In and around Birmingham

[morturn]

I have been out taking a few photos of Birmingham UK city centre in the day, and evenings. I have compiled this images into a time-lapse sequence which has then been edited in PTE. I am not sure if we have discussed time-lapse sequences before here, but they are a lot of fun to do and can be very effective.

I am having a problem uploading this one to Slidshow Club at the moment, so while I sort this out, here is the you tube version

Your thoughts or comments are most welcome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DPZZyYr6ME

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I really enjoyed this. I've had it on my list of to-do's since I used a sequence off you-tube in one of my shows. I read the mechanics at the end, but I'm still not sure how to proceed with my camera, (Panasonic FZ150 bridge) Did you use a burst setting technique? or just a timed shutter fire. What size exe did you end up with?

Yachtsman1.

[JRR]

Very well done. How's your shutter on the 7D ? (There is a new Mark II 7D due to be released in August so the rumours say).

I did a show way "back when" using PTE ver 3(?) with 275 images over a one minute time span. PTE could barely handle it and I used 400x600 pixel images. At times it couldn't handle it.

I loved the tilt-shift (?) lens approach you used to make one sequence look like a model. Did you do that in one of the Adobe products?

What did you use Premier Pro and After affects for ?

Not sure how you managed to zoom in during one sequence.

VERY NICE !!!

PS: How did you get the copyrighted music (I assume it was) accepted by YOU TUBE? I know you lucky people in the UK had an arrangement to use copyrighted music for your AVs at a very nominal fee. We couldn't get anything like here in the colonies.

I have had YOU TUBE balk when I used royalty free music. (in fact the composer himself was given a hard time when he used his own music on YOU TUBE)

[morturn]

I really enjoyed this. I've had it on my list of to-do's since I used a sequence off you-tube in one of my shows. I read the mechanics at the end, but I'm still not sure how to proceed with my camera, (Panasonic FZ150 bridge) Did you use a burst setting technique? or just a timed shutter fire. What size exe did you end up with?

Yachtsman1.

Hi Yachtsman1.

I use a timed shutter fire by hooking the camera up to an intervilometer, some camera have one built in. One frame every second. The EXE file is about 200mg, so its quite large. I am sure there are way to get the file size smaller, so I will have to work on that. Time-lapse are fun to do, you should give it a go, Gavein Hoey has quite a good video on you tube.

[morturn]

Very well done. How's your shutter on the 7D ? (There is a new Mark II 7D due to be released in August so the rumours say).

I did a show way "back when" using PTE ver 3(?) with 275 images over a one minute time span. PTE could barely handle it and I used 400x600 pixel images. At times it couldn't handle it.

I loved the tilt-shift (?) lens approach you used to make one sequence look like a model. Did you do that in one of the Adobe products?

What did you use Premier Pro and After affects for ?

Not sure how you managed to zoom in during one sequence.

VERY NICE !!!

PS: How did you get the copyrighted music (I assume it was) accepted by YOU TUBE? I know you lucky people in the UK had an arrangement to use copyrighted music for your AVs at a very nominal fee. We couldn't get anything like here in the colonies.

I have had YOU TUBE balk when I used royalty free music. (in fact the composer himself was given a hard time when he used his own music on YOU TUBE)

Time-lapse does give the shutter a good bashing, will have to see how it goes.

Yes I did the tilt and shift effect in Adobe After Effects

I used Adobe Premier to assemble the individual sequences and then assembled the slideshow and titles in PTE.

I have put a small amount of zoom on most of the objects, more of a personal taste thing really.

The track is from Audio Network and costs £1.00 sterling. They are very high quality interesting musical tracks, well worth £1.00, and are ok on You Tube as long as you acknowledge the use.

I have also had you tube challenge some of my other tracks, I disputed both. I had the email off one author and the other was a genuine copy write free CD. I think sometimes they just try it on so they can put adds on.

[JRR]

Thanks. Now I have a better feel for the process.

[cottage]

Hi David, Besides the note I sent you from slideshowclub yesterday I've also sent you an email with further instructions for uploading to SSC. Looking forward to seeing your production there soon. It was brilliant !!!!

Bill

[davegee]

Hi Dave,

Brilliant work!!

DG

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I am having a problem uploading this one to Slidshow Club at the moment, so while I sort this out,

If you are still having trouble up-loading to SSC take a look here, it may help.

Yachtsman1.

