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Author Topic: My first time lapse video - Building an Igloo  (Read 39433 times)

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« on: April 26, 2009, 14:23 »
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Here is my first try at a time lapse video.  I did it with a canon 5D mark II and a cheap chinese remote dongle to take an exposure every 3 seconds over a 2 hour period.  Edited in Adobe Premiere.

Anyone have any better suggestions than using Premiere?  It kept freezing on me and taking a long time to process the 2500images.  I also tried Adobe After effects but the file size ended up being 4GB while the Premiere video file was around 400mb.  My knowledge with those two programs is far too little :(

Anyhow, here is the video.  An igloo I made while taking photos in Svalbard

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S-KFSe80iA[/youtube]
« Last Edit: April 28, 2009, 06:24 by leaf »


« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2009, 15:00 »
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Take it easy Leaf... You just built an 2 hour Igloo in 2 minutes :o     Sorry I have no input in this...

Well done :D

« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2009, 15:31 »
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Nice one! The music works very well with it too. What was it?

« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2009, 15:48 »
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Great stuff.  AVCHD devours processor cycles and memory.  Did you use a quad-core?  How much RAM?

Tom

« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2009, 18:47 »
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That's neat.  I read about a Quicktime application for building time-lapse videos.  I don't know its name, but it must be easy to find out.

« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2009, 19:07 »
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Great! Looks like a lot of work, both to make the igloo and the video :) I find it interesting how the camera shadow moves across.

« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2009, 19:31 »
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I do timelapse movies all the time with my camera, and the easiest way to do it is to use Quicktime Pro (it's only $30):

1. Open Quicktime
2. Go to "File: Open Image Sequence ..."
3. Go to the folder where the JPEG images are stored, and click on one of them (you can't select them all, they just all need to be in the same folder).
4. After it has sequenced them you can export the video as a .mov file.

« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2009, 01:17 »
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I do timelapse movies all the time with my camera, and the easiest way to do it is to use Quicktime Pro (it's only $30):

1. Open Quicktime
2. Go to "File: Open Image Sequence ..."
3. Go to the folder where the JPEG images are stored, and click on one of them (you can't select them all, they just all need to be in the same folder).
4. After it has sequenced them you can export the video as a .mov file.

hmm... that sounds quite effective :)

« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2009, 01:19 »
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Great stuff.  AVCHD devours processor cycles and memory.  Did you use a quad-core?  How much RAM?

Tom

Yeah I have a quad core 2.4ghz with 4gb of Ram but I am still using windows XP so I am only making use of max 3.5gb.  I am eager to upgrade my windows system if only to get more ram available, but I have been putting it off until this summer when i can get windows 7.

« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2009, 01:34 »
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Nice one! The music works very well with it too. What was it?

The music was from a royalty free group of songs i bought from image search actually (the people who bought canstock photo) a couple years ago.  I bought a group of about 10 songs for wedding slide shows.  This one didn't work well with weddings, but seemed to be the best match here.  I would have like to use some regular music but thought I should keep clean on the copyright issue since we are so protective of our image copyrights.

« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2009, 07:20 »
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Great clip and a good idea to use the igloo.  I keep meaning to try time lapse but never get around to it.  Might try some when I am on holiday in the summer.

« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2009, 16:26 »
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Cool!

So you're doing videos with a Canon 5D... Why did you buy a 5D MKII?
 ;D

Claude


« Reply #12 on: April 27, 2009, 16:47 »
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A friend who does quite a bit of stop motion has recommended istopmotion

http://www.boinx.com/istopmotion/overview/




« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2009, 06:26 »
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Cool!

So you're doing videos with a Canon 5D... Why did you buy a 5D MKII?
 ;D

Claude



sorry, no it was with the mark II.
But I would have probably used the old 5D, or an older 10D .. just because I don't need 21MP images for a stop motion video.  I needed to use the 5D Mark II however because the battery died so quick in the old 5D due to the cold.  It was -15 -> -20 degrees Celsius

« Reply #14 on: April 28, 2009, 18:23 »
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I've done a couple of Stop Motion videos and I have always used After Effects.  I have the same problem with Premier freezing up on me.

« Reply #15 on: April 29, 2009, 00:46 »
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I've done a couple of Stop Motion videos and I have always used After Effects.  I have the same problem with Premier freezing up on me.

did you get the file size down to a decent size.  Perhaps i am saving it incorrectly :(

« Reply #16 on: April 29, 2009, 10:06 »
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Yeah, the files size was actually small (compared to most of my 2d & 3d)...but I haven't done a motion stop as long as yours.  I also don't even own a camera that makes it possible to shoot a 21mp photo  :o.  I chose to shoot each photo 2048 x 1536 - which is plenty big for an HD1080 and allowed me to downsize them a wee bit to make imperfections disappear.

I am seriously impressed with your ambition for your first stop motion video.  Freezing cold weather - building and Igloo - I got cold just watching it!  I went for a little easier stop motion - Stacking coins, then I reversed it and called it 'Money Loss'  ;D.

Snaprender
http://snaprender.blogspot.com/

« Reply #17 on: April 29, 2009, 15:16 »
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well i donwsized the images to 1080x1920 before putting them in after effects.  I had tried using them at the shooting resolution which was 6mp/photo but that bogged things down way too much.

