Hi everybody! I'm pretty new to timelapses and I am really enjoying LRTimelapse. So far, I have only been making tests indoor, but now I'd like to go more serious: timelapse of the Milky Way! :-) From what I read on the internet, it is pretty challenging and I'd like to ask you some help. That's what I found on several pages/sites/forums:
- shoot RAW
- manual exposure (minimum F number, i.e. 2.8, and about 20 to 25 seconds shutter speed, ISO 800 to 1600 or higher if the camera works fine with it)
- manual focus at infinity
Now, I have some stupid questions:
1) Do you have any suggestions on the interval between one shot and the next one? I'd like the timalapse movie to be as smooth as possible but I also would like to reduce the number of exposures to the minimum to save the battery.
2) On the battery side: I am using a battery grip with two batteries in it, do you have any idea on how long will the batteries last? 20 to 25 seconds exposures may be very demanding for the battery and I'd like to avoid spending the night outside looking at the display :-)
3) More on the battery side: does the battery last longer if I shoot JPEG instead of RAW?
4) In the event of a looong timelapse which lasts until sunrise, I'd like to take shots of the holy grail as well. I've seen the wonderful tutorial about how to cope with ISO jumps in LRTimalapse, but I have a more basic question: where do these ISO jumps come from? I mean, I always thought transitions between daylight and night and viceversa should be shot in aperture priority: am I wrong? And in case you shoot manual also in these challenging conditions, do you set the exposure for the initial conditions or for the final conditions?
Ok, I know there's a lot of stuff in here, but I hope we can start the discussion together.
Have a nice week,
Dan
Quote:4) In the event of a looong timelapse which lasts until sunrise, I'd like to take shots of the holy grail as well. I've seen the wonderful tutorial about how to cope with ISO jumps in LRTimalapse, but I have a more basic question: where do these ISO jumps come from? I mean, I always thought transitions between daylight and night and viceversa should be shot in aperture priority: am I wrong? And in case you shoot manual also in these challenging conditions, do you set the exposure for the initial conditions or for the final conditions?
Ok, I know there's a lot of stuff in here, but I hope we can start the discussion together.
Have a nice week,
Dan
Hi Dan, only a short answer because I'm on holidays...
I'm afraid you will have to experiment regarding battery life...
The ISO Jumps for the "holy grail" are made manual. I fear you will have to stay awake and closely watch your histograms and tweak ISO whilst shooting. It will be well worth the effort, you will get way better results than in aperture prio mode.
You could as well use a device called "little brumper", it will make the adjustments, but I have no experience with that.
So far for now,
Best
Gunther
(2011-09-12, 10:31)Dan80 Wrote: [ -> ]Hi everybody! I'm pretty new to timelapses and I am really enjoying LRTimelapse. So far, I have only been making tests indoor, but now I'd like to go more serious: timelapse of the Milky Way! :-) From what I read on the internet, it is pretty challenging and I'd like to ask you some help. That's what I found on several pages/sites/forums:
- shoot RAW
- manual exposure (minimum F number, i.e. 2.8, and about 20 to 25 seconds shutter speed, ISO 800 to 1600 or higher if the camera works fine with it)
- manual focus at infinity
Now, I have some stupid questions:
1) Do you have any suggestions on the interval between one shot and the next one? I'd like the timalapse movie to be as smooth as possible but I also would like to reduce the number of exposures to the minimum to save the battery.
2) On the battery side: I am using a battery grip with two batteries in it, do you have any idea on how long will the batteries last? 20 to 25 seconds exposures may be very demanding for the battery and I'd like to avoid spending the night outside looking at the display :-)
3) More on the battery side: does the battery last longer if I shoot JPEG instead of RAW?
4) In the event of a looong timelapse which lasts until sunrise, I'd like to take shots of the holy grail as well. I've seen the wonderful tutorial about how to cope with ISO jumps in LRTimalapse, but I have a more basic question: where do these ISO jumps come from? I mean, I always thought transitions between daylight and night and viceversa should be shot in aperture priority: am I wrong? And in case you shoot manual also in these challenging conditions, do you set the exposure for the initial conditions or for the final conditions?
Ok, I know there's a lot of stuff in here, but I hope we can start the discussion together.
Have a nice week,
Dan
Dan,
I have used a short interval between expsoures but long enough to write to the card, usually about 4 seconds.
2. I have use a 5dm2 with the battery grip, and for doing a really long shoot, like all night I will have to change the batteries usually twice. So what I do is replace the first set and charge them and usually a couple of hours before dawn I need to change them again, and do so.
I don't think the battery will last any longer, I usually shoot raw, but it is kind of overkill and I don't mind dealing with the files, or shoot sRaw if I am not that worried about it.
