Massive Undertaking - any advice? :)

[Carl Middleton]

First attempt - time lapse.

I can't say too much (you'll get to see it in the challenge =D) but I'm about to do a bunch of time lapse video in the next week.

I have a prosumer Fuji wannabe DSLR and my trusty Z1U, and I'm trying to figure out the best methodology. I've got 2 days to film 6 days of footage in a hard to get to and extremely dirty and equipment unfriendly location. ;)

Seriously, it will be at least the 2 full days with numerous timelapses therein. I'm wondering if the Z1 will help at all, and what pitfalls to avoid with the DSLR. Anyone have any advice possibly to keep me from running into the "Darnit, I knew better!" phenomenon when I get ready to edit this beast? :) I'm the master of simple mistakes I could have avoided. =D

C

PS - Edit will be in either FCS2 or PPro2.0/Cineform, whichever will allow me to assemble these image sequences into video the easiest....

[Bob Thompson]

I am not sure if this is any help, but checkout this site

http://www.pclix.com/index.html

I have been testing out the product, before doing some productions using the Pclix box.

I tested it north of Beijing, China. The camera a Canon 400D and the Pclix cable connected device were outside at temperature of -10C for several hours. The camera only had a scarf wrapped around it and the box was inside a glove and they both worked perfectly

[Mat Thompson]

Try to think about what 'action' your looking to get out of your timelapse and try to remove aspects that will take away from that action. For instance, lighting, do you want it to change or could it be kept consistant. What other things are going to change over the time period you are going to lapse and are they acceptable and can they be managed.

Also consider security for your gear, both environmental and theft wise :-)

Looking forward to seeing what your up too!

[Carl Middleton]

Bob,

Unfortunately, cool device though that is, I don't have a compatible camera :( It's looking like the old fashioned wait-and-click method it is! :) I appreciate the link, I might look into that if I get a fancier camera in the future!

Originally Posted by Mat Thompson

Try to think about what 'action' your looking to get out of your timelapse and try to remove aspects that will take away from that action. For instance, lighting, do you want it to change or could it be kept consistant.

Good point. Each of these timelapses are 6 hours - keeping constant lighting is going to be a BEAST.

Also consider security for your gear, both environmental and theft wise :-)

I'm not worried about theft - I'll be there hitting a button every 2 minutes (or whatever it ends up being, haven't done the math yet) but environmental is going to be a pain. Think marshes. :) This darn well better qualify as 'adventure'! =) =)

[Yeo Wee Han]

Carl,

Hitting the button every 2 minutes is going to give you too few frames. Every 30 secs per frame will be a good start. You can do this with the Fuji but I can guarantee you that its going to be a killer. How about renting a Canon DSLR and a TC-80N3? The latter is the timer remote that will do the firing for you (you just set the interval) and I have been doing this successfully for some time.

The Z1U should be recording all 6 hours straight (set an alarm for tape changing) and it would be good to use some longer-duration tapes. This camera should be recording straight so that you have the option of playing around with the final duration of the time lapse in post. You can vary the final duration from a few seconds to 1000% which will give you 36mins time lapse. Shooting frame by frame as with the DSLR method will not give you this flexibility.

I would worry about battery life and storage. Rent a direct-to-disk unit for the Z1 and a long-lasting battery for both the camera and the disk unit and you will be set.

Cheers

WeeHan

[Dale Guthormsen]

Just a couple thoughts.

For power I bought the a small 12 volt car battery for 29 dollars, bought a cigerrette plug that clips onto the battery for 7 dollars. I use the 12 volt adapter for my video camera and it can run days!! for cheap.

If you have a lap top then you could hook up to it with your video camera for timelapse/delay and run it, I believe scenealyzer does this for 39 dollars.

Looking forward to seeing your effort!!!

[Carl Middleton]

Originally Posted by Dale Guthormsen

Just a couple thoughts.

For power I bought the a small 12 volt car battery for 29 dollars, bought a cigerrette plug that clips onto the battery for 7 dollars. I use the 12 volt adapter for my video camera and it can run days!! for cheap.

If you have a lap top then you could hook up to it with your video camera for timelapse/delay and run it, I believe scenealyzer does this for 39 dollars.

Looking forward to seeing your effort!!!

Nice! However, I'm only going to be able to do this one day (silly work thing, and conflicting schedule with the subject material... :D) I will have to try that with scenalizer someday though, that'd just be nifty!

It's looking like 1 or 2 DSLR's are what I'll have to work with - I only have one laptop. I would have to duplicate the power setup for 2 laptops and 2 cameras, and I'm trying to do this on a friendly budget :)

It's going to prove interesting, I can tell already. The 1 day I have earmarked to shoot is already predicting thunderstorms, a week ahead. :)

C