[off-topic]I had forgotten about your blog.. nice to see your graphs.  I have now added it to my blog reader.  YOu are doing really well with video.  I am still waiting for my first sale from my crappy 11 videos :)[/off-topic]

tan510jomast

« Reply #18 on: April 29, 2009, 15:25 »
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sorry, no it was with the mark II.
But I would have probably used the old 5D, or an older 10D .. just because I don't need 21MP images for a stop motion video.  I needed to use the 5D Mark II however because the battery died so quick in the old 5D due to the cold.  It was -15 -> -20 degrees Celsius

that's what i was thinking too, Tyler. so how did exposing the camera or any camera out in the cold for 2 hours not get the battery to die on you, esp with running it on time lapse.
was the camera and battery insulated in some way? perharps you had a pocket warmer attach and cover it with a parka? i am curious, and impressed for sure.

the only other person i know who does things like that is Ryerson Clark from IS. he lives in YellowKnife most of the times , and we almost met when he visited Montreal because he offered to buy me a pint of Guinness. but I was actually in Halifax. drat, i sure like to know more about cold weather shooting, as i'm planning to go on one of those Spring trips to Newfoundland where icebergs and whales are commonplace all that season. of course, i need to make more money from microstock first, lol.

also, i wonder if exposing to such cold weather would reduce the lifetime of a camera, battery ,etc.. since we 're talking about circuits that are supposed to be used in normal temperatures that our bodies are comfortable. ie. not desert, not arctic.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2009, 15:34 by tan510jomast »

« Reply #19 on: April 29, 2009, 15:42 »
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i should really start a new topic on shooting in the cold, but i will answer you here for now.

The advice I read was to keep a spare battery in a warm pocket.  The cold stops the ions (or whatever is in a battery) from moving .. so when it is 'dead' you put it in your pocket and take the warm one out.  Then the cold 'dead' battery will come back to life again and you can swap it with the battery that is getting cold.

I had a 5D and a 5D mark II on the trip.  The 5D mark II held up EXTREMELY well.  It shot all day long then (a few hundred photos) then in the evening did this 2 hour constant shoot at minus 15 Celsius, then kept shooting for quite a while the next day.   The 5D would die pretty quick when I was shooting but with the 5D mark II  I didn't ever have to switch batteries.

Cold isn't a problem at all.. just condensation when you go into a warm building. keep your camera in your photo bag to help with that and keep adjustment as slow as possible.

tan510jomast

« Reply #20 on: April 29, 2009, 15:57 »
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i should really start a new topic on shooting in the cold, but i will answer you here for now.

The advice I read was to keep a spare battery in a warm pocket.  The cold stops the ions (or whatever is in a battery) from moving .. so when it is 'dead' you put it in your pocket and take the warm one out.  Then the cold 'dead' battery will come back to life again and you can swap it with the battery that is getting cold.

I had a 5D and a 5D mark II on the trip.  The 5D mark II held up EXTREMELY well.  It shot all day long then (a few hundred photos) then in the evening did this 2 hour constant shoot at minus 15 Celsius, then kept shooting for quite a while the next day.   The 5D would die pretty quick when I was shooting but with the 5D mark II  I didn't ever have to switch batteries.

Cold isn't a problem at all.. just condensation when you go into a warm building. keep your camera in your photo bag to help with that and keep adjustment as slow as possible.

cool, Tyler.
but having a spare battery is not going to work for time lapse if your first battery freezes, right?
you cannot just continue shooting, or does that not affect your time lapse when you change batteries. you just set it up again, right?

also, you said cold is not a problem, only condensation. so with my camera a pentax k20d which is sealed from dust and moisture, it should work better out in cold as well. at least better than one that is not sealed from dust and moisture, do you think?

another thing, the tripod would freeze as well, wouldn't it? or perharps not, as it's not really metal it's allow plastic.  sorry so many questions. yes you should start a new topic on cold weather shooting  ;)

« Reply #21 on: April 29, 2009, 17:29 »
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but having a spare battery is not going to work for time lapse if your first battery freezes, right?
you cannot just continue shooting, or does that not affect your time lapse when you change batteries. you just set it up again, right?

I suppose you only lose a few frames when that happens.  One must be very careful to keep the camera and tripod in the exact same position - I wonder if a quick release helps?

« Reply #22 on: April 30, 2009, 01:00 »
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i should really start a new topic on shooting in the cold, but i will answer you here for now.

The advice I read was to keep a spare battery in a warm pocket.  The cold stops the ions (or whatever is in a battery) from moving .. so when it is 'dead' you put it in your pocket and take the warm one out.  Then the cold 'dead' battery will come back to life again and you can swap it with the battery that is getting cold.

I had a 5D and a 5D mark II on the trip.  The 5D mark II held up EXTREMELY well.  It shot all day long then (a few hundred photos) then in the evening did this 2 hour constant shoot at minus 15 Celsius, then kept shooting for quite a while the next day.   The 5D would die pretty quick when I was shooting but with the 5D mark II  I didn't ever have to switch batteries.

