Timelapse Guide (Compact Digital Cameras - Part 2)

[ranvids]

so many pauses.. >:(

talk fast it would save u a minute... :P

[firuinthehouse]

I'm a painter and would like to do some time lapse as I work. Are there any other digital compacts that can do time lapse? I got a HD webcam to do this in the studio, but I also need a solution for when I'm on the field.

[sopark434]

Very good info, Im a contractor and have always wanted to time lapse my work. Not only for fun but to show to customer after the job or to prove what was done if it ever comes up.

[postrock]

Nikon Coolpix P2 is an old cheap camera with basic timelapse functionality. I'm going by memory (broke mine just HOURS ago..reason for wich i found this vid btw), it shoots unlimited pics, every 30s, 1m, 15m,30m, 60m....

On a side note, what cheap camera would go today for doing basic timelapse?

[PipirikiShell]

I just found our video via Google -1st page in second spot under: digital camera time lapse. Very informative. Thanks :)

[InsanityHere]

My ultra cheap Samsung HB something or other has time lapse. I knew I was going to buy it simply because it had that feature. 1 to 30 second you-adjust time lapse. It's CMOS sensored :( which washes out the background, when using it normally, but I'm glad I have it. It does 10mp stills. And is compact, light and cheap enough so that I'm not worried mounting it to my bike, for any kind of trip.

[diamonddiver]

Thanks for upload, its answered a lot of questions that shop assistants can't. As the owner of a GR1s 35mm I know what a great bit of kit they are, but now that I know the digital version does time lapse, I'm sold. 

[gluino]

I am trying to find a camera (compact or DSLR or camcorder) that can do about 4fps to 1fps.

And it should record continuously into storage card, preferably into a large harddisk, like 1TB, over WIFI would be nice.

Preferably as an mpeg4 video clip, for every 10 minutes of so.

But single JPEG frames might be acceptable.

It would be supplied by a mains to DC adapter.

The intention is to leave it running unattended for years, and only retrieve after interesting events.

[gluino]

@gluino Mobotix IP-CCTV might satisfy my needs, but was thinking of going cheaper.

[paparu]

i have a canon ixus 85IS with timelapse feature @ 1 to 2 sec shot intervals. check out my timelapse videos. it is automatically saved as an avi file without having to go through quicktime pro, etc for compositing. thanks for this informative series of yours.

[petephuduh]

thanks for the legwork, i have been looking for  a time lapse camera for years

i had a pentax that arbitrarilly stopped at 1000 shots, lame.

[andysoftvideos]

I love your videos. I wrote a freeware java program for my phone to take time lapse. Depending on the model, it will capture nearly every second for a virtually unlimited number of frames. It only works on newish Sony Ericsson phones. More info and examples on my channel. Nokia n97 has it built in, but 10 sec minimum. I'm sure there are time-lapse apps for the iphone as well. It's a cheap solution for anyone who has a compatible phone.

[ogatobranco]

I also remembered that... :p i have a 5800 and i have made a time-lapse script in python (sadly python just has access to 1280x960 resolutions).

Now days most of phones have a camera with enough quality for timelapse, so any phone programable with camera API are able to do it.

Another solution is an inexpensive CHDK compatible camera... CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) allows motion detection, intervalometer, manual controls and other goodies that aren't usually available.

[SileDevil]

whats the dub reggae music on the background please ?

[skatefulfill]

Thievery Corporation, "Wires and Watchtowers" on the album "The Cosmic Game"

[BluesMan2]

I'm thinking of buying a Ricoh R10 to do time lapse. Is this a good purchase, or would you recommend spending the extra on the GX200?

I want a camera with a zoom, which kind of rules out the GR series.

Great video! Thanks for uploading.

[milapse]

Just looked at the R10 manual online.. looks like a winner... Has the 5sec minimum interval (thanks ricoh!). I suppose the gx200 has a little better optics and noise characteristic but if that's not important to you should rock.

[BluesMan2]

Thank you, I just wanted to check with the experts before I spent my money.

Keep up the good work.