[morturn]

HI Yachtsman1, thank for that, it confirms that I am doing the right steps, my show starts to upload, then the progress bar blanks out.

[davegee]

Dave,

Why not try a different, smaller file as a test?

You can add a note - "do not authorise" and ask for confirmation of upload.

That would give you some idea of where the problem lies?

DG

[morturn]

Good idea, ill try and do this later, thanks

[Lin Evans]

Hi Dave, excellent time-lapse and great choice of background music.

For those considering doing time lapse, my suggestion is to buy yourself a camera which has both a mechanical and electronic shutter such as a little Nikon 1V1, 1V2, 1V3, or 1J series, etc. These models and a few others give you a choice of using your mechanical shutter or using the electronic shutter. Clicking away at one frame per second gives you 60 shutter actuations for each minute of time lapse. So a five minute time lapse will result in 300 shutter activations or 3600 frames per hour. If you are shooting for several hours and condensing the frames to display in a short period this can quickly cut into your shutter life rating.

Shutter life on a dSLR is estimated by the manufacturer based on an MTBF (mean time between failure). Consumer quality shutters may be rated as low as 50,000 actuations but generally are rated for about 100,000 actuations. Does this mean that the shutter will "fail" at 100,000 actuations? No - in fact it's more likely that you will get upward of 300,000 because of the safety margins built into MTBF and the tendency of manufacturers to be very conservative on their ratings, but still even if you get 300,000 actuations on your shutter you are looking at a shutter life of about 83 hours (300,000/3600) and who wants to wear out their shutter and pay a couple hundred dollars for a new shutter for a few weeks of time lapse use?

So the simple solution is to buy yourself even a used Nikon 1V1, or a new 1J1 (which only has an electronic shutter) for about $250 then you can shoot time lapse until your battery dies and really not suffer any undue wear and tear on your shutter. People have asked why using video on the dSLR's doesn't wear out the shutter. It's for the same reason. The mechanical shutter opens once when you start recording, then the electronic shutter on your dSLR takes over until the record button is again pressed and the mechanical shutter is closed. But to actuate the electronic shutter on your dSLR you generally must be in the video mode and this doesn't allow for slow shutter speeds such as one frame per second.

I just checked Amazon and a new Nikon 1J1 can be purchased for around $250 with a lens! These are great little 10 mp cameras which have a rather large battery - very large in fact - and would make a dandy time lapse device. Because you won't be creating any time lapse video with greater than 4K resolution and probably only HD resolution, the resolution is quite sufficient and the cost is minimal. These little Nikons have an internal intervalometer. The highest shot rate possible with these is one frame each five seconds and the maximum number of frames per shooting interval is 999 but you will run out of battery long before your reach the maximum number of frames. It is possible to use an adapter with these cameras to power them externally. For example, in the field one could place a 12 volt auto battery and an inverter to use the external power supply and shoot the full 999 frames easily. It's also possible to use IR and remote to get down to two seconds per interval, but generally five seconds would be quite sufficient.

Just a suggestion..

Best regards,

Lin

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I really enjoyed this. I've had it on my list of to-do's since I used a sequence off you-tube in one of my shows. I read the mechanics at the end, but I'm still not sure how to proceed with my camera, (Panasonic FZ150 bridge) Did you use a burst setting technique? or just a timed shutter fire. What size exe did you end up with?

Yachtsman1.

As I said previously, I had thought of trying time lapse for some time. My previous hardware a Nikon D200 I bought a shutter actuator for it which could be set for TL, but never tried it. Since this example appeared I had a look at my FZ150 manual but there is no mention of TL, however I remember when I first got it & was playing around with the controls I tried the "Burst" mode, added it to a show & someone thought it was flickering video, which it wasn't.

Just had another look at the manual & the video speed can be set to 1/8th of a second & the burst mode to numerous speeds, not sure if this would have the same effect.?

Yachtsman1

[Lin Evans]

Hi Erik,

A video mode of 1/8 th second gives you eight frames per second, not the same at all as a much slower rate such as even one frame per second. Nice time lapse can be done with a variety of speeds, but one frame per second is actually pretty fast. For example, if you are photographing a flower opening to the sun, you might want to set it up for one frame every minute or so. An intervalometer is an inexpensive accessory. Just buy one for your camera if you want to do time lapse. But keep in mind that the faster you set the intervals, the more wear on your shutter if you choose to use your dSLR.