Cold isn't a problem at all.. just condensation when you go into a warm building. keep your camera in your photo bag to help with that and keep adjustment as slow as possible.

cool, Tyler.
but having a spare battery is not going to work for time lapse if your first battery freezes, right?
you cannot just continue shooting, or does that not affect your time lapse when you change batteries. you just set it up again, right?

also, you said cold is not a problem, only condensation. so with my camera a pentax k20d which is sealed from dust and moisture, it should work better out in cold as well. at least better than one that is not sealed from dust and moisture, do you think?

another thing, the tripod would freeze as well, wouldn't it? or perharps not, as it's not really metal it's allow plastic.  sorry so many questions. yes you should start a new topic on cold weather shooting  ;)

No, spare batteries isn't going to help keeping the time lapse continuous, but when / if it stops you can switch them out.  With something long like clouds passing overhead, or building an igloo I don't think you would notice the time delay of switching batteries though (if you didn't bump the tripod)
Condensation only comes when you bring your camera INTO a warmer area, so NEVER put your camera inside your coat against your warm body and then out again into the cold and back into your coat.  You could then get condensation on the camera then get ice then it will not leave :(
When I had condensation on the camera (which i thought was gone) I once went outside only to realize I was getting frozen condensation.  I took a picture and it was all foggy.  I tried to figure out where it was to take it off (worried it was on the sensor) .. anyhow I finally realized it was on the INSIDE of the 24-70L lens. .... yes humidity gets there too... anyhow it disappeared after a few minutes, luckely, so I am not sure a sealed camera will help THAT much.
Tripods freezing, I don't see any problems with that.

You will probably want some thin gloves that you can easily operate your camera with.  If it is -5 or colder the metal camera gets VERY cold and is very hard to hold more than 10 seconds without it hurts really bad if you don't have some sort of layer between the camera and your skin.

@madelaide :  yeah if you are going to do a time lapse you need to use a cable release.  You can buy a cheap chinese model that takes a pictures every so many seconds.. then you don't have to press the shutter yourself 2000 times.

tan510jomast

« Reply #23 on: April 30, 2009, 17:08 »
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Condensation only comes when you bring your camera INTO a warmer area, so NEVER put your camera inside your coat against your warm body and then out again into the cold and back into your coat.  You could then get condensation on the camera then get ice then it will not leave :(
wo, and they always tell you to keep your camera uner your coat if you're out shooting in winter. this is misinformation . good thing i didn't go out last winter or else i would have lost my camera.


When I had condensation on the camera (which i thought was gone) I once went outside only to realize I was getting frozen condensation.  I took a picture and it was all foggy.  I tried to figure out where it was to take it off (worried it was on the sensor) .. anyhow I finally realized it was on the INSIDE of the 24-70L lens. .... yes humidity gets there too... anyhow it disappeared after a few minutes, luckely, so I am not sure a sealed camera will help THAT much.
Tripods freezing, I don't see any problems with that.

i know the feeling. my laptop died on me condensation after working on it 18 hrs then no heat in my apt for a week. had a space heater by my bed . took a year for the condensation to leave. i was about to throw it out after a whole year unable to switch on. lucky for me i tried one last time and now it's alive again. after one year ,can you believe?


You will probably want some thin gloves that you can easily operate your camera with.  If it is -5 or colder the metal camera gets VERY cold and is very hard to hold more than 10 seconds without it hurts really bad if you don't have some sort of layer between the camera and your skin.

that's it. bare hands bare skin to metal is dangerous. like kids licking iron railing in saskatchewan, remember? leader post news. oh well ,you're too young to remember that. tongue glued to railing, had to call fireman . i can imagine same thing, camera stuck to the face due to frozen metal on skin . ouch!


« Reply #24 on: April 30, 2009, 22:15 »
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Nice start,
time lapse videos are very touchy to do (in my opinion - I'm trying to get them perfect...).

First problem is the sun moving around and especially creating funny shadows in your scene.

Well it takes careful scouting to find the right spot for that and the right time of day to do that.

Secondly I have to mention you got a lot of flickering going on. If you don't use a fixed aperture lens you will inevitably get flicker. That has to be removed within After Effects or any other video processing software (often using a 3rd party plug-in).

I throw my time lapses together in After Effects. For a 2 minute video in Full HD and with Photo-JPG compression I think 2GB  are pretty ok.

For web purposes 720p is perfectly fine, especially if you do it in h.264 (that's enough for my taste - people submitting to vimeo probably will burn me for that). I'm trying to be practical and somewhat efficient.

I would redo a version with flicker removal and taking only every 5th shot to reduce the overall length to a clip that you can submit to the footage sites. If it passes I think it could sell a few times.

Keep going!
Good luck

batman

« Reply #25 on: April 30, 2009, 22:24 »
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Nice start,
time lapse videos are very touchy to do (in my opinion - I'm trying to get them perfect...).

First problem is the sun moving around and especially creating funny shadows in your scene.

Well it takes careful scouting to find the right spot for that and the right time of day to do that.


out there in the open, it would be difficult not to have the shadow moving. the sun moves across the earth with time. it's not like being in the city where it's easy to scout for a better lighting position to avoid this growing or subsiding shadow. don't you think?