[nerys71]

@milapse I scored 2 3100z's on ebay YEAH ! big problem. I got them they work GREAT but when I shove my 16gb CF card inside ts to format fails when it at32 compatible. so 2gb is the max MAYBE 4gb if I can find my fat16 4gb sd cards and work them through my CF1 adapter. any suggestions? 2gb just blows thats only 1940 frames or 97 minutes at 5s/frame even 4 gig would stop at just over 3 hours. 6 if I go every 10 seconds. THEY ARE NOT unlimited. they are limited to 24 hours but at 2gb moot

[nerys71]

@nerys71 Sadly its a no go. I found my SD to CF1 adapter and my "special" 4gb fat16 SD cards (for my tapwave zodiac) they actually work. the camera formats them successfully AND it can "PLAY" images from the 4gb sd card but it REFUSES to take a pictures always saying no memory available. I know it can play because I PUT some pics on the card from the PC and when I switch to PLAYBACK the cam reads the images fine. but it will not RECORD a picture to the 4gb car Grrr

[dying2live2skate]

lol your weird man....

[v4mpir33d]

What about matrix wear? What do you think about it? Is it significant after one, say 24-hour session?

[tomfromqueens]

I have a nikon p6000, it has a time lapse mode which can snap a picture every 30secs. I kinda feel like it's a little too long, is that the standard?

[milapse]

I talked about this in part 1... It's not 'standard' but many cameras have that interval length and it's way too long.

[donofdeaths]

I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-S650, will that work or not?

[milapse]

I'm going to guess that it doesn't have a plug for an external shutter release?? If not it's going to be tough...

[TheWwweee]

@milapse can i have one of your time lapse camera pls i can't find any

[DrMxy]

Just brought myself a Ricoh GX200, for £265 from Ebay. It's basically a compact SLR, has amazing reviews and most importantly, has timelapse built in. Recommended.

[Toby64800]

How to make them hear your voice mine is aragular digital camra

[shamrockisland2008]

again excellent information ! going to watch part 3 now !

[tanner130]

is my camera good to use i have a sony hdr-cx7

[omarberrio]

I knew about time lapse because I was looking for a miniDV camera and finally I choose the Sony H62 and it have the feature, you can use intervals from 1 sec to 120sec betew shots, you can leave the camcorder 99 hours taking videos with the intervals. is a really nice camera BUT, when you compare the quality with the digital camera timelapse the miniDV camcorder lost the round.

Right now I'm using a Canon Powershot A570IS 7MP (around U$170 when I bought in 2007)

[omarberrio]

the canon A570 give you great photos and you can finalize your video on full HD, the thing is you have to press the shutter after every 15 photos, so you can't just let the camera do the job, the good thing is you don't have to pay more that U$700 for a DSLR camera and intervalometer

[milapse]

now that chdk is the rage... just about any canon compact can be converted! It's just a bit of work to get it rolling.

[Cheezez31can8]

Great video :D

ummm

do you know if the intervalometer on the samsung S850 is anygood?

I want a Ricoh GX100

but I cant seem to get it anywhere in Canada

[milapse]

just looked it up in the S850 manual...

1 min to 60 min interval @ 2-99 pics

That's basically useless. Just like I said in the video "ridiculously long intervals and/or few frames" lots of cameras have those limits and those limits totally suck for timelapse. If you want a GX100 just order it from Adorama or Popflash photo (or the bay of E). Ricoh rocks timelapse.

[Cheezez31can8]

okay thanks

Yeah I guess ill have to

im saving up for a 40D

and wanted a timelapse creating cam for cheap

but as you said in the vid the more you pay

the more you get

[twigworkshops]

sweet!! just picked up an old epson photopc on ebay for $35!! thanks... i didn't want to wear out my Canon gl2 with the interval timer and my canon hv30 doesn't have interval timer... i have a 3 week house remodel shingles, cedar shakes, full landscaping, new driveway and this will work perfectly with Final Cut Express 4!! thanks! i've done many searches online and couldn't find anything till your youtube videos!! I also signed up at the timescapes cool site! CHEERS!

[ollyis]

The Canon G9 has a very cool timelapse feature that is only accessible via the video mode but gives a choice of 1fps or 2fps capture and processes it all on board spitting out a tidy little AVI file. With a maximum capture time of 2 hours its given me some great results.

[milapse]

I do love the G9 on paper but the fatal flaw is the 'video mode' which if I'm not mistaken limits you to 640x480?? I usually look for a bare minimum of 1920x1080. If CHDK ever gets ported to the G9... now we are talking!

[soldersucker]

Thank you for posting this video. You answers all my questions I had. Im preparing to build a new house and wanted to do a timelapse on the cheap. This is perfect. Thanks!

[shovroom]

Does the Epson 3100z have a maximum card capacity limit? It's not recognizing my Sandisk 4GB CF card.

[JakobVowinckel]

it is limited to 512MB cards, unfortunately

[TiburonGirl88]

How well do you think a Nikon D40 would do?