For ramping shots for dawn and dusk, I use a little bramper that takes all the guess work out of it.
I posted a day to night to day test movie to my vimeo site. I used a little bramper on that. It is posted in the showcase forum, on the second page.
Alan
(2011-09-16, 05:33)apsphoto Wrote: [ -> ] (2011-09-12, 10:31)Dan80 Wrote: [ -> ]Hi everybody! I'm pretty new to timelapses and I am really enjoying LRTimelapse. So far, I have only been making tests indoor, but now I'd like to go more serious: timelapse of the Milky Way! :-) From what I read on the internet, it is pretty challenging and I'd like to ask you some help. That's what I found on several pages/sites/forums:
- shoot RAW
- manual exposure (minimum F number, i.e. 2.8, and about 20 to 25 seconds shutter speed, ISO 800 to 1600 or higher if the camera works fine with it)
- manual focus at infinity
Now, I have some stupid questions:
1) Do you have any suggestions on the interval between one shot and the next one? I'd like the timalapse movie to be as smooth as possible but I also would like to reduce the number of exposures to the minimum to save the battery.
2) On the battery side: I am using a battery grip with two batteries in it, do you have any idea on how long will the batteries last? 20 to 25 seconds exposures may be very demanding for the battery and I'd like to avoid spending the night outside looking at the display :-)
3) More on the battery side: does the battery last longer if I shoot JPEG instead of RAW?
4) In the event of a looong timelapse which lasts until sunrise, I'd like to take shots of the holy grail as well. I've seen the wonderful tutorial about how to cope with ISO jumps in LRTimalapse, but I have a more basic question: where do these ISO jumps come from? I mean, I always thought transitions between daylight and night and viceversa should be shot in aperture priority: am I wrong? And in case you shoot manual also in these challenging conditions, do you set the exposure for the initial conditions or for the final conditions?
Ok, I know there's a lot of stuff in here, but I hope we can start the discussion together.
Have a nice week,
Dan
Dan,
I have used a short interval between expsoures but long enough to write to the card, usually about 4 seconds.
2. I have use a 5dm2 with the battery grip, and for doing a really long shoot, like all night I will have to change the batteries usually twice. So what I do is replace the first set and charge them and usually a couple of hours before dawn I need to change them again, and do so.
I don't think the battery will last any longer, I usually shoot raw, but it is kind of overkill and I don't mind dealing with the files, or shoot sRaw if I am not that worried about it.
For ramping shots for dawn and dusk, I use a little bramper that takes all the guess work out of it.
I posted a day to night to day test movie to my vimeo site. I used a little bramper on that. It is posted in the showcase forum, on the second page.
Alan
Hi Alan,
thanks a lot for the very kind and complete reply. I am starting planning a couple of travels and I will try to practice as much as I can with night timelapse and dawn/dusk.
Concerning the Little Bramper, unfortunately according to their web-page it doesn't work fine with my EOS550D, so I think I can't give it a try. But that brings me to a natural question: little bramper changes the exposure in a way close to aperture priority, according to what I understand. What is the advantage wrt Av mode, then?
Thanks again!
Dan
(2011-09-14, 17:26)gwegner Wrote: [ -> ]Quote:4) In the event of a looong timelapse which lasts until sunrise, I'd like to take shots of the holy grail as well. I've seen the wonderful tutorial about how to cope with ISO jumps in LRTimalapse, but I have a more basic question: where do these ISO jumps come from? I mean, I always thought transitions between daylight and night and viceversa should be shot in aperture priority: am I wrong? And in case you shoot manual also in these challenging conditions, do you set the exposure for the initial conditions or for the final conditions?
Ok, I know there's a lot of stuff in here, but I hope we can start the discussion together.
Have a nice week,
Dan
Hi Dan, only a short answer because I'm on holidays...
I'm afraid you will have to experiment regarding battery life...
The ISO Jumps for the "holy grail" are made manual. I fear you will have to stay awake and closely watch your histograms and tweak ISO whilst shooting. It will be well worth the effort, you will get way better results than in aperture prio mode.
You could as well use a device called "little brumper", it will make the adjustments, but I have no experience with that.
So far for now,
Best
Gunther
Hi Gunther,
thanks for the comment and especially because during your holidays you took time to reply. I know it is maybe not the main focus of what you're doing with LRTimelapse, but it'd be great if you can realize a behind the scene video of one of your timelapse shooting session...just an idea...
Another quick question that is not strictly technique related, if you don't mind. I'm leaving in north of Germany, any idea where to find dark skies around here? Light pollution is a huge problem here...
Cheers and thanks again,
Dan