Time-Lapse Tricks

[carlthuringer]

So, any of you guys into time-lapse photography for fun and amusement?

I recently discovered the intervalometer setting on my Canon PowerShot S3IS and tonight I'm doing an all-night-long photography of the parking lot on mostly automatic settings.

I'm going to see if I can find a way to make it, quick and dirty, into a chronological square mosaic.

Besides that, Maybe using it to shoot my room and watch how much time I spend doing any one thing, or to shoot myself while I sleep and see if I move much. I even experiemented with shooting the sunset just to capture a time lapse of the sunset and plenty of easy shots of the sun going down without any fuss. (I read a book while it snapped.)

Anybody else out there play with time-lapse or intervalometers? Any interesting ideas or results?

[Firemaine]

Would like to see some of the time laps sunsets

[CindyChris]

I love to sit out at night and photograph the cars and trucks going by. I set up my tripod and keep the shutter open for around 4 seconds or so. The images from the headlights are very cool. I hope you can see the effects in the attached photos. Cindy

[smc1377]

Time lapse is different than taking pictures at slow shutter speeds. Time lapse has more to do with taking normal pictures at a pre-determined interval of time.

The following image is taken from Wikipedia's article on Time Lapse Photography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse).
The flower of a geranium opening over a period of about two hours. Consecutive frames are 7 minutes apart.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/GeraniumFlowerUnfurl2small.gif

[The Mighty2006]

Anybody else out there play with time-lapse or intervalometers? Any interesting ideas or results?

Where is that function on the Canon 400D. I haven't played with all the functions 100% yet.

[smc1377]

Back to the original post, I've thought about playing with time lapse on many occasions, but have never done it simply because it'll chew up my battery. I have the Canon Timer Remote Controller that will do time lapse photography (among other things) and so I have the ability to get it done, just not the drive.

What I do use the time for is the trigger button. It's great when taking pictures where the camera needs to stay absolutely still. So basically whenever the tripod comes out, the trigger comes out as well. Macro photography comes to mind. Also when taking fireworks pictures, I set the camera to bulb setting and just hold down the button however long I want the shutter to stay open.

From BHPhotos (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=CATC80N3&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=164271)...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/items/164271.jpg

[RandomConnections]

The Nikon S series of CoolPix cameras have an "interval" setting. You can set the time interval from 30 seconds to an hour. It will keep shooting pictures at that interval until you run out of memory or battery life, so it's great for time-lapse.

I haven't done any time-lapse, but since you got me thinking about it, I may give it a try. I have used the interval setting in my car. I set up a mini-tripod on my dashboard and let my S1 snap away while I'm driving. I keep my GPS running, so I've got an exact location for each picture.

[LiveSquid]

Are there any sites that have tips for this? I cant seem to find any and I would like to know some basics like, whats the interval for sunsets, for opening flowers, etc.

[mysticeyesx]

I haven't tried this yet but have been reading about it. :)

[s9am_me]

you can also try this if you have a webcam. If you're running Windows XP, get the program called TimerShot from Microsoft's PowerToys Set. Its really fun to play with. I've taken time lapse of myself cleaning the house, folding a bunch of clothes for laundry, and the most interesting was a time lapse of myself sleeping on the bed. I never knew I moved around so much!!

[online]

hi everybody ..

i have canon 400D and i wanna shot using time lapse technique.So anyone can help me regarding the remote control and what else i need to do this technique.

thanx in advance :)

[redeveloped]

i have the canon timer remote "TC-80N3" "not sure what canon cameras it works with" and use it with a 30d for time lapse very simple to use and ive never had a problem running out of battery even taking a 20 second exposure every 1.5 minutes for about 9 hours

the remote makes it very simple i just set up my camera and focus/exposure i want and then set focus on manual, plug in the remote set it to interval mode, set the timer to how often i want it to take a picture push the start button and walk away, it will keep taking a pictures at the set interval until you either run out of space on your card or your camera battery dies

[online]

Thanks redeveloped.. but the problem that the canon timer remote "TC-80N3" is not working with 400D because different plug in i search in amazon i couldn't fine a timer remote for 400D :(

anyone have an idea .??


thanks again redeveloped for ur nice information .

[redeveloped]

i just took a quick look around google and like the 3rd result i got was this on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Timer-Remote-Shutter-for-Canon-400D-350D-C1-RS-60E3-R8A_W0QQitemZ200171859011QQihZ010QQcategoryZ64345Q QcmdZViewItem) it says it works with your model. it looks like it does the same things the canon remote does, although i would ask around and try to do some research on the remote ect before purchasing.

