settings

[Gregory Seymour]

I'd like to do a nice, smooth 8-second time lapse shot of clouds zooming by. Has anybody played around with the settings? I'd appreciate not having to do a bunch of tests. We like to shoot at 1080i 60.

Also, I heard at NAB (Sony booth) that you can download user settings on the web. One setting, in particular, is called cityscape. Can anybody direct me to a site that has these?

[Matthew Pugerude]

Hey Gregory
Here is a post that had a very handy Timelapse pdf in the first post
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...ight=timelapse

It was done by Carroll Lam

[Greg Boston]

I'd shoot about 1 frame every 6 to 9 seconds. That seems to make for a pretty smooth time lapse. For a time lapse, I also suggest using 1080p 30. Get full frames with each iteration.

If you want it to be 8 seconds long, using 30fps, you need a total of 240 frames. Set the repeat count to as close to 240 as you can and walk away.

At 1 frame every 6 seconds, you'll need 240 X 6 = 1440 seconds to complete the time lapse. 1440/60= 24 minutes total.

-gb-

[Alister Chapman]

If the clouds are fast moving you would probably want to go for 1 frame every second. Then you can always speed up a little more in post if you need to.

[Carroll Lam]

Originally Posted by Matthew Pugerude

Hey Gregory
Here is a post that had a very handy Timelapse pdf in the first post
Timelapse computation and other tips - The Digital Video Information Network

It was done by Carroll Lam

I've now captured that pdf information into an iPhone app. You can read about the app here: iTunes Store

Carroll Lam

[Simon Wyndham]

Depends on the effect you want. On a full wide with the interval set to 6 seconds you can get some really nice big sweeping movement. Works best with parallax motion.

[Greg Boston]

To elaborate a bit more, the settings I gave are what I use to shoot a cloud time lapse of clouds that really don't appear to be moving when viewed in real time. As was suggested, faster moving time lapse subjects need more frames per second to get a smooth motion signature.

Another thing that I usually do is to put the iris in auto. You can't compensate for varying light levels in a time lapse as well as auto iris can. This also keeps the image from blowing out if it starts out overcast and then the sun breaks out. Another factor is that you don't want to touch the camera once it's locked down as any movement will create a jump in the framing when played back.

-gb-

[Simon Wyndham]

I never touch auto with a timelapse. I've tried it a couple of times in the past as an experiment just to see if it would do a good job or not, but each time auto has messed it up big time. The effect can be much worse than using it in normal framerates because you are only taking a single frame at a time. The result can be single frames at a completely different exposure giving a really bizarre effect.

What really needs to be done for a good timelapse is to plan ahead. Know what the lighting will be like and balance the exposure accordingly. On a day with nice white fluffy clouds, if you are shooting away from the sun then your exposure won't vary too much, and even if a large cloud does pass overhead the difference in lighting level is a nice variant, not a problem or error.

If you are facing into the sun then no camera, auto or not, is going to compensate, so more likely than not the silhouetted look will be the effect you are after.

If you are shooting the sun setting then you really, really do not want the auto iris compensating or you'll lose the whole point of the sun going down (ie it gets darker!)

[Alister Chapman]

Which camera are we talking about here?

On the 700/F800 you can either set the interval etc manually or you can set the target clip duration and shooting period. The camera will then calculate the correct interval. Again on the 700/F800 you can slow down the auto iris response. I often use auto iris for timelapse and I shoot an awful lot of timelapse, with the iris speed dialed right down it works well. If your shooting into the sun you can dial in an iris offset to compensate.

[Simon Wyndham]

Not sure how the auto iris response speed really helps? Most generic timelapses really don't need any iris adjustment as long as it has been balanced for the light conditions. The variation in light is part of the shot (how many film camera based timelapses have auto iris?) But I suppose a lot would depend on the interval time. For 1 second intervals perhaps it doesn't adversely affect it much. But for much wider times I can't see how the response time adjustment would make much difference. Anyone got any examples in wildly varying light?

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Simon Wyndham

I never touch auto with a timelapse.

I agree completely with Simon on this. Timelapse is no time to be using auto.

[Peter Beeh]

I've only every shot time lapse on manual iris as well. So Alistair, I'm really interested to hear an example or 2 of where you might choose to go auto.

[Alister Chapman]

Going from day to night and night to day are where I would use auto iris. I also use it for storms that are going to form in blue skies and then come overhead as there is likely to be a massive change in light levels, starting with a bright blue cloud free sky and ending with a dark storm cloud overhead where you have near nigh time light levels. Long sequences over many hours are another where you may have a dark overcast to start with and a bright sun later on, in addition you may have to deal with the sun moving across the sky during the course of a sequence with you subject going from being front lit to back lit. You can get the 700 iris response way down to the point where it takes around 20 seconds to react.

I almost always use 1 frame every second as this gives me the option to adjust the final playback speed in post. Doing this makes no difference to the smoothness of the playback as speeding a 1 frame every second clip up to 200% in the edit gives exactly the same result as shooting a frame every 2 seconds. In effect you are just discarding the additional frames. By shooting one frame every second I can also ramp in and out of sequences.

There are times where manual is better and times where auto is essential. I shoot hours and hours of timelapse every year filming storms, the weather and other natural events, it's a huge part of what I do.

[Doug Jensen]

Okay Alister, you make a pretty good case. Maybe I'll give it a try.