Timelapse question?

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 Graeme G 05 Jun 2022

Does anybody make these? I’ve been experimenting creating these recently using Image Edge Viewer for Sony. I have an A6400. However, the software keeps giving me an error message and skips a lot of the photos.

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for other software?

 FactorXXX 05 Jun 2022
In reply to Graeme G:

Hasn't it got a built-in intervalometer?

OP Graeme G 05 Jun 2022
In reply to FactorXXX:

It does, but you still hand to use Image Edge to build the movie. Although the guide below seems to suggest ‘skipping’ images is normal. Think I’ll need to keep playing about with it.

https://www.alphashooters.com/cameras/a6400/time-lapse-setup-guide/

 Marek 05 Jun 2022
In reply to Graeme G:

> It does, but you still hand to use Image Edge to build the movie. Although the guide below seems to suggest ‘skipping’ images is normal. Think I’ll need to keep playing about with it.

I've not read the guide in detail, but a couple of - possibly related - points stood out:

(a) The suggestion that skipping images is somehow 'normal' is fundamentally wrong.

(b) If you image exposure time has ever exceeded the timelapse period, then - again - something has gone wrong. Normally you would adjust the ISO to keep the exposure to about half the period. If the camera intervalometer doesn't do that, then it's not really up to the job.

On that basis, I really wouldn't use Image Edge if you want a decent timelapse film. At least under varying lighting conditions (e.g., sunset/sunrise).

OP Graeme G 05 Jun 2022
In reply to Marek:

> I've not read the guide in detail, but a couple of - possibly related - points stood out:

> (a) The suggestion that skipping images is somehow 'normal' is fundamentally wrong.

That’s what I thought, seems strange in the alphashooters guide.

> (b) If you image exposure time has ever exceeded the timelapse period, then - again - something has gone wrong. Normally you would adjust the ISO to keep the exposure to about half the period. If the camera intervalometer doesn't do that, then it's not really up to the job.

So I did a sunset last night. Took around 310 exposures. That should’ve given me around a 13 second movie. However, when I stuck it in image edge it came around 4 seconds. And you can clearly see the gaps where images are missing.

> On that basis, I really wouldn't use Image Edge if you want a decent timelapse film. At least under varying lighting conditions (e.g., sunset/sunrise).

Do you have any recommendations?

 Marek 06 Jun 2022
In reply to Graeme G:

> Do you have any recommendations?

Probably not useful ones. I struggled to do a good convincing sunset timelapse and ended up writing my own software to (a) control the camera settings and (b) do the raw image grading to get a smooth 'darkening' and to create the video. If you're interested to do that, I can give more details. Otherwise look up 'Holy Grail' timelapse for other solutions.

OP Graeme G 06 Jun 2022
In reply to Marek:

Thanks for the offer, but that sounds way beyond my current skill level. A search for the  Holy Grail it is.

 jethro kiernan 06 Jun 2022
In reply to Graeme G:

I've been trying  a few time lapses, one of the fundamentals was manual focus, I had a few frustrating misfires and they were mainly due to focus hunting so the expected 30 secs of footage became a useless 3 seconds, so put focus into manual. And a fresh battery!!

OP Graeme G 06 Jun 2022
In reply to jethro kiernan:

That’s interesting. I appreciate that would affect the quality of the flow, and I’m fairly sure I’ve been doing that. Just not sure why the software would choose some frames as ‘unprocessable’.

Actually, after reading the alphashooters link in detail apparently it’s not leaving some images out. The ‘error’ message is just letting me know it’s not processing the photos. 

Post edited at 09:24
 wintertree 06 Jun 2022
In reply to Graeme G:

I regularly use the "FFMPEG" command line tool to string images together in to movies.

It might take some learning but it's a Swiss army knife and it'll do exactly what you tell it to do.  Chuck a "-vf deshake" in before the output filename and it'll do a motion stabilisation for you too - hand if you have a wobbly tripod on a windy day.

https://medium.com/@sekhar.rahul/creating-a-time-lapse-video-on-the-command...

I was going to do some time lapses with my EOS 60d until I saw the shutter's rated lifetime.

OP Graeme G 06 Jun 2022
In reply to wintertree:

Thanks

 Dan Arkle 06 Jun 2022
In reply to Graeme G:

If you already use Lightroom, then there is a separate program called LRTimelapse that is quite powerful. Its a bit of a learning curve, but allows you to adjust each image by tiny increments to improve brightness etc.

I made this with it

vimeo.com/406512901

OP Graeme G 06 Jun 2022
In reply to Dan Arkle:

That’s gorgeous, thanks for sharing. I’m playing about with the free version of Capture One for editing, but have thought maybe I want to invest in something better. Like Lightroom.


New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...