« Reply #26 on: May 01, 2009, 08:13 »
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out there in the open, it would be difficult not to have the shadow moving. the sun moves across the earth with time. it's not like being in the city where it's easy to scout for a better lighting position to avoid this growing or subsiding shadow. don't you think?

Hey, I never said it is easy...

I'm well aware that in winter or in such cold areas you face the problem of the sun shining really low at most times of the day. Of course it is a challenge to find the best spot possible to set up the camera.

In 100% of the cases when I do a time lapse, I find an issue with it. Every time I see a problem I try to avoid it the next time. But that doesn't mean that you eliminated all problems - new ones will come and they mostly come with the location. If you don't know your location well, there is a high chance of running into an issue.

For instance, I was doing a time lapse of tourists on the beach. Perfect weather, perfect amount of people on the beach, perfect spot for camera so some idiots can't walk in front of it, asking me what . I'm doing - and guess what?

People on the beach started feeding birds. I mean what's wrong with them? You think that people go to the beach to hang out and relax but hey it seemed like everyone brought their old bread to the beach because they didn't want to throw it into the bin. It got to the point where people actually dumped half empty bags of chips just because it was "sooooo funny"...  >:(

So they started throwing crumbs onto the beach and within minutes there were hundreds of pigeons and seagulls all over the place. Try cloning those suckers out of 200 images (preserving moving clouds) out of a series of 300 pics.

Another problem was that birds are not stationary. They don't just land, eat and go straight up in the air. No, they have to fly half a mile down the beach to tell their buddies that there is food and then come back. So the entire beach (and it was a big one) was filled with flocks of birds.

My session was over.

All I'm saying is that sometime you simply have no control over the circumstances. I'm not saying that the OP was lazy by not considering the shadows.
Probably most buyers don't give a rat's ass if there are shadows or not. I'm just pin pointing little details that might enhance the overall quality.

batman

« Reply #27 on: May 02, 2009, 16:04 »
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Another problem was that birds are not stationary. They don't just land, eat and go straight up in the air. No, they have to fly half a mile down the beach to tell their buddies that there is food and then come back. So the entire beach (and it was a big one) was filled with flocks of birds.

My session was over.

All I'm saying is that sometime you simply have no control over the circumstances. I'm not saying that the OP was lazy by not considering the shadows.
Probably most buyers don't give a rat's ass if there are shadows or not. I'm just pin pointing little details that might enhance the overall quality.

Got your point.
As for the birds, next time bring a shotgun , no that would get you arrested, get a starter gun or something that will create a loud noise to get the birds to go elsewhere  ;)
As for the nosey people asking you what'cha doing? Ya, a shotgun would work better  ;D

« Reply #28 on: May 02, 2009, 16:14 »
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Got your point.
As for the birds, next time bring a shotgun , no that would get you arrested, get a starter gun or something that will create a loud noise to get the birds to go elsewhere  ;)
As for the nosey people asking you what'cha doing? Ya, a shotgun would work better  ;D

I know what you mean...

Here in the US you make yourself a lot of enemies and problems showing up with a gun or a fake one even.

I just gotta put up with the birds and the idiots...  ;D

batman

« Reply #29 on: May 02, 2009, 16:15 »
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Got your point.
As for the birds, next time bring a shotgun , no that would get you arrested, get a starter gun or something that will create a loud noise to get the birds to go elsewhere  ;)
As for the nosey people asking you what'cha doing? Ya, a shotgun would work better  ;D

I know what you mean...

Here in the US you make yourself a lot of enemies and problems showing up with a gun or a fake one even.

I just gotta put up with the birds and the idiots...  ;D

hey click2, learn to fart loudly. that could drive both the birds and idiots away  :D

« Reply #30 on: May 02, 2009, 17:00 »
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hey click2, learn to fart loudly. that could drive both the birds and idiots away  :D

No need to learn (anymore)...  ;D

« Reply #31 on: May 23, 2009, 14:30 »
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I found this one on youtube and thought some people here might find it interesting.  Don't think any of mine will be this long :)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4f2xeKg08" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4f2xeKg08</a>

« Reply #32 on: May 23, 2009, 15:06 »
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Interesting to see how the baldness is slowly coming .......

« Reply #33 on: May 23, 2009, 17:21 »
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NOthing to say on the technical aspects BUT.

For someone who has never seen snow I thought it was FANTASTIC!

Surely you could sell that. I was amazed at how the blocks hold up facing inwards.

« Reply #34 on: May 25, 2009, 01:12 »
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yeah the blocks are very hard - they could be compared to Styrofoam.  The even make a squeaking sound when you rub them against each other if it is cold like it was in the video (-20 Celsius).  I ran out of blocks on the inside (the ground came sooner than I thought) so I had to get them from the outside of the igloo.  Those blocks I had to push through the door and 'kick' further into the igloo so I could get more and still have room to get in.  There was a messy pile of blocks laying on every side when I crawled over them and they all held up.

Snow that has been blown (lots) by snow is very hard - fluffy snow that has just fallen does is still like light feathers.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2009, 01:14 by leaf »

« Reply #35 on: May 25, 2009, 12:55 »
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That was just so darn cool!!! No pun intended.  ;D

RacePhoto

« Reply #36 on: May 27, 2009, 11:00 »
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What frame rate did you use for the final?

