Achieving “long exposure” type motion blurs

[David Coleman]

The three main controls you have over time lapse are record time, interval time and frame rate. You’ve already tried the frame rate, I gather. I’d recommend experimenting with longer record times in between the intervals of not recording. If you’re only recording a second between intervals it doesn’t give the frame rate much opportunity to achieve the blur you’re looking for. You may have to speed it up in post to get the finished length you desire, however.

Hope that helps.
David

[Michael Sacci]

To get the most natural looking images use a still camera with a shutter speed of 1/2 to +1 sec. If you have to use video just experiment with a motion blur filter. The problem with a filter is they are straight. so depending how long you want streaks to be to may or may look natural.

[John Fishback]

There are some plugins for FCP that affect time that you can apply during post. Check out this collection of time plugins, in particular Long Exposure:

https://www.chv-plugins.com/cms/Fx-Script/Time-collection/Time-collection.php?navanchor=1010027

John

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[Nate Stephens]

Aaron,

I have read of ways to trick the camera into achieving that look. And I think somebody even posted a video clip with that look.. If I recall Barry Green and another fellow perfected a way of using the scene file/set up card to trick the camera into slower shutter speeds.

Sorry< i don't remember all the details... but it was posted this past summer, either on the cow or over on the dvsusers.com forum.. FCP, Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro, HPX500, HVX200, Betacam, Dvcam Write for the Edit, Shoot for the Edit, Edit…..KISS Principle

[Adam Smith]

I don’t recall where I copied this from, so I can’t give credit where it is due, but this is the HVX-200 (And HPX-500) frame rate hack.

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1) Get a scene file text file on an SD card, usually by going into menu 8, CARD FUNCTIONS, and saving scene files to your SD card.

2) Open the scene file text file in the PRIVATE\MEIGROUP\PAVCN\SBG\P2SD directory, called SCENE1.TXT (or scene2.txt, scene3.txt, or scene4.txt) using a text editor like Windows Notepad

3) Look for the next-to-last item in the scene file. Here’s what a sample scene file text file looks like:
00005000: 8 ; DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005001: 8 ; V DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005002: 8 ; DETAIL CORING : 0
00005003: 8 ; CHROMA LEVEL: 0
00005004: 8 ; CHROMA PHASE: 0
00005005: 8 ; COLOR TEMP: 0
00005006: 16 ; MASTER PED: 0
00005007: 8 ; A.IRIS LEVEL: 0
00005008: 1 ; NEWS GAMMA: OFF
00005009: 0 ; GAMMA : HD NORM
0000500A: 0 ; KNEE: AUTO
0000500B: 0 ; MATRIX: NORM
0000500C: 1 ; SKIN TONE DTL : OFF
0000500D: 0 ; V DETAIL FREQ : THIN
0000500E: 0 ; OPERATION TYPE: VIDEO CAM
0000500F: 0 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT
00005010: BE026801 ; SYNCRO SCAN :

That next-to-last item is:
0000500F: 0 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

You can ignore everything after the semicolon; the semicolon indicates that it’s a “comment” and will have no bearing on anything else (so, in this example, the part that says “; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT ” is useless, it affects nothing, it’s just there for human-readable description).

The only thing you would want to change is that last number (in this case, “0”). To get different frame rates, use one of the following numbers:

0 = DEFAULT
1 = 2fps
2 = 3fps
3 =4fps
4 = 6fps
5 = 8fps
6 = 10fps
7 = 12fps
8 = 14fps
9 = 16fps
10 = 18fps
11 = 20fps
12 = 22fps
13 = 23fps
14 = 24fps
16 = 26fps
17 = 27fps
18 = 28fps
19 = 30fps
20 = 32fps
21 = 34fps
22 = 36fps
23 = 38fps
24 = 40fps
25 = 42fps
26 = 44fps
27 = 46fps
28 = 48fps
29 = 50fps
30 = 52fps
32 = 54fps
33 = 56fps
34 = 58fps
35 = 60fps

So, for example, if you wanted to get a frame rate of 2 FPS, your modified line would look like this:
0000500F: 1 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

And if you wanted 44 fps, it would look like this:
0000500F: 26 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT

(don’t try higher than 35; I tried 36 and it set it to 50fps, 37 set it to 52, so I think it just repeats 50-60 for all fields set higher than 36)

4) Save your modified text file back onto your SD card

5) Put the SD card back in the camera, go to CARD FUNCTIONS, and read the scene files into the camera.

Now, when you go to the appropriate scene file, you’ll see the new frame rate there. But be aware, the only way to assign these “nonstandard” frame rates is through the SD card. If you use the menu to try to change the frame rate, you’ll lose it — it’ll immediately jump to 60, and then only allow the normal rates to be selected. You’d have to re-load the scene file from the SD card in order to re-establish your “nonstandard” frame rate.

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Video Photographer / Avid & Final Cut Editor

[Nate Stephens]

Adam,

That is the Barry Green, hack… It might be found on DVXusers.com sometime in late June / early July ’08.

FCP, Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro, HPX500, HVX200, Betacam, Dvcam
Write for the Edit, Shoot for the Edit, Edit…..KISS Principle

[Adam Smith]

[Nate Stephens] “That is the Barry Green, hack… It might be found on DVXusers.com sometime in late June / early July ’08.”

Yup I know he originally came up with it, just wasn’t sure if the post I copied for my own reference a while back was actually in his own words or another person’s recap/review of the steps.

Either way, I’ve never gotten around to trying it out on my ‘500, but I hope to sometime soon.

-Adam

– – –
Video Photographer / Avid & Final Cut Editor