Time Lapse With Hi-Def

I am shooting a Hi-Def feature and we're planning on doing a lot of time-lapse. We have tested a couple of digital still cameras with using frame blending in post and have had some success.

Does anyone have any experience with this? The biggest problem I've found is the time it takes for a frame to write to memory. We've found software from both Canon and Nikon to run their cameras from a laptop but we had a hard time getting a consistent frame rate out of those.

Any information would be great.

Thanks

Douglas Glover

Cinematographer

Douglas Glover writes :

>I am shooting a Hi-Def feature and we're planning on doing a lot of time->lapse.

The still camera route is quite often more trouble than its worth. A cinematic solution is to use an HD camera head and then pump the SD out to an AJA/CineWave/Boxx and use the really cool intervolometer in Adobe Premiere. Use it all the time. It's bullet proof.

Scott Billups - LA

>I am shooting a Hi-Def feature and we're planning on doing a lot of time->lapse.

Been there, done that little camera thing...challenges are; need to find/make an adaptor to get the tiny screw threads to a BIG/solid head & sticks lack of flexible lenses, and very poor quality simple filters, like a ND grad's frame carefully as they are not 4.3 or 16.9, and frame wider than necessary as you will likely lose some image area after a stabilize filter is applied in post to sort out wobblies.

Like Scott, I would go with proven and reliable solutions unless you need the small size (or not so small once on top of a Ronford F7 & sticks tho...) did pull this off - in a place that camera's are strictly not allowed ( in a country where camera's are not allowed, and no not China...) we dropped a Cannon onto a sandbag (carefully) and sorta hung around for hours drinking tea while the sun went down am the lights came on - worked well enough, but not a first choice, or even a good choice really, just a last choice....

Dermot Shane

VFX guy

Vancouver, Canada & Shanghai, China

We dropped a Cannon onto a sandbag (carefully) and sorta hung around for hours drinking tea while the sun went down and the lights came on

How were you controlling it?

Blain

Blain Brown wrote :

>How were you controlling it?

Reached over ad went click...carefully...many times did say it was not a good answer...but having seen the inside of jail cell in Central Africa ( for having a ACL on my shoulder - I had the permits, but they were ripped up in front of my face as I was thrown in jail, and yes - that camera was a write off after I got out a few days later....) I really did not want to repeat the experience.

But it had pissed me off enough that I was not going home with out the shot...even with the Camera in bits used DS|HD to stabilise & CC the frames, lost maybe 15% around the edges as the stabilise kicked in turned out OK, but if there was another way I would have used it, and I really should not have been there...do not think the Canadian embassy would have been so helpful the second time around.

Ta, from the land of post - where I get to stay at home and my daughter is so very happy about that.....

Dermot Shane

VFX Guy (used to be a camera guy)

Vancouver, Canada & Shanghai, China