The 3 seconds looks good. I've done some testing with a webcam and I thought that clouds looked good at 5 second intervals, but if there's something else, it may need to be faster to get a smoother appearance.

I have Animation Shop 3, it does animations, which I don't have a clue if it will handle 500 big shots, but I'm going to be using the 20D to keep the size reasonable. Should be just large enough for Micro at 8mp. Yes, No?

« Reply #37 on: May 27, 2009, 12:55 »
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I would downsize the images in photoshop (with a macro) before sending them to your software.  Adobe premiere and after effects got really bogged down even when I was using the 'smallish' 6mp jpg images i shot.  I downsized and cropped them in photoshop first and things went a little faster but was still extremely slow.

I forget what the final frame rate was - perhaps 30 fps though.  I know I was trying that first but I forget if I changed in the final version or not.  I had such problems getting the After Effects output file small enough I ended up fiddling with quite a few settings and eventually going over to Adobe Premiere.

RacePhoto

« Reply #38 on: June 15, 2009, 12:30 »
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I would downsize the images in photoshop (with a macro) before sending them to your software.  Adobe premiere and after effects got really bogged down even when I was using the 'smallish' 6mp jpg images i shot.  I downsized and cropped them in photoshop first and things went a little faster but was still extremely slow.

I forget what the final frame rate was - perhaps 30 fps though.  I know I was trying that first but I forget if I changed in the final version or not.  I had such problems getting the After Effects output file small enough I ended up fiddling with quite a few settings and eventually going over to Adobe Premiere.

Just tried one with Animation Shop 3 from JASC, dropped dead, locked up, reduced the photos to 25%, error in processing, totally crapped out, when I dropped the frames to 200 shots on my desktop (test was on a laptop on location) it was closer to working. More memory and everything, but still failed. 20D with a 2gb card I get just over 500 photos to render. I figured if I wanted to try to make something with enough resolution for Micro I'd have to use full image quality, maybe I'm wrong. This is all new.

Unless someone suggests something better, do I assume that the answer is Adobe Premiere? How about Elements Professional the video editing software or what do people use who are making these big ones that we see on the sites. I'm too lazy to test and try a dozen failed pieces of software. I have a server with raid drives and 3gb memory, two dual core processors, which should be about as good as it's going to get.

I don't care what software I need, I just want whatever works to end the frustration.

« Reply #39 on: June 15, 2009, 12:39 »
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well HD video is only 1920x1080 pixels so that is the max size your images should be.  If they aren't that size, resize them in photoshop first.

I got it to work with both Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects.  You can download both for a 30day trial.  After effects is apparently the more suited program but I had problems saving a file that was a small size in the end... i am sure it is possible though if I could figure out how.

« Reply #40 on: June 15, 2009, 16:05 »
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Just tried one with Animation Shop 3 from JASC,

Are you sure this is suitable for the job?  When I used it (in PSP7, I don't even know if I have it in my PSP XII), it was for generating animated GIFs only.

RacePhoto

« Reply #41 on: June 22, 2009, 18:03 »
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Just tried one with Animation Shop 3 from JASC,

Are you sure this is suitable for the job?  When I used it (in PSP7, I don't even know if I have it in my PSP XII), it was for generating animated GIFs only.


It has a selection for exporting the file as an AVI which I wanted to do, just for fun. It has been fine for GIFs, in fact my current Avatar was done with it.  ;D

You're probably right, I'm starting out with the wrong software which is the first problem.

« Reply #42 on: August 29, 2009, 21:52 »
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Great movie Leaf!
I'm dabbling with time lapse myself, but I use Photoshop Extended!
And I got the flickering going on too.
Can the flickering be removed with the "interlace flickering removal"-action?

« Reply #43 on: August 30, 2009, 19:18 »
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Hi leaf.

Cool (literaly) video you got there.

I have (for now) 4 time lapse video clips in my SS gallery here:
http://footage.shutterstock.com/videos.html?submitter_id=109921

I did them all in photoshop cs4 first working in raw file converter, cropping to 1080x1920px removing all spots, and saving as jpeg in a new folder. Then I open them all as a video layer  in PS CS4 learn here how: http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/?id=vid0027 - the link doesn't seem to work right, the video you should look for is "working with image sequence" and than exporting them into a quicktime movie, in jpeg-photo compression.

Noam
« Last Edit: August 31, 2009, 00:25 by noam »

« Reply #44 on: August 30, 2009, 21:27 »
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Looks good Noam!
How did you get rid of the flickering?

« Reply #45 on: August 31, 2009, 00:56 »
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How did you get rid of the flickering?

I don't really know. I shoot them at the rate of a frame every 7 to 10 seconds, compressed, and save them at 24fps. Luckily it works for me.

« Reply #46 on: September 18, 2009, 12:01 »
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Yes!! I got my first HD movie online!  ;D
Not really impressive, and a little short too.
But this one was for testing the waters first, to know if I did everything right and get my video's accepted!

http://eu.fotolia.com/id/16886771

Now lets try the more difficult sites!

