This post was last modified: 2015-02-07, 14:47 by Pretender.

Have recently jumped head first into time-lapse photography - and have made the first steps even more challenging by incorporating motion control. Despite the steep learning curve, I am getting on top of most things and am largely pleased with the results - that is all but one area - silky smooth motion control transitions.

All of the moves I have created are all characterised by a very slight but in my eyes very noticeable stutter or jitter. I have seen some moves on the net that seem like melting butter - just silky smooth. Others not so smooth. I have searched the net for answers and as yet have not found anything. Am I expecting too much?

I am using the eMotimo TB3 and love what it represents. From what I can gather I think it is capable of the result I am after?

Now I am well aware that there needs to be enough shots for the chosen distance of the move. Too few shots taken on a "long distance" move will certainly give a stutter. However on a test I took 1200 shots for a 90 degree movement and still achieved a jitter. What are some thoughts on this? Maybe there is a technical reason why silky smooth motion control moves are largely not possible?

I also considered there may be a means of smoothing this in post. I have had a play with warp stabiliser in Adobe - largely hoping for a miracle as I didn't think it was designed for such a problem. Needless to say no success here. I have also tried motion blur in LRT with little success. I have also tried frame blending in After affects - also with little success. Any thoughts on this?

I really hope, as silly as it may make me look that I am missing something really obvious. I wouldn't mind looking silly if I get the result I'm after . . .

Thanks in advance!

PS I am fortunate enough to be working on the latest Mac Pro that has been very highly specced - capable of editing 4k video realtime no problem so I know it is not computer resources causing the problem . . .

You should definitely be able to do what you're looking for with the EMotimo. The question is, what is causing that "jitter"? Don't mess around with in post stabilization - when there is no wind, there is no reason for this normally.
It would definitely help to see some of your sequences (without stabilization in post) to be able to judge what is going on.

Hi Gunther

Thanks for your response. The video can be seen here:

http://www.vimeo.com/119010546

This was shot on a still morning. The move distance was about 45 degrees over 940 shots.

The jitter is at about 27 sec and can be seen most easily on the building. Maybe I am being too fussy?

One other point I noticed was the banding that has been really exaggerated by the process that vimeo has placed the clip through. This banding is hardly noticeable on the version I have not uploaded. Any tips on reducing this?

Thanks for your time. . .

Craig

What fps are you using? I'm certainly no professional but it seems to my untrained eye that the problem you're speaking of is flickering rather than smoothness.

Hmm, hard to say. Is the crop equal for the whole sequence? (check the crop columns in LRTimelapse, if in doubt, just right click on the table header of one of the crop columns and choose "fill down". Then save an render again.

But to be honest, I'm not seeing a gib issues with that sequence. Those slow movements are a challenge for the mp4 encoder.
You should try turning the LRT Motion Blur Plus on in the LRTimelapse render dialog, this will help ease the banding as well.