Time lapse tips/tricks?

Cagey75

Cagey75

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Keith
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I've tried a few simple time lapse recordings on the D800 since I got it. But a few of them turned out a little 'jerky'. Last one I did I had set the captures to 8 seconds between, this was too long I presume?

I've figured out that Manual mode, set WB manually and use AE/L keep the frames consistant. But what if you go from light to dark, say a sun down? Aperture priority mode would be best?

Any quick tips would be appreciated, cheers ;)
 
Flicker caused by slight aperture differences between each shot is a common problem in time-lapse and looks horrible. Once you have everything set up, loosen off your lens slightly so that no instruction can be sent to the aperture.
 
Cheers all. Forgot to check back, thought this thread had sunk into oblivion. I better get reading so ...
 
Here's another, not too fast a shutter speed. Nothing faster than maybe 1/200 or 1/100. To give a smoother look to the transition between frames. Obviously it depends on the final look you are after.

The 2 tips I've posted are probably the 2 top tips that completely transformed my time-lapse sequences.
 
I went a very simple route for my first try.

- Set the camera to "Manual"
- Wide angle if you can - 10-20mm lens is best.
- Manual focus on the lens. Hopefully you have a distance ring-thing on the side. Set it to about 3m.
- Aperture at around f11.
The combination of this and a wide angle lens gives you the largest possible amount of the landscape in focus. f11 @20mm with a 3m focussing distance means that everything from 1m to infinity is in focus. The longer the focal length, the less detail in focus. (f11 @ 50mm needs to focus at 8m to have everything from 4m to infinity nice & sharp) Same goes for lower apertures.

Then you mess around with ISO & shutter speed to get your exposure right. As it's timelapse and probably going to end up on the internet/tv as a video (i.e. low res), you can get away with a higher ISO to allow a faster shutter speed (400 - 800 if you need it)

Meter for the light when you start, then just shoot away. Eventually, your image fades to black.

My attempt here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP5vsu49X8U was done without an intervalometer. I just had a remote trigger in my pocket and counted :) I did 5 second intervals for just over an hour. What I did find was that it wasn't so much the intervals between the camera shots - it was more about the fps rate when I put them all together afterwards. I think I went for 25 or 30 fps.

Hope some of this helps!

Ian.
 
The D800 negates the need for other software when creating the time lapse, it can do it all on camera. But the rest I will take on board and give a whirl :) It looks more complicated to do it the intervalometer method.
 
Pretty cool that. I guess being in aperture priority caused the flickering? as it changed shutter speeds maybe?

Going to give one a shot tomorrow night maybe, weather permitting.
 
Cagey75 said:
Pretty cool that. I guess being in aperture priority caused the flickering? as it changed shutter speeds maybe?

Going to give one a shot tomorrow night maybe, weather permitting.
Click to expand...

I think that was due to light changed as the shutter was open for too long.

I couldn't be wrong and a definate answer from someone with knowledge in this area would be appreciated.
 
Phil Young said:
I think that was due to light changed as the shutter was open for too long.

I couldn't be wrong and a definate answer from someone with knowledge in this area would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

See post #6. Even although you have selected a fixed aperture, the camera will open and close the aperture back to your set aperture on every shot you take, very slight difference between each shot manifest itself in this way.
 
My third and final tip. If you have loosened off your lens like I have suggested in post #6, don't forget to lock it back in place before you start to swing your camera about again :)
 
I've been aiming for one exposure every 5 secs, compiled into 10 fps, it seems to give a fairly smooth result whilst maintaining the very distinct appearance of a time lapse sequence.

Trial and error and the best way to go.
 
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