« Reply #47 on: February 21, 2010, 04:42 »
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I have a few time lapse clips approved on pond5 now.  Quite like this one.  It also has my referral link.

St. Ives time lapse

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #48 on: February 21, 2010, 08:21 »
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Love it, Leaf.
That couldn't have been the first time you built an igloo, surely? You seem to be such an expert.
I think the shadow moving really adds to this particular video.

« Reply #49 on: February 21, 2010, 08:42 »
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Yeah it is sort of an Easter tradition to build an igloo so I have built a few.  I wasn't used to using such hard snow - which was great, but different.  You can see a couple times that a few blocks fall in and I have to put them up again.  it is a challenge working by yourself.   

I was also supposed to have enough snow INSIDE the igloo to make the whole thing - which would have sped things up quite a bit, but I realized that the snow wasn't very deep AFTER i started building so I had to go and get snow from outside the igloo.

« Reply #50 on: February 21, 2010, 11:29 »
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I saw this when you first posted it, but never commented.

I thought it was great on two levels: that you did the time lapse successfully (I agree, the shadows work) and that I learned how an igloo was built. I am amazed that they all stay up in place (well except for your few minor topples), since they are angling in as you build. Very cool, thanks for posting!

« Reply #51 on: February 21, 2010, 11:46 »
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I know nothing about video....that being said, this is VERY cool!

« Reply #52 on: February 21, 2010, 15:40 »
0
Yeah it is sort of an Easter tradition to build an igloo so I have built a few. 
Our Easter tradition is to eat chocolate.  ;D

« Reply #53 on: February 21, 2010, 15:42 »
0
I have a few time lapse clips approved on pond5 now.  Quite like this one.  It also has my referral link.

St. Ives time lapse

That's about 300 shots, right? 

I wished I had your patience.  I find time lapse videos very cool.

« Reply #54 on: February 21, 2010, 16:43 »
0
I have a few time lapse clips approved on pond5 now.  Quite like this one.  It also has my referral link.

St. Ives time lapse

That's about 300 shots, right? 

I wished I had your patience.  I find time lapse videos very cool.

Yes, around 300 photos takes over 10 minutes but I can take some stills with my other camera at the same time.  Will do some longer time frame ones in the summer, it is too cold here now to be hanging around for hours.

« Reply #55 on: February 25, 2010, 19:27 »
0
I have a few time lapse clips approved on pond5 now.  Quite like this one.  It also has my referral link.

St. Ives time lapse

That's about 300 shots, right?  

I wished I had your patience.  I find time lapse videos very cool.

Yes, around 300 photos takes over 10 minutes but I can take some stills with my other camera at the same time.  Will do some longer time frame ones in the summer, it is too cold here now to be hanging around for hours.


Both your lapses are awesome, and over quite a long period of time!!!

Here's my only one so far, far smaller period of time - should I take them over longer periods of time?

On another note... I'm wondering, how come the video part of the site is so slow compared to the rest?

adijr

« Reply #56 on: February 25, 2010, 20:06 »
0
Yeah it is sort of an Easter tradition to build an igloo so I have built a few.  I wasn't used to using such hard snow - which was great, but different.  You can see a couple times that a few blocks fall in and I have to put them up again.  it is a challenge working by yourself.   

I was also supposed to have enough snow INSIDE the igloo to make the whole thing - which would have sped things up quite a bit, but I realized that the snow wasn't very deep AFTER i started building so I had to go and get snow from outside the igloo.

Hi I wonder how batteries work about 2 hours on -20 or you replace them with new pack/s?
I read old Jeremiah comic long time ago and there was Eskimo guy who is pasting snow blocks with water like sticky mortar. It seams logical to me especially al -20 even in my area is not to much days in year to build iglo.

« Reply #57 on: February 26, 2010, 02:32 »
0
I was using the 5D mark II and was very impressed with the batteries.  I used the one battery for almost 2 days with quite a bit of use then did then 2 hour time lapse, all at -20.  Then the battery finally died the next day.

« Reply #58 on: February 26, 2010, 02:38 »
0
I am using a G10 and the battery lasts for over 2,000 photos with no problems, most of my time lapses are under 600 photos, so I can do a few without having to recharge the battery.  It will probably go longer than 2,000 photos but I don't want to risk it.

« Reply #59 on: February 26, 2010, 02:44 »
0
I have a few time lapse clips approved on pond5 now.  Quite like this one.  It also has my referral link.

St. Ives time lapse

That's about 300 shots, right?  

I wished I had your patience.  I find time lapse videos very cool.

Yes, around 300 photos takes over 10 minutes but I can take some stills with my other camera at the same time.  Will do some longer time frame ones in the summer, it is too cold here now to be hanging around for hours.


Both your lapses are awesome, and over quite a long period of time!!!

Here's my only one so far, far smaller period of time - should I take them over longer periods of time?

On another note... I'm wondering, how come the video part of the site is so slow compared to the rest?

adijr

I really like yours, it looks like a good time lapse to me.  You could try some longer time period ones, I am going to when the weather improves here.

« Reply #60 on: February 27, 2010, 14:36 »
0
I have a few time lapse clips approved on pond5 now.  Quite like this one.  It also has my referral link.

