CLICK… CLICK… CLICK…
For most time lapses it is not uncommon to leave your shutter clicking for hours on end, and is easy to rack up over a thousand photos in just a few time lapses. Obviously this is much more of a strain on a shutter than it would undergo normally in the hands of a non-time lapsing photographer. But is it bad? Well, since a camera shutter does have a life span and will one day need replacing, you are unfortunately drawing that day nearer with every click you take. But the answer is not so black and white to say it’s bad or it isn’t bad, because shutters have a long life to live…
Depending on the model, Canon cameras have a shutter life expectancy of 50,000 to 300,000 actuations.
An average time lapse is made up of a few hundred pictures. Personally I make sure every time lapse I film has a minimum total running time of 15 seconds.That’s 360 pictures[4] per time lapse. A Canon 7D’s shutter life for example is rated at about 150,000 actuations ( clicks). So although each time lapse chips away at the life of your shutter, you have to do some serious time lapsing to wear it out.
For parts and labor it will probably cost you $250 and up to replace your camera shutter. Although it’s not uncommon for you to buy, use, and sell your camera in under the life span of your shutter. To understand this better, here is a list of what you can get out of shutter with a life span of 150,000 actuations.[1]
One shutter life is roughly equal to:
- 150,000 Pictures [1]
- 416 Time Lapses [2]
- 1 Hour 44 Minutes of Time Lapse Video [3]
- 150,000 Video Clips [1]
So in conclusion if an average time lapse is 360 pictures and a $250 shutter lasts for 150,000 pictures, then each time lapse is costs you about 6 cents. So look between your couch cushions if you have to, get out there and lapse some time.
[1] Rough estimate of a Canon 7D’s shutter life span
[2] Assuming each time lapse is a total of 15 seconds on a 24p time line or 360 photos.
[3] 150,000 pictures = 6250 seconds = 104.166 minutes = ~1 hour 44 minutes
[4] 15 second time lapse is 360 pictures @ 24fps
The Canon 300D first released in Summer 2003 had a notoriously low shutter lifespan, many consumers experienced shutter failure at 10,000 to 50,000 actuations.
Early Days of Visual Effects:
From stop motion, to miniatures, and funny costumes, special effects have been intertwined into film since the early days of cinema. First in 1895 with a film produced by Thomas Edison and directed by Alfred Scott with an 18 second film reenacting the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots. Scott guided the actors through the scene up until the executioner raised the axe, where he then had them pause while he replaced the actress playing Mary with a dummy. He then resumed the scene where the executioner finished his shocking swing of the axe, beheading Mary Stuart the dummy. You’ve probably done this type of effect before in some of your early films from grade school, but in 1895 this trick was truly inventive. Visual effects became a more and more desired part of production as it enabled visuals that were difficult or impossible to film in reality. Some of the most groundbreaking films for their time in the field of visual effects include: “The Enchanted Drawing” (1900), “The Great Train Robbery” (1903), “The Ten Commandments” (1923), “Sunrise” (1927), “King Kong” (1933), “The wizard of Oz” (1939), “The Thief of Baghdad” (1940), “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954), “Forbidden Planet” (1956), “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963), “Mary Poppins” (1964), “Star Wars” (1977)
Today:
Almost anything is possible in films today, often each big blockbuster claiming it’s more visually advanced than the previous. There are two types of visual effects: ones you see, and ones you don’t. Movies like “Avatar” ( 2009) and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” ( 2011) thrive on Visual Effects and use them as a selling point. Even being displayed in IMAX and 3D to emphasize 
these visuals further. But sometimes the best special effects, go unnoticed. The ones you don’t see. How about the film “Shutter Island” (2010), did you now that there were over 6 0 0 Visual Effect shots in that movie? Take a look at some of the before and after images below from “Shutter Island”. There were a few obvious effects such as flames and ashes, but for the most part Visual Effects were used to help portray an Island that didn’t exist in reality, but quite possibly could.
Images Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Another great is example of this is a Television show called “Boardwalk Empire” (2010). Take a look at this Visual Effects break-down video for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire Season 2.
What type of Visual Effects do you prefer?
Yoann Lemoine is a Director and Musician known partly for directing Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and Taylor Swift’s “Back to December”. Of course Katy Perry and Taylor Swift have their own look and style to uphold, but take a look at some of Yoann’s more personal work, without the influence of pop culture superstars. It’s absolutely stunning. And note the Cinematography work of André Chemetoff in the first video, which is equally as beautiful.
Producers : Emmanuel Reyé / Mourad Belkeddar
Director of Photography : André Chemetoff
1st Assistant Director : Antoine Poulet
Production Designers : Anna Brun / Audrey Malecot
Post Production : OneMore Production
Flame Artist : Hervé Thouement
Post Superviser : Gregory Lanfranchi
Production : Iconoclast / with the help of HSI LONDON
UNIVERSAL POLYDOR RECORDS
First EP “IRON” available on Itunes.
WOODKID – IRON – Video directed by Yoann Lemoine
Cinematography by Mathieu Plainfosse
Featuring Agyness Deyn
Produced by Mourad Belkeddar
Styling by Ellen Af Geijerstam
Post Production by OneMore Prod
3d Artist : Jonathan Benabed
Flame Artist : Herve Thouement
Label & Video commissioner Pierre Le Ny
P & C 2011 GREEN UNITED MUSIC
CAVIAR / HSI / ONEMORE PRODUCTION
Say Goodbye to Time Lapse Flicker!
If you’ve had a lot of experience with making Time Lapses you should look into the “Little Bramper”- a tiny yet powerful piece of equipment you always hoped existed ..
Read on- an excerpt from the maker:
A photographic intervalometer is a gadget that fires a (stills) camera periodically. To make a time-lapse you compile this image sequence into a movie (using software like Quicktime Pro, After Effects, etc.).
Little Bramper is an intervalometer with some unusual and advanced capabilities. Most significantly, by using the camera’s Bulb mode it allows you to vary the exposure smoothly during the time-lapse session. This is Little Bramper’sraison d’etre. Little Bramper also allows you to use arbitrary intervals; no longer are you limited to whole seconds. With this flexibility comes a degree of additional complexity, so I still recommend conventional intervalometers (cheap ebay ones) for basic time-lapse scenarios.
I have recently purchased one but have yet to use it. I will surely post another article with more detail when I do. The two photos are renders of the little bramper I modeled in SketchUp for a future project.
