fast moving low clouds, timelapse video

[Olivier Staiger]

hello,

Timelapse test on fast moving clouds, http://youtu.be/Jv9r5bHySZY


used to be I would try timelapse video by taking individual photos and then assemble them... very long process . Didn't like it.

now I found an easier faster way, to shoot timelapse directly, in FHD 1080p ( or smaller ) with my Canon EOS 600D ( T3i ) .

I use MAGIC LANTERN on it.

ML has a 'fps override' function in video mode. It is useable for longer exposures in lowlight ( Canon limit exp time is 1/30th second in FHD video , whether you shoot in PAL or SECAM , 25fps or 30 fps, same-same), but I can also use it in daytime. Of course since it is in full light I need to close aperture more and shorten exposure times, thus use full manual setting and control. Or use a ND grey filter in certain cases.

this saturday 20th March 2013 we had some nice wind and low clouds over the lower Lake Geneva area, so I tried it out.

sadly I had no tripod so I had to put the cam down on the car's hood or roof. but as a result I discovered that it looks great when you see 2/3 of the sky in the lens and 1/3 of the sky reflection in the car window or sunroof. check it out .

also I only had the 15-85mm lens with me, that 15mm results in 24mm FF equiv. It would look even more spectacular with a wider lens . next time. ;-)

in the camera settings I choose 'landscape' mode AND I increased the colour saturation for landscape mode a bit from the original landscape mode setting, and in video settings ' auto-correct image brightness and contrast ' changed it from 'standard' to 'strong', ( which gives a little bit of HDR-ish feeling )

in MAGIC LANTERN instead of 25 fps I overrode it mostly at 1 fps or 2 fps, sometimes also at 4 or 5 fps. What's nice also is ML tells me how much resulting video I shot ( when playing back at 25 fps again. ) And when play back in the camera it plays at 25fps so I immediately see the timelapse result. no need to edit later.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Thanks for sharing, Olivier. Any issues with the t3i overheating during those shoots? I have a 60D and a t2i, and the 60D is a real champ. I can let that thing go indefinitely, for hours on end and it keeps recording. The t2i on the other hand, picked up an overheat warning fairly quickly, I even had the screen turned off. Have you tried shooting time lapse in motion yet? I'm curious as to how much the IS on the lens helps. None of my lenses (the 10-22 and 50) have it.

I used the Magic Lantern fps override on this last chase to southwest Oklahoma with the 60D and 10-22 at 10m. It works well, but it's quite a bit of work managing the exposure manually. I shot the first portion at 8 fps because I just had too much light coming into the camera to use longer and smoother shutter speeds. It eventually got so dark as the storm moved in, however, that I was wide open with slowest shutter speeds (still 160 ISO) so I dropped it to 2 fps. It's great being able to shoot 100 (160) ISO video under a dark storm in the evening. To get more detail and lighting control, I'd love to be able to shoot raw video. Any camera with that capability is priced well above the consumer range, however. I might tinker more with the magic lantern intervelometer and shoot stills. About .5 fps is as fast as you can go. That might work for a slow moving structure shot (like an entire framed supercell), but anything closer or faster moving, that's probably going to be too slow, and probably too slow to use while in motion as well. You've got a poor man's Red camera if you can handle that slow of a frame rate though.

Watch video >