St. Ives time lapse

That's about 300 shots, right?  

I wished I had your patience.  I find time lapse videos very cool.

Yes, around 300 photos takes over 10 minutes but I can take some stills with my other camera at the same time.  Will do some longer time frame ones in the summer, it is too cold here now to be hanging around for hours.


Both your lapses are awesome, and over quite a long period of time!!!

Here's my only one so far, far smaller period of time - should I take them over longer periods of time?

On another note... I'm wondering, how come the video part of the site is so slow compared to the rest?

adijr

I really like yours, it looks like a good time lapse to me.  You could try some longer time period ones, I am going to when the weather improves here.


Nice port you got there... Do you usually make more sales from timelapses or simple activity like http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/281997/walking-over-stepping-stones.html ? Anyways, good stuff, keep it up!

adijr

« Reply #61 on: February 27, 2010, 15:11 »
0
My time lapse clips haven't been there long enough to compare, I only stated uploading them a few weeks ago.  I haven't sold one yet but it does seem to take a while to get sales.  Looking at other peoples portfolios, they do seem quite popular but things like moving clouds have a lot of clips to compete with.

« Reply #62 on: June 03, 2010, 02:12 »
0
This one is amazing.

[youtube]5ky6vgQfU24[/youtube]

« Reply #63 on: June 03, 2010, 02:46 »
0
This one is amazing.

[youtube]5ky6vgQfU24[/youtube]

great video.

« Reply #64 on: June 03, 2010, 10:04 »
0
This one is amazing.

Some people are so creative!

« Reply #65 on: September 04, 2011, 11:16 »
0
Did this one on Friday.  Not edited very well but I'm still learning.

<a href="http://youtu.be/tljVASQHR4o" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://youtu.be/tljVASQHR4o</a>

« Reply #66 on: September 04, 2011, 12:13 »
0
Did this one on Friday.  Not edited very well but I'm still learning.

http://youtu.be/tljVASQHR4o


That's pretty good sharpshot, I especially liked the first two sequences.

RacePhoto

« Reply #67 on: August 06, 2012, 00:16 »
0
Maybe not the best, but I finally have one that I find kind of unusual. There's a Sunset on the marsh with ducks and some others, clouds across the Moon at Midnight. ;) But this one tells a little story of one day in the life of a dandelion. 20-d with shutter release cable / timer from eBay, manual exposure. When I try auto it has flashes of light and dark, clouds create problems. Also manual focus, so the camera doesn't use the battery as much. IS off as usual for me. I bought the 20-D with the intention of using it for time lapse and not burning up a newer camera. To make HD 720 x 480 I have it set for small. More photo per card. And finally the screen on the back went blank (I don't understand why?) so I can't change settings except things that show on the top screen.

https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/11064149

This is in my Pond5 collection. Having fun!

« Reply #68 on: August 06, 2012, 03:40 »
0
Looks good.  I love how timelapse shows things we don't notice happening.  I've never done one that long.  You've done a good job with the manual exposure.  I would use 30 fps, that would make it look less jittery and would make it appeal to buyers more.  It would also shorten the length of the clip, I never see long timelapses in use, they always seem to be just a few seconds.  The bit of flicker from the changes in exposure could be filtered out with virtualdub and the deflicker filter.

Why use 720x480?  Memory cards are cheap and the wider format of HD is going be more popular now.  I do everything 1920x1080.  1280720 would give buyers more options.  It's a pain but it should be reasonably future proof.

RacePhoto

« Reply #69 on: August 06, 2012, 10:37 »
0
720 x 480 is HD video. I downsize to get to that, and we all know about downsizing?  I'm not sure how large people need these for a website and the animation isn't that special for anything else. Yes, 30fps would be better, if I had three times more images, shot every 2 seconds?

The flicker effect is intentional, not something I was trying to avoid. If there's something that will do smoothing, I'm all for it. Virtualdub? is it free? I'm using Photolapse and Irfanview. Cheap operation, the results show it.

The camera won't go much faster than one frame every 4 seconds, before the buffer starts to fill and it skips a frame. It's a 20-D with old memory cards and if you know where I can get "cheap" 4GB CF cards, I can use a couple more. I'm sure they will be faster.



Many bridges to cross in this process.  ;)

If I could do 1 fps that would be nice for automobile travel shots. Maybe 2 fps continuous? There are starting to be some camera limits.

Another option was shoot video, and select every #x frame and make a time-lapse from that. Kind of cheating?

Mostly I'm just having some fun. It's a diversion and experimental.

RacePhoto

« Reply #70 on: August 06, 2012, 14:12 »
0
More - Just tried to edit and render, still using the original files which are1728x1152. Oh now I remember, Photolapse locked up and crashed at image #184 of 2132

OK I can play that game. Reduce to 720x480, cull the test exposures, go through and remove the rogue bright exposures (I don't know where those came from) Remove some shots where the wind blows the flower. Remove some at the end that add nothing to the scene.

