HDR Time-lapse....with panning

[Mike Hollingshead]

Paul Hadfield sent me this link a while ago and I wound up on it again tonight. This to me is completely nuts and a head scratcher. The guy does time-lapse...in HDR with a still camera...and with automated panning too! The amount of camera frames to do this in HDR is SICK.

Here is a good night one, gets coolest at 2:15. Remember, each frame of video is several frames from a still camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yp_2noZPjg

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=milapse
Rest there. Cool as hell, and nuts to consider. That would take a person no time to chuck through 100,000 shutters.

 

[Darren Addy]

This is indeed very cool. Driving the camera from a laptop running stop motion software will do most of what he's doing here. Using a DV camera with a program like iStopmotion (Mac), for example. However this guy is using still cameras in order to take much longer individual exposures. I'm not quite sure where the HDR comes in or in what sence he is using the word. Seems to be using Nikon DSLRs, long exposures with fast lenses (f/1.8 to f/2.8), and Adobe Premiere for video creation/editing. I've only watched the one video that Mike linked to so far, but I want to see more of this guy's stuff. Maybe he reveals more in the comments of the other pieces.

One other problem one would have to deal with to accomplish this (like amateur astronomers) is having your lenses/equipment dew up.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

I bet he's using a camera that will auto bracket 5-7 exposures. It's a wild idea. Can't believe someone actually thought all that out. And his computer must be pretty impressive to handle a bijillion enormous files each time he does one of those projects. It's nuts. Hollingshead should try it on a storm.

 

[Melanie Kern-Favilla]

I've only watched the one video that Mike linked to so far, but I want to see more of this guy's stuff. Maybe he reveals more in the comments of the other pieces.

If you check out his other videos, he explains in detail how to set up a system like his. Wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJf-ZgTKBcw&feature=related

I just LOVE it when people are so secure in their creations and in their abilities that they are open to sharing their techniques with others. Super.

Melanie

 

[Mark Sudduth]

Time lapse with a digital camera

If you have a Canon digital camera, certain models anyway, you too can do impressive HD time lapse. gbsoftware.com has the program that will operate your camera through your laptop. I have used it for about 2 years now and have achieved some impressive results.

Check this TL of the moon rise over the GOM in Gulfport, MS last March (2007). I did it using my Vaio and a Canon Is3 or what ever it's called. The SLRs will wear out over time so I have not yet graduated to using a DSLR. Still, this is not bad and considering the raw JPGs are 1600 by 1200, you can achieve virtual HD video using QT Pro to sequence all the images together. Takes a while and you will need some practice, but somebody like Hollingshead could do some incredible TL with something like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDvz7SOwD08

 

[Brian Emfinger]

Yeah the biggest problem I have had doing stuff like that at night is definitely dew. I did a dusk to dawn time lapse last summer that turned out ok:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoD3ORKypZI

I think it was doing continuous 30 sec exposures and using a 50 ft usb extension so I could monitor occasionally from inside.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Yeah it's important to realize, his videos are HDR not just HD...as in high dynamic range...not high definition. To do what he's doing you have to have still image software capable of doing HDR. *EACH* frame of his video is made from several still images(brackets) to make the high dynamic range image/frames. It's nuts to consider really. It's a lot more involved than just still images from a DSLR to make an HD video.

The other normal HD time lapse would be cool too, but I haven't convinced myself to do any yet as I already put enough snaps on my cams.

 

[Martin Kucera]

Also tried but without HDR, just plain DSLR images stitched together.
This is my very first one, of Venus rising in eastern sky with some storms building over the Atlantic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_3nG4iCAkc

 

[D. Hayes]

Just head over to Orion telescopes website and get a EQ tripod mount with the tracking motor. I use the EQ-1 with my solar telescope to track the suns movement across the sky while taking photos. That way you can do that panning motion smooth as silk. You may also want to get some dew heaters to use on your lenses to stop any dew from condensing.