Regards,

Lin

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Erik,

An intervalometer is an inexpensive accessory. Just buy one for your camera if you want to do time lapse. But keep in mind that the faster you set the intervals, the more wear on your shutter if you choose to use your dSLR.

Regards,

Lin

Hi Lin

No such animal for my camera & I don't have a DSLR any longer, I thought the burst mode may be a way to simulate TL, I've asked the Q on the FZ150 page on Flickr, will come back if I get a reply.

Eric

Yachtsman1.

PS maybe this thread should be split & a new "Time Lapse" thread started?

[tom95521]

Nice slideshow.

To give you and idea of cloud speed I have a security camera pointed at the sky. The camera is set to output 5 fps but the computer software captures every 2 seconds.

Tom

[Lin Evans]

Hi Eric,

If you can tell me the model of your camera, there "may" be one available. I used to do testing for a company in the US which makes intervalometers for just about any camera. I even have one for my old Nikon CP990.

Let me know the model number and manufacturer and I'll check for you.

Regards,

Lin

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Lin it's a Panasonic FZ150 Bridge, now over 2 years old & superseded by the FZ200 or maybe a newer one still. I've been in touch a couple of time with Panasonic suggesting add ons or improvements but they aren't interested. I'm still of the opinion the "burst" feature is the way to go with this camera, maybe Tom knows, he had the same camera.

Eric

Yachtsman1

[Lin Evans]

Hi Erik,

I called and left a message with the company that makes them (Harbortronics) which is only about 20 miles from me. I'll let you know what I find out.

Regards,

Lin

[morturn]

"Just a suggestion..

Best regards,

Lin"

And indeed a good one, time-lapse is certainly heavy on the camera, but you can compromise on image quality. I shoot in the small raw setting, develop the image in RAW and then convert it to jpeg with an image size of 1.22MB. A used Nikon 1V1, or a new 1J1 would be an ideal buy.

[davegee]

Once upon a time I was a Photoshop user and I seem to remember a feature which allowed you to "Extract Video Frames to Layers".

Using this you could extract X number of frames from a video clip at a specified interval.

I don't know how feasible it would be to extract the necessary frames and export them in a way in which they could be used to produce a similar effect??

I think that IF it were possible it would mean far less wear and tear on a DSLR shutter? Shoot 15fps and extract one out of every 15?

Any Photoshop users able to comment? Is there a limit on the number of layers? Could the Layers then be automatically saved as individual JPEGs?

DG

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Erik,

I called and left a message with the company that makes them (Harbortronics) which is only about 20 miles from me. I'll let you know what I find out.

Regards,

Lin

Thanks Lin, however I doubt if such a devise would be in my price range, I'm not prepared to change my style of show just to make a couple of TL shows which are probably quite time consuming. I'm quite happy with my mix of still & video shows at present, TL is just something in my bucket list. Incidentally, I checked out my wife's Fuji SL1000 spec & there is no time lapse feature on that either & that was bought recently. Sold off my Manfrotto tripod set up as it wasn't getting used, so maybe TL will be on the back burner. Finally checked out Panasonic's replacement for the FX 2000, the SL1000 at over double the price I paid for the FX1000.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/compact-cameras/panasonic-lumix-fz1000-1252777/review#null

Eric

Yachtsman1.

[JRR]

Once upon a time I was a Photoshop user and I seem to remember a feature which allowed you to "Extract Video Frames to Layers".

Using this you could extract X number of frames from a video clip at a specified interval.

I don't know how feasible it would be to extract the necessary frames and export them in a way in which they could be used to produce a similar effect??

I think that IF it were possible it would mean far less wear and tear on a DSLR shutter? Shoot 15fps and extract one out of every 15?

Any Photoshop users able to comment? Is there a limit on the number of layers? Could the Layers then be automatically saved as individual JPEGs?

DG

Dave:

I use PS CS6 (non-cloud version) I haven't used it for video editing, but I checked for the "Extract...". I didn't see it, but that doesn't mean it isn't there

I agree that might be a good option, if it exists, if you only have a dSLR with a shutter and didn't want to kill your shutter.

I like Lin's suggestion of using a camera with an electronic shutter for the TL.

(On the other hand, it does seem strange to shoot a video, extract individual frames, insert them into a new video. But if the TL effect is what one wants, then....)

This an interesting thread that has taken on a life of its own !!!!

Betcha MOTURN never thought this would happen....

[Guest Yachtsman1]

This looks about my financial level.

Yachtsman1