[buto]

check out dslr remote pro by breeze systems

http://www.breezesys.com/DSLRRemotePro/index.htm

I havent used it myself, but this should do the trick for you. I also read that the EOS utility allows you to take time lapse.

[clockdoc]

How does one take the multiple images gathered through PowerShot and put them into a mini-movie, for want of a better term? I just downloaded PowerShot and it is a neat little application.

[abiel_upt]

Please check www.universaltimer.com

It is a photographic camera and flash timer that would allow you to do time lapse as well as high speed photography. It comes pre-programmed with Canon RC-1 (Digital Rebel Cameras) as well as Nikon ML-L3 codes (D40(x)/D50/D70s/D80).

The unit can also learn infra-red codes from other cameras, similar to a universal TV remote. This way you can use your older camera for time lapse photography.

You can set the delay from few ms to hours. Attached is a picture of 4 drops taken one after another with an increasing delay:

[divejunky]

I've did a few a year or so ago with a canon s70, mainly sunsets/sunrises, nothing too spectacular, but it might help you, it was done using the canon remote capture software, 10 sec intervals, and then put together with windows movie maker, by memory this one was a total of 400 shots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fRoNqlRO6A

[kunaldaswani]

I recently tried the same. Not a very interesting subject. Set my 400D on a tripod and used the canon EOS software

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Yx_4ZlQkk

[Sho0b]

hi there, im new to this forum so a big hello to everyone on here!

Im a recent media graduate and am currently working on a number of directed still/video camera projects. One of these, being the reason I messaged in this thread, is a time lapse project. We will be driving from Glasgow to John O'Groats (approx 6-7 hour drive). From researching the idea it seems that having a DSLR camera take a picture every 2 seconds or so for the duration of the trip is the most effective in terms of quality compared to say, filming it even with an industry standard video camera. My friend has a Nikon D40 and in terms of software and remote controls ive only seen links to Canon camera models. Also from what I have worked out, a picture every 2 seconds for 6 hours is 10'800 photo;'s! So my questions are as follows: Is there Nikon software or hardware (say a remote control) to do time lapse? and if so, how would we store all these photo's without manually having to change the card every hour? (which is still doable I guess).

Cheers
Rory

[smc1377]

For one, you can take the pictures in the absolute worse quality possible for the D80 and it would still be enough pixels for a video. Two, a large memory could might do the trick and be able to capture all 10,800 pics.

Just a thought though, that's an awful lot of actuations on the camera for "fun" project.

[Firemaine]

Check out this software. Its called Camera Control Pro. I played wit it for a while. It worked fine with my Nikon D40 connected to my iBook G4. If you don't have a mac it does come in windows.
You should be able too shoot the whole trip and have the photos go directly to the hard drive.
Good Luck
and have a safe trip
http://www.nikonimaging.com/global/products/software/control_pro/index.htm

[Sho0b]

For one, you can take the pictures in the absolute worse quality possible for the D80 and it would still be enough pixels for a video. Two, a large memory could might do the trick and be able to capture all 10,800 pics.

Just a thought though, that's an awful lot of actuations on the camera for "fun" project.

heh, well yeh straight to laptop is the idea. Next thing isj ust with camera battery but i think that should be easy with 2 or 3 batteries or more if required. btw its not a fun project, im just out of work right now so pursueing some personal projects to keep me occupied. Of you're gonna do it you do it in style eh :P

[Sho0b]

Check out this software. Its called Camera Control Pro. I played wit it for a while. It worked fine with my Nikon D40 connected to my iBook G4. If you don't have a mac it does come in windows.
You should be able too shoot the whole trip and have the photos go directly to the hard drive.
Good Luck
and have a safe trip
http://www.nikonimaging.com/global/products/software/control_pro/index.htm

thanks for the info. I discovered this also just a minute or 2 ago. thanks for the info. ill post a link once the vid is done, be good to get some feedback :)

Cheers
R

[smc1377]

heh, well yeh straight to laptop is the idea. Next thing isj ust with camera battery but i think that should be easy with 2 or 3 batteries or more if required. btw its not a fun project, im just out of work right now so pursueing some personal projects to keep me occupied. Of you're gonna do it you do it in style eh :P

I understood that it was a project that was going to feature your creativity and such. But you're essentially, you're chewing up 1/10th of the camera's shutter life expectancy to do this project and it's not cheap to repair shutter mechanisms. I think it's a cool idea and I personally like watching time lapse videos, but being a camera guy, I'm just trying to look out for the well-being of your buddy's camera.

More info...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=26706300