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.
Making and Saving a Time Lapse Video:
Once you’ve taken a long series of photos with your camera and intervalometer, you’ll need to use your computer to turn it into a movie. Do not worry if you have hundreds and hundreds of photos it is very easy to do. Above is a video showing the process below I will outline step by step instructions. There are several ways to do this, I am only detailing the most likely way you will be doing it. *You must have Quicktime Player 7. Quicktime Player v10.0 will not work. If you don’t know which quicktime you have, open it, click Quicktime in the top tool bar, then About Quicktime Player. There you will see the version.
- Open Quicktime Player 7
- Choose “File”, “Open Image Sequence”
- Locate the folder containing your time lapse photos, click the first photo in the sequence only
- Click “Open”
- Choose your desired video frame rate from the drop down menu.
- Choose “File”, “Save As”
- Name your video and save it somewhere on your hard drive as “Self-contained movie”
Tips:
Keep your camera folders organized while shooting it will save you a lot of time when you get back to the computer. Test your shots and as soon as you are ready to start your time lapse create a new folder. You can find on article on how to do this here: How to Prepare Camera Folders for Time Lapses
Most likely your video will be too large to play smoothly. This depends on your picture size. An 18 Mega Pixel photo will be roughly 5184 x 3456 pixels. HD Video is only 1920 x 1080, so you can see why your computer might have a hard time with playback. But don’t worry this is part of the process and only the first time you save your time lapse without any compressions yet. Keep this High Resolution original as your “control“. You can scale down copies of it when you edit at any time, even zoom up and pan around to some degree and still have full HD.
Time Lapse Photography Study Sheet
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Product ID: AP0611A
Product Description:
Now everything you need to know to get the best out of your time lapse, is in your back pocket! This truly one-of-a-kind handy guide is packed with valuable time-saving information to ensure success on every time lapse you shoot. Take away the guess work and let your Time Lapse Planning Chart do the math, with over 100 pre-calculated time combination scenarios, know the exact interval in which to take your photos with one quick glance; or use our Custom Interval Equation to determine time lapse variables beyond the 100 referenced in the chart. Always arrive prepared with Multiple Equipment Checklists from your lenses down to that elusive tripod plate screw. Let your photos reach their utmost potential with 10 Tips for a Successful Time Lapse.
This one-sheet study guide is ideal for professionals to beginners as a reference or “cheat sheet” and checklist for every time lapse preparation through to production. Easy to read and printed at high quality 300 dpi inside a sturdy 3mm laminate, this 11 1/2 x 4 3/4 Study Guide fits perfectly into your back pocket and is a must have for any time lapse enthusiast.
Also includes multiple QR codes on the back for quick access to web articles filled with information to help compliment your time lapse. Samples of the contents on the sheet can be seen below.
Sample 1:
Sample 2:
Sample 3:
When shooting pictures for a time-lapse sequence, there’s a few quick steps you should always take before ever clicking the shutter. The simple process outlined below will keep each of your time-lapses isolated in its own folder. This will save you time later when you take the steps necessary in QuickTime 7 Pro to turn your sequence of photos into a beautiful time-lapse video. There are a lot of pictures but you will get through the following steps very very quickly.
- Getting started
- Creating a new folder
- Shooting in your new folder
- Multiple time-lapse folders
For this example I will be using and referring to the settings of a Canon 7D menu. The process is nearly identical for Canon 5D models and the concept can be applied to most DSLRs of any make.
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Step 1: Getting started
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The first thing you need to do is check what’s already on your CF (memory card) card. So lets say you turn on your camera and have got a picture you took of some architecture. If you can start by formatting your memory card beforehand, great. If not, that’s okay too. Feel free to take as many pictures or video at this point, now would be a good time to practice your shots. In my example the memory card only contains the above shot, you may have dozens or hundreds of pictures and even videos. If you have not edited your camera folders before then everything will be in one folder and you can continue shooting as you please. Push the MENU button on your camera and then use the pictures below to navigate to your folder menu.
You should see that you have one folder, 100EOS7D. This is your default folder. The first three digits of this folder may vary, but as long as only one folder is listed then you’re ready to move on to the next step. If you have multiple folders listed already then reformat your memory card if possible. If you’d rather not format your card at this point you can continue with this tutorial anyway, keep in mind you will have a few extra folders which maybe confusing later on.
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Step 2: Creating a new folder
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When you’re ready to start taking pictures for a time-lapse sequence create a new folder. Scroll down to CREATE FOLDER and select it by pushing the SET button.
8,516ft altitude, wind chill factor of 18ºF, 4 hours of moderate to heavy Snow and Rain.. Can a Canon 7D survive?
Preparation:
It was Friday afternoon and when I heard the forecast for the coming days I decided take an emergency trip up to San Jacinto Mountain to do some filming ( time lapse and interviews). I had just a few hours to prepare my camera, lenses, tripod, and the rest of my gear for what was suppose to be 7″ of snowfall. I went into a camera shop and to my horror they were out of any and all rain gear for DSLRs. I had to figure something out quick with no time to visit another store. After pacing around a bit I found some items and did some simple modifications and pretty effectively weatherproofed my camera. It was quite simple to rig up, and definitely will save you some money if you decide to try it my way.
I used two items at a total cost of about $30.00:
- Domke 19″ x 19″ Protective Wrap @ $19.99
- Generic Lens Pouch @ $8.99
Shooting:
Domke Protective Wrap:
Modifications:
The Domke Wrap is a soft padded Nylon cloth with velcro on each corner meant to cradle your camera body in transport or storage. All I did to make it into a snow cover was turn in upside-down, and secure two ends of the velcro underneath the lens. Having it upside down exposes the Nylon-Backing to the elements which happens to be quite weatherproof.
Generic Lens Pouch:
Modifications:
I was mainly using a Tamron 10-24mm which is NOT weather resistant, unlike L-Series lenses. So as an extra precaution to keep my lens safe when not covered by the Domke I used the above. A generic lens pouch which I simply cut out the bottom with some scissors. The top of the pouch ( where the lens meets the body) had a drawstring type closure which was perfect for protecting the base of the lens when tightened. Also, the sunshade at the end of the lens helped immensely in keeping the lens pouch from extending too far forward creating a solid vignette ( especially on a 10mm).
