Starry Germany - Night-Timelapse Project

[jonaspio]

Hey guys!
A couple days ago I could finally finish my little night-timelapse project ''Starry Germany'', witch shows some nice nightsky and star-timelapses.
I hope you enjoy!

Watch video >

Greetings from Germany, Jonas

 

[STexan]

Nice work and good choice of music accompaniment. Are those stills or videos?

I found this too, pretty cool http://gizmodo.com/5847467/is-this-the-most-amazing-time-lapse-video-yet

 

[jonaspio]

Hi Robert, glad you like it!
The videos are all created out of RAW images processed with Lightroom from adobe. ;-)
The video you posted is really amazing! I'm looking forward to buy myself a timelapse dolly for more motion and then maybe take it to the US to make some similar sequences.
The best Timelapse compilation I've seen so far is Randy Halverson's ''Tempest Milkyway'' (I Guess because of the cool thunderstorm shots in it^^)
Feel free to check it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLKc4yKgZTk

Best Regards, Jonas

 

[STexan]

If you shoot the stills in Raw and develop them in Lightroom (as I do with my stills), what do you use to stitch the images to create the movie and does it work with raw files or is there a conversion to jpg that must occur, first? If so, what do you recommend in terms of sizing and quality in the batch export to jpg? I use Lightroom and have Quicktime Pro (Windows) but also have a weaker MacBook pro that I have sort of retired.

Also, is it possible to capture in high quality jpgs and end up with a nice video. Especially if you're perhaps shooting a very long time-lapse with varying light handling conditions (cloud cover in and out). I only have 16 gig cards and they won't hold too many raw files shooting with my 5D MkII

I'm looking to expand my horizons perhaps into some time lapse just for fun and see what happens

Thanks in advance. Stormtrack is running VERY SLOOOOWW last few days and I'm not even sure if this will post

 

[Skip Talbot]

If you shoot the stills in Raw and develop them in Lightroom (as I do with my stills), what do you use to stitch the images to create the movie and does it work with raw files or is there a conversion to jpg that must occur, first? If so, what do you recommend in terms of sizing and quality in the batch export to jpg? I use Lightroom and have Quicktime Pro (Windows) but also have a weaker MacBook pro that I have sort of retired.

I use Vegas, but the process is probably going to be similar in different video editors. You import the images as a series into the video editor. It's important to apply the same develop settings to each frame in Lightroom, as much as it is to shoot with all the same manual settings or else your video will flicker. Crop and export from Lightroom to the resolution of your video, usually 1920x1080 using the highest quality format your editor will handle. You can use a low compression JPEG or PNG in Vegas. Raws probably won't do you that much good in your video editor since you're probably going to output to an 8 bit per channel video format anyway, and you've already done your editing on each frame (unless you're doing something really fancy like a high dynamic range 2 or 4km video). Nearly uncompressed JPEGs coming out of Lightroom are fine for a YouTube video. Each frame will have a large file size, but the resulting video will be compressed to a normal file size.

Also, is it possible to capture in high quality jpgs and end up with a nice video. Especially if you're perhaps shooting a very long time-lapse with varying light handling conditions (cloud cover in and out). I only have 16 gig cards and they won't hold too many raw files shooting with my 5D MkII

I'd avoid shooting JPEG just to avoid issues with flicker appearing in your video. The JPEG processor in the camera could vary between each frame in how it converts from RAW to JPEG. Not to mention you're giving up a lot of editing capabilities not shooting raw. SD cards are pretty cheap especially compared to the lenses and full frame body you're using., but if you really need to save space, I'd just drop the resolution of the RAW's you're shooting. Take it down to 2k instead of 5k or higher like your full frame shoots. You're going to size that video down anyway. Another alternative is to use Magic Lantern on your camera, and shoot in video mode with a low fps. The video files are a nice quality (a little less than shooting a jpeg series), and the video files don't take much space at all. Plus, the video is ready to use right off the camera as a time lapse. Magic Lantern has additional features for exposure ramping and bracketing to help with your changing light conditions as well.

Thanks in advance. Stormtrack is running VERY SLOOOOWW last few days and I'm not even sure if this will post

I asked Tim to reboot the server yesterday. He's usually pretty quick about it, so hopefully things will be running smooth again soon.

 

[STexan]

Great response Skip. I appreciate it. I finally got Magic Lantern today. Was going to put it on my 7D to try out before putting it on my 5D but then read that the 7D has some other potential issues that my 5dM2 wouldn't have so ... anyway, another learning curve to get through. If nothing else it may be worth it just for the enhanced still HDR (bracketing) features. I've came close to buying a high-end Nikon rig a time or two just for that.