Time Lapse Video - Setting? « Videomaker Community Forums

nobody
Member

I am interested in producing a time lapse video and would like input on the optimal setting to achieve quality results.

the plan is to capture a full days activity (say 8 hours) at the park across my home (or lake/cloud activity throughout the day. what are the best settings.
Working backwards, i want to end up with about 5 minutes of "high speed" video. my question is:

what intervals are best, and for how long should i record at those intervals?
i.e. Should i record 1 minute every 10 minutes, or 30 seconds every 5 minutes.

Is there a formula for this?
Does the math change if i change my subject to a bsuy road intersection versus, a flower blooming?

thanks

Posted 8 years ago #
irish
Member

if you only want 5 minutes of video you don't need 8 hours.. you don't even need more then an hour. I have done this before with the clouds on a stormy day. Just put your camera on a tripod, set your shutter speed to like 60, put your focus on the manual setting and then shut off all other auto settings in the camera. Leave you camera on for an hour straight, don't use that "INT. MODE" you will get cuts in the middle of your clips that you will not want. I changed the clip speed up about 300%... experiment with higher shutter speeds and different clips speeds.. you can achieve some cool affects. If you want flowers blooming, or longs things like that.. you will have to get a special camera. Have fun! -R

Posted 8 years ago #
Andrew Burke
Member

If you use "Int. Record" for slower movements, then you can use a formula:

For 30 frames-each-second: 5 minutes equals 300 seconds. 300 x 30 = 9000 total frames!

I use my photo mode for non-interlaced, highest quality lapses.

-AB

Posted 7 years ago #
quenchstudios
Member

Dependant on the subject, we find using longer exposures works better as it smooths out the movement of things.

If you're shooting kids in playground, i'd be tempted to drop the shutter speed to 10 or so. The kids will be blurry but it can be an appealing effect in timelapse.

Posted 4 years ago #
;0)
Member

I think I've mentioned before that the best results will be to use a dslr, instead of a video cam.

Posted 4 years ago #
Valentina999
Member

agree with previous posts

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Posted 11 months ago #
composite1
Moderator

Nob,

I've shot timelapse vid's with both video cameras and stills. I find the DSLR's are superior TL rigs long as you take the proper steps. Here's my post with tutorials, examples and the straight dope on how to do proper TL vid's with a DSLR.

Composite1's straight dope on Timelapse video

H.Wolfgang Porter, Composite Media Producer
Dreaded Enterprises Unlimited, Inc.
http://www.dreadedenterprises.com

Posted 11 months ago #