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I want to try to do a Time-lapse photography of our next BMX event and hope you can help me out a bit. I have a timer remote that can be programed to take a pictures with set delay
The event will take 6 hours, I would like to have the video last app 4-5 minutes, so how long can the Time-lapse be between pictures, I was thinking app 5 seconds, that would result in app 5000 pictures for the whole 6 hours
What do you think
Pete
Hi Pete, a friend of mine has made some amazing slide shows, he uses a program called Majix, I am not sure what version, but it enables you to add more tracks and space out the slides how you want, he adds a music track and sometimes a voice track as well. I have never used the software but when I next see him I will ask him for some advice and post it here for you. I used Nero slide show DVD maker, it enables you to make nice transitions between slides and they have a good range of effects to choose from; it is incredibly easy to use. I think 5 seconds between slides is a little too much, but using a nice transition where the next slides gradually appears as the last one fades out can look good. Follow a portrait (vertical) shot with a square one before going to a landscape shot. Ease the dark to light shots if you have them with some average tones between them. Try to have moving subjects go the same way, don't suddenly have say a bike going left to right and instantly right to left. Include some shots of the spectators in between, it helps.
Good luck, Rich.
Hi again, I probably had the wrong idea about what you are asking, if your camera is stationary for 5 hours forget what I said, but I still think 5 seconds between shots is too long.
Rich.
Yes my camera is stationary for 5 - 6 hours, maybe I have to try a few clips to see how the video will flow at different time lapse settings, but lets take 2 sec that would be 1800/hour and would add up to app 10,000 for the event
I have a video edit program to make it into a video and also edit to the format for youtube
Thanks
Pete
Also I was wondering at what IQ should I set my D80 at, I hope to fit it onto one 16GB card
Pete
I think you need to have power to your camera as the battery will run out. Best to have it mains powered and tethered and controlled from a PC.
Yes it will be powered, I have thought about tether to my laptop, but the location is not great for safe placement of my laptop, I think I will just use my 16GB card
Anyway camera will be left alone on top of club house, I will be out on track to take regular BMX pictures
Pete
There's an intervalometer on the D80?
NSXType-R said:
There's an intervalometer on the D80?
I don't know, have not found that feature
Anyway, I have a timer remote that can be programed to take a pictures with set delay. The remote is also great for setting longer exposures past the max 30sec that you can adjust on your camera, the remote has a cable for both my D300 and D80
Pete
Just a tip. Don't forget to set your image size to the smallest size 1936 x 1296 and jpeg. The size 1936 x 1296 is bigger then HD Video, and you dont want to sit there and post process 10,000 frames.
Mac
Don't bother with Magix, it only allows a minimum of 1 second transitions and no output settings.
I've got a copy of nero laying around somewhere. I will give that a go and see if that's any better.
I tried nero 8, and it's limited to 1 second also. Does anybody know if Adobe Premier Elements can do better timelaps functions?
Perhaps you've already considered this, but I would shoot manual exposure to minimize the variation between shots. Of course you may have to adjust that if the light changes drastically during the day. But on a steady sunny or steady cloudy day the light doesn't change much, you'll get more consistent exposures and minimize tweaking in post.
I make timelapse videos of all our construction sites, but I use images from our stationary webcams. I'm a Mac guy, but Premiere Elements ought to do the job. It's easy (but tedious and time consuming) using Final Cut Pro or iMovie. Last one I did I started with about 90k images from three cameras over 2.5 years.
Have you looked at Proshow Gold or the better version Proshow Producer. You can try it for free but it has a logo on the screen till you pay for it. I use it for slide shows but it does work with video as well. Photodex is the company who makes it.
Hope this helps you.
Anyway software aside, what should I aim for in regards to time lapse frame rate
Pete
Fun thread, Pete. It made me go out and look at options.
I found this site that's pretty good about helping you calculate how much time between pictures. I think you're in the right ballpark with 5 seconds. With 10000 frames, that's about a 3-minute clip at 30fps.
http://www.all-things-photography.com/time-lapse-photography.html
BTW, sounds like Pete has the software covered, but if anyone is looking for a good way to do time lapse from a series of photos with free software, FFmpeg is a good way to go. The linux users among us will have it easiest, but here's how you would do it on windows (probably not for the technophobes, but are there many on this site?):
-install winff binary: http://winff.org/html_new/downloads.html
-export your images at the size you need and name them something with a sequential numbering scheme (like frame_00001.jpg, frame_00002.jpg, etc.)
