Advantage: Time lapse vs fast motion?

[Mark Raudonis]

Ron,

I’ve done a fair amount of this over the years, and lately, I’ve been favoring “none of the above”. My recommendation would be to use a DSLR (Digital SLR) like the Canon or Nikon and shoot a series of stills that can be turned into a timelapse sequence. The advantages of using this method are many. First and foremost, the quality of the image is SPECTACULAR. Secondly, since you’re acquiring at a larger frame size you can “push in” to parts of the frame creating a zoom or pan… something that’s very tricky to do in a normal timelapse method. Finally, you can easily control the “playback speed” by varying the number of frames recorded.

Also, if you’re doing night time timelapse, the shutter control functions are a still camera a much more flexible than your typical video camera, allowing of very interesting slow shutter speed imagery in no light or low light situations.

To experiment with this process you don’t need an expensive camera. Your run of the mill “point and shoot” digital snap shot camera can easily yield results equal to or better than the HDX900.

Good luck.

mark

[Ron Craig]

Thanks Mark. Very interesting. Now I have to figure out if my little Canon point-and-shoot can do this.

Couple of questions: Knowing that every scene is different, do you have a frames-per-second or frames-per-minute setting that is your default, or starting setting?

Also, the optics on my little Canon still camera are decent but are nowhere near the quality of the HD lens we would be using on the HDX 900. Is the resulting difference in image quality compensated for by the larger frame size that I would be shooting (and then reducing in post)?

[Mark Raudonis]

Rate: Can’t answer that. You have to calculate backwards from how long of a shot you need. Example:
I need a 10 second shot. That equals 300 frames (@ 30fps). You need to compress 6 hours of “real time”. That comes out to 50 frames per hour, or about one frame per minute of “real time”.

Frankly, I try multiple “record” rates depending on the action and “real time” you need to compress. It’s not an exact science. The faster the change, the more frames. The slower the change (Building construction for example) the less frames required.

As for lense quality, I’d say sensor size trumps glass in this case. The little canon is great to do some experiments, but once you’ve nailed rate and framing, I’d suggest switching to a better quality DSLR.
The glass on those cameras, combined with the larger sensor is going to easily match or exceed your HDX-900. Keep in mind, the zooms on your HDX are so expensive because they have to Zoom! Still camera primes can be quite good and much cheaper ’cause they don’t have to meet the stringent design requirements for a motion picture lense.

Finally, using a DSLR frees up your HDX for other things. This is a win-win solution.

Mark

[Evan Schafer]

Agreed. A DSLR will give you much better results. The ability to “drag the shutter” creates natural motion blur in each frame which aides in creating smooth motion.

If you don’t have a digital camera and have to use the HDX, I would recommend just setting your interval and record single frames unless you foresee the need to go to real time at some point in the TL. Easier to deal with in post, no speed ramping and in the end, both methods will produce the same result. The only advantage to shooting everything is it gives you control over how long the final movie will be but, if you plan ahead and shoot at the proper interval you can nail it every time.

Check this link out, which will answer many of your questions about camera settings, proper interval settings etc specifically for TL shooting. Its written for a DSLR, but you can take a lot from it if you go the HDX route.

https://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/ultimate-guide-to-time-lapse-photography/

[Ron Craig]

Thanks for the additional guidance. I’m interested in testing out the still camera technique. Can you folks pass along which cameras you use for that? I would expect to shoot about 3-4 frames per second for 20 or 30 minutes. I checked with my local pro rental house and they figured that their cameras could only sustain that frame rate for a few seconds. (They were advising a Nikon…maybe a D30? I’m afraid I don’t remember the camera model they had.)

[Mark Raudonis]

Ron,

3-4 fps is MUCH faster than your typical timelapse requires. I agree that your average DSLR won’t be able to handle that pace. You’ll certainly fill up the memory card before 20 minutes. I typically shoot at one frame every 5-10 seconds.

If you really feel that you need that FPS, then perhaps you should stick with the HDX. I would strongly suggest doing a test before you commit. Your little Canon can easily establish whether your frame rate is sufficient to do what you’re trying to do.

Mark

[Ron Craig]

Yes, Mark, I think this is all about testing. We’ve got 8 weeks before we start shooting so we’ll get a system and plan of action that we’re comfortable with. Thanks again for your help and advice.

Ron

[Bob Cole]

If you go the digital still camera route you may wish to check out harbortronics.com for their intervalometers.

[Bob Bonniol]

It’s worth noting that you don’t have to store DSLR lapse frames on the card, if you can park a laptop with a hardrive next to it. I’ve shot long (14 hour plus) series of frames using my Canon 20D and the software that ships with it, which allows for camera control via the computer (allows for setting frame rate for time lapse)… And storing out via firewire back to the computer.

The whole influence or maybe more properly confluence of DSLR technology, Big old CMOS sensors, The new Nikon shooting HD (with all those delicious glass options), the Crimson from RED… We’re all going to be getting a lot more frame rate options and a lot more pixels… So it’s an interesting period to be examining temporal tools. We’re right at the cusp of some widespread power. Sniffing along the path of what’s doable with DSLR is surely a solid direction.

Cheers,
Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
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[Arnljot Bringedal]

I do this all the time:

Any new canon DSLR – connected to a laptop with canon software ( comes free with camera ) installed will do.

The software can set the exposure – frames per sec – total length etc.

*** Norwegian videojournalist & Editor***