First attempt at a time lapse

eoren1

Bought an intervalometer a few weeks ago but hadn't had a chance to try it out until tonight. Went out right before sunset and set up the tripod. I had read some pointers from Vincent Laforet earlier in the day but would appreciate your thoughts on this effort.
Shot in Av mode, f/8, iso 200. Interval 8 sec.

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Direct link (tried embed but not showing for me) http://eoren1.smugmug.com/gallery/18333422_nv53fZ#1411789947_zgFZzd8-A-LB

The water bothers me and I wonder if I would have liked the result more at f/11 and iso 100 to smooth it out. Are there other things that can be done in post to play with the water? I also think I'll aim for intervals of 4-6 seconds next time to make things smoother.

eoren1

Here is last night's attempt. Not as great a sunset but smoother (I think)
Av mode, f/11, iso 100 @ 5 second intervals

Marc Muench

Fun stuff!
You might want to try throwing a ND filter on to lengthen the exposure times, this helps smooth things out. As well, to reduce flicker try stopping all the way down. What I have learned is that sharpness is not the same in motion as in stills. Therefore, dont worry about stopping all the way down! I have been bothered by flicker (variation in lens aperture of apx 1/10 stop) which I never noticed in stills but destroys TL. I am going through lenses to find ones that allows me to partially unscrew the lens just enough to disconnect contacts. This locks in the aperture. To do this, first depress the aperture preview button then, move lens. Camera will give nastygrams but if all the planets are aligned, continue working. So far, I have a few lenses that just dont work. However, during multiple attempts they do work, so it seems to be operator variation that can throw it off.

Have fun.

eoren1

Thanks for commenting Marc!
That first attempt had horrible flicker due to slight changes in exposure but I found a solution. I use Lightroom and found an app called LRtimelapse (for PC and Mac) that will read the data on the images and write back corrections in exposure to the xmp sidecar. The second TL was done in this way - I didn't see much flicker on that one but please correct me if I'm wrong. I also saw the error in too-sharp/contrasty water and therefore used an ISO of 100 and aperture of f/11 to slow things down a bit.
I'm planning another TL tonight but want to get one of our harbor on race night where boats will leave their moorings and return back while the sun is setting. Not sure what to do as far as settings for that. If I throw a ND on, i'll likely lose the effect of boats drifting out and into the TL. I may just try that disconnect trick with my 10-22 tonight...
Really appreciate your input.

Marc Muench

Yes, I did notice a difference. I too tried that plugin and thought it did ok. I now use GBdeflicker which works much better. However, it is $100! and requires Adobe AE which rents for $49 a month However, this appears to be the very best solution I have found. The next step is to add a motion blur in FCP which really smooths moving subjects out and appears as though less flicker is occurring. When you try your lens, watch carefully for at least 5 min, as I have found some begin then die hard within the first 5 min....

ThatCanonGuy

Great job Eyal, that 2nd one is fantastic. It's a pleasure to watch, esp. full screen. I really like the clouds. Did you use a filter here? Seems like the land would be quite a bit darker than the sunlit water?

eoren1

Thanks!
No filters. Just used recovery at 100 in LR. Also painted in some + exposure on the Rockett Landing sign.
Now if only I could get my 350D to shoot timelapses like this....

ThatCanonGuy

Ah. Yes, the recovery slider. I love playing with the sliders (in ACR 5, very similar to LR). Have you tried the LRtimelapse program with the 350D?

wolf911

so how much total time are you covering here in these, 5 minutes, 20 minutes?

eoren1

The above sequences cover about 45 minutes each

Have been struggling with getting similar results from the 350D. See this thread:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=203113