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#1 petercorb
Hi Gunther,

New to TL and have my first timelapse day to night video Holy Grail sequence. 

Nikon D810 with 14-24mm lens, set to RAW Small, TP-Link, iPad (now seems stable) and a Syrp Genie.

5 sec interval, max shutter speed 4sec, ISO Max 3200, max aperture f2.8 (starting at f8)

I processed in LRTimelapse and followed your tutorial, I can't seem to reduce the flicker.

The light changed a lot over the 1 hour 15 mins, 860 frames, 50degree pan, and the luminance curve has 3-4 dips.

Perhaps I need more keyframes? - I used 16 - to smooth out the luminance and colour (WB) changes ?

I tried several times to refine the curve but still see some spikes which are causing flicker.

Please see the video - your advise would be appreciated.

[Video: https://vimeo.com/140302620]
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#2 Gunther
The quality is really really bad at vimeo. The encoder has a lot to do, because of all of those changes due to the rather short exposures.
You should definietly go for longer exposures, if you shoot so close to the shore.

But back to your problem: it seems as if not all settings are being taken over, for example the lens corrections have only been applied to the keyframes. Please make sure that they get transitioned.
Make sure also to have the latest DNG Converter from Adobe installed, often, if you have an older version it might cause problems.
And then make sure to have not too strong edits, especially with sequences with so much changing like this. Avoid using Clarity, Blacks and White and Dehaze. Use parametric tone curve instead.
So reinitialize the sequence then start over. You don't need more then 5 or 6 keyframes in my opinion. Set the reference area for deflicker to the sky.
Maybe you'd like to get my new ebook (see footer) - the backgrounds of everything I'm telling you here is explained in depth there.
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#3 petercorb
First of all - thank you Gunther for the response and advice - also your new updated book is great. There is much more in-depth advice especially for the Holy Grail and defilcker techniques.

I was using a d800e and had problems with file download speed and "dark time". Gunther recommended using the DX format with smaller file size. It was much quicker but the smaller sensor aspect is no good for me with my lenses. I decided to use my d810; this camera is faster and with a Lexar 300MB/s. I can use the full frame FX with RAW and still achieve a 1 sec dark time - however the smaller FX-RAW option available on the d810 is much faster and I presume is more than adequate - any thoughts Gunther?

The previous problems I had with my iPad/TP-Link/qDDB seem to have gone !! - I have shot several long sequences using the Auto Holy Grail 3 way ramping with this combination without a problem. I am being asked to upgrade my iPad to v.9 - I will leave it, its works!

You were correct Gunther, the "lens correction" in LR was not applied to all images, just the keyframes - now corrected. 

I revised my editing workflow and used only the parametric curve with a little exposure correction - no clarity. I also used the selective deflicker for the sky and refined, the result is much better and smoother, also the changing light on the mountain is much more natural - perhaps I could correct the shadows a little more, perhaps later.

Your statement  " The encoder has a lot to do, because of all of those changes due to the rather short exposures". I do not understand, I am not very experiences (yet) with video techniques, could you please elaborate.

The starting exposure could not be increased without the use of a ND filter which I did not want to use because of a 4sec exposure at the end of the sequence - your thoughts?

The location/scene I shot was probably not the best for a timelapse as the movement in the waves conflicts with the big changes in the sky i.e. light, WB and colour. 

Thank you again for the support.

Kind regards

Peter

[Video: https://vimeo.com/140557508]
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#4 Gunther
Peter, it looks much better now!

I don't like the way Nikon implemented sRAW, because the files are not really much smaller then the compressed NEFs, although the pixel dimensions are. Canon has solved that way better.

Regarding the MP4 encoder: the more changes you have between one and the next image - especially here with the waves, the more information the encoder has to store in its limited bandwith. So it will put a lot of bandwidth to the waves, creating many atifacts on the (more important) sky. That's one reason why such fast moving waves should be avoided. They sacrifice the overall image quality.
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