Time Lapse - How to?

[Marc R. O'Leary]

I just recently bought a "Go Pro" (cheap knockoff to try the idea before committing).

I'm curious about how to time-lapse. What settings do people use, what intervals for storms, what processing software, etc...?

I understand a real go-pro will create a MP4 from the lapsed images, unfortunately my $90 knock-off does not, but I can still do a continuous lapse with variable interval and camera settings.

I downloaded Go-Pro's free software to play around with, but my first attempt at compiling a lapse resulted in a 20 second blank video. I also plan to try using Google Picasa.

Any tip / tricks / suggestions from our resident time-lapse pros?

Thanks!!

 

[kevin-palmer]

I don't have a Go Pro, but I can tell you how I shoot time lapse with a DSLR. I usually set the interval to 2 or 3 seconds and try to capture at least 150-200 frames of the same scene.
Then I bring the files into Lightroom and batch edit them, and export as 1920x1080 jpeg's.

After that I use the free software called VirtualDub to compile the images into a time lapse. There is a simple tutorial here. You may need to install the Xvid codec it mentions before you can save it. There are a few basic filters you can add in VirtualDub such as saturation and contrast, but it's better to do the editing in Lightroom IMO. I usually use a frame rate between 15 and 30fps, it depends on the speed of the storm.
If I want to make a compilation of clips, then I'll use Windows Movie Maker. It's not the best, but it's free. I would like to get Premiere, but I don't want to get the whole Creative Cloud just yet.

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

I don't have a Go Pro, but I can tell you how I shoot time lapse with a DSLR. I usually set the interval to 2 or 3 seconds and try to capture at least 150-200 frames of the same scene.
Then I bring the files into Lightroom and batch edit them, and export as 1920x1080 jpeg's.

After that I use the free software called VirtualDub to compile the images into a time lapse. There is a simple tutorial here. You may need to install the Xvid codec it mentions before you can save it. There are a few basic filters you can add in VirtualDub such as saturation and contrast, but it's better to do the editing in Lightroom IMO. I usually use a frame rate between 15 and 30fps, it depends on the speed of the storm.
If I want to make a compilation of clips, then I'll use Windows Movie Maker. It's not the best, but it's free. I would like to get Premiere, but I don't want to get the whole Creative Cloud just yet.

Thanks Kevin, I appreciate the input.

 

[Alex Elmore]

I'm not a pro, but I use my dslr with an intervalometer to take time lapses. Settings depend on the scene you're shooting. Faster moving clouds/scene you can go 3-5 second intervals. Slower scenes 5-10+ second intervals.

For software, I use LRTimelapse. The base version is free (I think) and it works with lightroom. It takes some time to learn how to use it with more complicated timelapses, but if you have the time to learn, I'd say it's worth it. I have used windows movie maker in the past as well.

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

I've never had much success getting the built in intervalometer in my DSLR to work (or rather keep working). I've shot meteor showers with it set for 300 images at X duration...it seems to always run up to 50 or so then quit, despite full batteries and cool to cold temps.

I did manage to get a working time-lapse using my $80"go-pro" of my commute to work. Quality pretty crappy because of the low light and constant motion, but I used Google Picassa and it worked ok. I think it'll be a start for now, but I'll definitely try out some of these other suggestions as I get more into the process.

Really excited to try this process out this season. It'll be a good excuse to keep my ass planted in my target area instead of constantly second-guessing myself and ending up shooting myself in the foot when the storm hits my first target and i'm 50 miles away.

 

[Chris Kerby]

I have a Go-Pro & I usually just record video & then speed it up with Windows Movie Maker but I just got an intervalometer & am going to try it out with my DSLR this year so I hope to see more in this thread.

 

[Dan Ross]

I've always just shot HD video from a tripod with a DSLR and sped it up later with a basic video editing program, but combining hundreds of stills sounds like a fun thing to try. The tricky thing it seems would be getting a consistent exposure for every shot. If natural lighting changes while shooting, you might end up with a "flickering" effect in your time lapse. Of course, maybe that effect would be desirable to some.