-copy all those frames into the C:\Program Files\WinFF directory
-open a command line window (go to start>all programs>accessories>run, type cmd in the Open: field)
-go to the winff directory (type "cd C:\Program Files\WinFF")
-Type this code into the command line (or copy and paste):
ffmpeg.exe -r 15 -i frame_%5d.jpg -vcodec copy "C:\Users\Jonny\Documents\videoname.avi"
here are what the flags mean:
-r: framerate (15fps in this case)
-i: input (this will take all files named frame_NNNNN.jpg where NNNNN is a 5-digit number, hence %5d)
-vcodec: codec you want it to use (copy means motion jpg, a lot like the Nikon d-movie)
Change the path and video name so it ends up wherever you want—I assume you don't have a username of Jonny, but what do I know? ;-)
I tried it with a 143-shot sequence that I took during a meteor shower (I still don't know how to capture meteors, but the way I did it obviously didn't work). I cropped in lightroom to 16:9, then exported at 1920x1080 (1080p) and rendered it at 24 fps. It took about three seconds to render. If I had a long clip I would probably edit the avi in Vegas or whatever you like to use for video (or check out the other codecs that are available in ffmpeg, which is basically all of them). Here's the finished product—sorry it's 32MB and slightly boring, but I was just proving the concept. I'll have to try it on something more interesting sometime. Download HD time lapse video demo
BTW, that WinFF is a nice little front end for FFmpeg. It will convert video for ipod touch/iphone. I tried it out and it looks great.
Thanks Jonny, great link, I will try a shorter test at our track, at different frame rates
Pete
Has anyone tried faking an intervalometer on the D90? I've got a remote release that will do bulb and I'm thinking of trying that with the camera set to timer with ~10s delay. Anyone have other ideas?
What remote release do you have, Pete?
I have the Nikos N8
Actually really works great, you can program lots of neat settings, here is a review
http://martybugs.net/blog/blog.cgi/gear/PhottixNikosDigitalTimerRemote.html
Yes again bought on Ebay $44.50 with one connector cable, if you ask they sell extra connector cables for $6.00 each, I have one for both my D80 and D300
You can newer have to many remotes, right Jonny
Pete
Okay, I bid on one with the N8 cable (10-pin for D200/D300, etc). I love my other phottix remote—a plato with the D90 cable, and I'd like to have the N8 cable for when I go full frame for that one and have the intervalometer for the D90.
edit: I forgot to mention that I was never impressed with the D300's ability to do interval series. It usually took me three tries to get it working right because the interface is not intuitive. I'm assuming that this Nikos will be better because it's designed for it.
When you win it, just contact them, that you need the N10 cable also and that you was told that the charge is $ 6.00, they will then send you an extra paypal payment request for that amount
Pete
BTW, next time I talk to her, I try to make her understand your camera gear obsession
I already have the N10 cable, Pete. I might do that just to have a spare cable, though.
You know, I was thinking about this and I think someone ought to make an iPhone/iPod/iPad app to do this. You could probably interface by either having the app output a click through the headphone jack (you'd just need an adaptor from the 3.5mm to whatever size these cables are (2.5mm?) or a little thing that plugs into the ipod's computer interface and has a jack for those cables. I don't know if the API gives you access to those pins when you're programming an app, though.
Hi Pete, I have had a word with my friend regarding Magix, he uses Movie edit pro version 15, he says it defaults to 5 seconds between shots but you can drag the delay to anything you want. There is a newer version out now so he says 15 will be cheaper and he suggested Amazon.
In nero, the slide show program enables you to fit the slides and the duration between them to the audio and as you are wanting 4 or 5 minutes then you have a great choice of music to fit it too. I don't think Nero movie maker will allow you to do this but I have never used that so really can't say.
Rich.
Rich, can you drag the time between shots to less than 1s or will it fit 10000 slides to, say, 4 minutes? I know I could do that in vegas, but the way I can think to do it is tedious (to say the least). I still think ffmpeg seems like a good way to go, and it's free.
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