Some more details, first image was 9:50AM last was 2:50PM the camera locked up sometime in the morning for about ten minutes, turned off and I restarted it. Sometime in the afternoon, I lost 30 minutes of images (camera lock again?) and at some point I changed battery which no matter how careful, makes the picture jump. 2767 shots total, 2100 after adjusting, cull and removing some exposure issues. (yes one by one through all those images, a few times)

It was hot out and at one frame every 5 seconds, I think the camera was getting finicky. I did get a ERR 99 the day before also. No problems since then. (except the rear screen no long lights up) Shot in Mid-May, I've used the same body and lens for a few more time lapse experiments, no problems.

After some suggestions, here's the new version at 30fps. See what you think? It does tell a little story. A day in the life of a lonely dandelion, and the visitors.  :)

[youtube]http://youtu.be/7RsAwqcdM4g[/youtube]  (not really, I just posted the direct link below)

<a href="http://youtu.be/7RsAwqcdM4g" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://youtu.be/7RsAwqcdM4g</a>

« Reply #71 on: August 06, 2012, 14:26 »
0
Virtualdub is free.  There's info out there on how to use deflicker and all sorts of video filters.  Did you have one of the Canon PowerShot G cameras?  My Canon G10 can do at least 1 FPS at full HD size for a long time, with a fast card.  The shutter seems to go on forever and there's less noticeable flicker than I get with my DSLR.  It also has a built in ND filter, useful for slower shutter speeds that can make timelapses look smoother.

I'm sure buyers aren't only using clips for the web.  They buy HD clips, so they must be using them for other things.  There's loads of HD projectors being sold, so perhaps even presentations are in HD now?  Haven't seen one of mine on the TV but I've seen lots of similar timelapses on HD TV.

I'd hate to lose out on a clip in a movie because it was too small :)  I'm sure I read in one of the site forums that someone has a clip in a movie.

« Reply #72 on: August 06, 2012, 14:36 »
0
More - Just tried to edit and render, still using the original files which are1728x1152. Oh now I remember, Photolapse locked up and crashed at image #184 of 2132

OK I can play that game. Reduce to 720x480, cull the test exposures, go through and remove the rogue bright exposures (I don't know where those came from) Remove some shots where the wind blows the flower. Remove some at the end that add nothing to the scene.

Some more details, first image was 9:50AM last was 2:50PM the camera locked up sometime in the morning for about ten minutes, turned off and I restarted it. Sometime in the afternoon, I lost 30 minutes of images (camera lock again?) and at some point I changed battery which no matter how careful, makes the picture jump. 2767 shots total, 2100 after adjusting, cull and removing some exposure issues. (yes one by one through all those images, a few times)

It was hot out and at one frame every 5 seconds, I think the camera was getting finicky. I did get a ERR 99 the day before also. No problems since then. (except the rear screen no long lights up) Shot in Mid-May, I've used the same body and lens for a few more time lapse experiments, no problems.

After some suggestions, here's the new version at 30fps. See what you think? It does tell a little story. A day in the life of a lonely dandelion, and the visitors.  :)

[youtube]http://youtu.be/7RsAwqcdM4g[/youtube]  (not really, I just posted the direct link below)

http://youtu.be/7RsAwqcdM4g

That looks better to me.  What's it like at 60FPS?  I can see the jump at 49 seconds but that's not going to be easy to cover up.  Perhaps next time have the lawnmower crush it at the end :)

« Reply #73 on: August 06, 2012, 16:28 »
0
Racephoto, your timelapse videos are very good. I like the dandillion very much, the other ones are very moody, kind of eerie. The clouds look like in a horror movie, the one with the Moon is an interesting idea.
But sharpshot is right, why bother with 720 when 1080 is the 'standard resolution' today?
Isn't it like shooting S or M for istock?

RacePhoto

« Reply #74 on: August 06, 2012, 17:31 »
0
Racephoto, your timelapse videos are very good. I like the dandillion very much, the other ones are very moody, kind of eerie. The clouds look like in a horror movie, the one with the Moon is an interesting idea.
But sharpshot is right, why bother with 720 when 1080 is the 'standard resolution' today?
Isn't it like shooting S or M for istock?

Actually shooting at 1728 x 1152 I could make them 1080 and still be shooting at Small on the 20-D. Yes I had a G-12, too big for my pocket. sold. Had a S-90, no viewfinder, pop up flash made me crazy. Sold. 20-D was a disposable camera, kind of. Why burn out something new? Well the screen went blank and I needed another remote camera and something else for time lapse, so 10-D for $135 with the grip and two batteries.

Interesting ideas. Hmm, 60fps? OK, there goes the rest of the day. I usually go for 12 fps because I like the animation look. Like old time movies.

The clouds are another one of those, hey look, clouds, the moon, I'm bored and camping. Quick make a time lapse.  ;D The dandelion was an idea I got one day standing outside from 8am until 5pm. Why not do a flower opening, and then closing. I had no idea until I started processing, how many insects came to visit during the day. It's not like I was watching.

I put the camera on a tripod, anchored it with some weight, set focus manual, set lighting for what I expected it to be when the shadows passed and the flower was in full Sunlight. and went to work. Checked during breaks each hour.

« Reply #75 on: August 13, 2012, 04:35 »
0
I want to play too - just had my first (successful) timelapse accepted!

Falkirk Wheel


 

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