EX1r - shooting sun rise/sets

[Kent Beeson]

Just shot my first timelapse sunset....Wanted some experienced advice here - I just shot a sunset with my EX1R, with a Tiffen polarized filter, 1920x1080p 24 fps, interval at 3 frames every 1 second, with SLS at 16, iris at 16, pointing at the sun and mountains in background.

It turned out OK, but the whole time I kept thinking, am I damaging the sensors by having the sun directly coming in the lens for 30 minutes? Should I NOT use SLS? What would be a better iris if I didn't have the SLS on (with it on I set it to 16 and of course that bumps the light level way up so my iris was nearly closed at 16.) I white balanced on a white card before I started, do I need to since it'll change rapidly over the sunset/rise?

I want to shoot a sunrise as well as maybe a different sunset and thought I'd better get some experienced advice before trying this again. RE: a sunRISE, anything I should know before attempting this in time lapse re settings?

Thanks greatly

KB

[Mitchell Lewis]

You won't damage the sensors shooting into the sun.

BTW, polarization is most effective at 90 degrees to the sun. That means that the subject that you are shooting will display maximum polarization at right angles to the sun's position. With the sun right behind or in front of you, polarization is almost non-existent.

Natural polarisation is uneven across the sky, with the most extreme effect when you're at 90 degrees to the sun. Using a polarizing filter when your shooting at wide angle can cause the darkening effect to be uneven across the sky because of the wide area the lens covers.

I would recommend using a ND (or just the built-in ND filters) and playing with your white balance to get the colors looking right.

[Paul Cronin]

I would buy a Grad ND. I only use coated B+W since I have had bad luck with Tiffen.

[Kent Beeson]

Thanks for the filter thoughts - I'll try just the ND filter on the EX1R next time - and I'll try time lapse with no SLS. Any other advice appreciated....for instance, re: a sunrise, what iris should I set it on? Seems you have to anticipate what the iris and white balance will be at the point you want to stop the taping.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Kent Beeson

3 frames every 1 second, with SLS at 16, iris at 16, pointing at the sun and mountains in background.
I

Not the best settings.

1) The time-lapse will flow smoother if you only capture one frame a time instead of 3. Try one frame every three seconds (or a longer interval) for a better effect. You'll almost never want to capture more than 1 frame at time for any time-lapse.

2) NEVER shoot with the EX1 or EX3 at any f-stop smaller than f/5.6. Always sse the built-in ND filters (and external ND filters if necessary) to keep the iris around f/4 to f/2.8. Due diffraction problems caused by the small 1/2" sensor, the image will look sharper, and you'll also eliminate most of the dust specks and any other imperfections that have found themselves onto the optics.

3) There is no advantage to SLS unless you have extremely low-light conditions or fast motion within the frame. On a sunset like this, you have neither.

[David C. Williams]

F16 is way past the 1/2" diffraction limit. Once past @ F5.6-8 you will begin to get a major loss in sharpness.

I generally use 1 frame per second, F2.8, polariser, ND64, an ND .6 Grad, and shutter around 1/500-1000. That gives a clean sharp image which you can also speed up easily in post too.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Kent Beeson

a sunrise, what iris should I set it on? Seems you have to anticipate what the iris and white balance will be at the point you want to stop the taping.

Shoot a sunset instead and reverse it in post. For some reason, sunsets look better than sunrises anyway. There might be a scientific reason for this, but I know it from experience.

[Kent Beeson]

Very helpful, thanks Doug/David, and you made me notice that I made a mistake in my post - I meant I shot 1 frame every 3 seconds...sorry for mistake.

You are so right re: sharpness gone past FS 6.8 - my sunset looked OK, but not sharp. ugh, I've got to redo this all over.

[Charles Newcomb]

I agree with Doug. In fact, these were shot on my stock EX3 with his recommended picture profiles.

Rocky Mountain Sunsets on Vimeo

was shot at exactly the same time as

Sunset In Salida on Vimeo

only the next evening.

Both were @F2.8. The really colorful one at the end of the first clip had no ND filter. The more golden ones had both ND filters cranked in.

I love this camera!

[Alister Chapman]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Lewis

You won't damage the sensors shooting into the sun.

You can damage the sensors shooting into the sun and there have been a few examples of those that have on this forum. You end up with a blue or yellow blotch on your pictures. You should always use ND when shooting into the sun.

[Jem Moore]

I was wondering if shooting timelapse sunset/sunrise would be a good time to use the auto-iris function? Would it work while in interval record?

Also, although shooting sunset and running it in reverse in post sounds like a great idea, I have to shoot a sunrise over Boulder, CO, and I think people might notice that the sun coming up in the West is a little strange :)

[Thane Silliker]

Did this one recently with a Canon superzoom. Did two in fact. Did not seem to have any effect on the sensor. Next one I do will have a graduated ND filter in place. I would also recommend doing this on a cloudy day, not clear. Doesn't look as interesting without any atmospheric phenomena to play off.

Winter Sunrise on Vimeo

On this thread, there is footage from a Canon 7D which includes some footage with the sun directly enters the lens, without so much as a cloud in the way. The wash out effect is minimized and instead looks like a less bright light source through a star filter. Would love to know how he accomplished this.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/eos-7d-s...adventure.html

[Kent Beeson]

Wondered if you have any suggestions for how to shoot sunset/rise and not get that excessively hot yellow ring around the sun (see my file below) - sounds funny and impossible but suggestions? (or is this caused by the clouds and therefore nothing can do?)

Shot on ND 2 at 2.8, 1/1000 1920x1080 24p