Time-Lapse

[sergiom920]

I really need some help to know what the best and more efficient ways of doing digital time-lapse.
I don't know what the best methods are, and am planning to shoot on DV consumer cameras, though I've heard that interval shooting and also some trimming during post is the best way to use these resources, I'm not sure if the Canon Optura 60 (which is what I'll be using) is capable of this.
I REALLY need your help as I am behind schedule in shooting a project already, and need to get started, most of my project relies on time-lapse photography so I would appreciate your input.
Thanks.. Sergio

 

[DerekEastham]

Hi Sergio,

First, how long do you need to shoot for your timelapse... in realtime... if you need an hour or so of footage, it could be as easy as putting an hour tape in your camera and shooting.

Anyhow, let us know about that.... for now, here are a few suggestions for how to do the timelapse in post

One option is to use the speed tool... speeding up your video. In digital mediums, rather than playing every frame faster... your actually skipping frames very quickly... getting every other one, or every 3rd... and so-on depending on your speed. You could also use a bluring effect, like Gausian or Wind to add just a touch of smoothness to the jumpy video.

Best of luck with your project!

 

[sergiom920]

Yeah, I been using the Animation feature some cameras have built in now, taking about half a second at a time, every 10-15 secs for 10 minutes, giving me around 10 seconds of total footage that i later used FInal Cut to add the blurring effect to, looks allright, main downside is that the camera i'm currently using is very consumer level stuff, but i will soon get to work with other things which will give me better picture quality.
Using Motion Blur or the Stop Motionfilters on FCP i think are more convenient than shooting an hour (which will eventually became a few seconds of runtime), plus you save a whole bunch of space, i can't imagine logging and filling my HD with an hour of footage out of which im only gonna get 20 seconds!!
So shooting Interval in camera and sweetening the effect in post is what i'm adopting as my method, all I need now is a better camera for higher res pics.
Thanks for your help