[milapse]

As far as I know the D40 would need to be tethered to a computer running 'camera control pro'... I'm unaware of any interval timers for it.

[timelapsephotography]

Just to add to this, I use a Canon A620 aswell as 20D for timelapse. The A620 doesnt have an interval timer built in as standard but there are firmware hacks available which allow scripts to be run within the camera. You can set the interval between each shot, the amount of shots to take. The camera can manage 2secs between shots without choking on itself. Just ordered an adaptor to allow the use of lense filters, and as despite being a compact digital camera it`ll still produce stunning results

[shovroom]

Really looking forward to part 3. Thanks for the videos so far!

[xxxvii]

Milapse - thank you for your info on creating a time-lapse. in regard to your comments on the EPSON PhotoPC 3100Z 3.3Mpx, do you know its time-lapse capabilities.....ie...how many frames it will take as well as the intervals? thanks for the time.

[majun26]

Most of the new Canon Powershot cameras have a time lapse function, but it's a video mode. The camera will take frames at 1 or 2 second intervals for up to 2 hours and store is as a VGA video.

I also have a Canon S3is which has an intervalometer function.

[milapse]

exactly - 640x480 VGA - really poor quality and on top of that I'm guessing that the camera compresses the video 'on board' which results in more loss of quality.

Are you saying that the S3is will take photos at intervals? or is it the same 'movie mode' cripple ware?

[milapse]

I just found the stats on the S3is... 2-100 shots and 1-60 minutes per shot. Unfortunately not so great...

[BorderlineProduction]

You´re nation wide mate. From sweden here and anticipating part 3, keep up the good work!

[mephisto212]

"Great for situations where you might have some rain, or... other problems..." LOL!

[Antzarctica]

Keep it up Jay. I've been referring a lot of people to your videos to help get them started.

The other BIG advantage with most compact cameras is no physical shutter mechanism to wear out like on an SLR... and they do fall apart after a while.

[marcusreedus]

jay - great stuff! in part 3, you should touch upon the Pclix. i bought one to convert an old camera to a timelapse camera and i've been loving it!

[milapse]

oh yah, it's touched! ;-)

[Bluewave42]

I'm using a Pclix with a Canon Pro1. Unfortunately the Canon's IR sensors are unreliable and seem to ignore the signal every so often producing occasional jerks in the end movie.

Jay, good info, thanks. Completely agree with you about manufacturers limiting their intervalometer modes. You'd think they'd put fully featured intervalometers on their dSLRS to encourage use and thus sell more mirror units. ;) At least Ricoh bucks the trend.

[Antzarctica]

I tried using a canon IR remote wired into an external timer I built myself. I found the same problem, the remote was definitely firing, but the camera would occasionally ignore the signal.

This happened with both the S60 and the Rebel XT. I'll only use hard-wired controllers now.

[mamarriott]

Part 3 please!! I'm practically giddy with anticipation. I am a still photographer who dabbles in video and for me these tutorials are awesome (especially the tech stuff). I was just looking for a panning rig for my video camera but it just makes so much more sense to do it with still photography. I have Canon 1D Mark IIn's but i'll probably go much lower end than that for my rig. Your whole setup is just genius. Could you throw in some info about your software though?

[milapse]

If you mean the motion control software... I'm trying to get it ready for release. It just takes time and I've had very little lately!!

[elcaminos]

Keep it up man... I use a nikon D80 but would like to upgrade to the D200 or D300 in the future so I don't need the external intervolometer (I think you're pronouncing it wrong)

[milapse]

lol! I have no idea what the correct pronunciation is. I've yet to be in the prescience of someone using the word!

[webiocosm]

Hey man, great series keep it up. You're funny! I might have saved some time and gone a different route if you had done this earlier. I will hit you with a link from my blog. I get a few hits from folks wanting to know how to time-lapse/stop motion/claymation.

[webiocosm]

I am pretty happy with the performance of my Canon PowerShot S3 IS so far. It has an intervalometer, but only a max of 100 pics with a minimum of 1 shot per minute though. The GBtimelapse software works really great with it but of course it requires that I lug around a laptop and maybe even a generator to keep it powered. There is a later version of the Canon PowerShot, the S5 IS but I hear it has no intervalometer.

[caddymob]

Yikes man, collecting some cameras are we? Well, I would too if I could, and come to think of it I slowly am... I have a Canon XTi that I use for both timelapse and photography, but I really really want to get a Canon 40D and dedicate that to photos, the XTi for lapsin. I tend to skip timelapses more than I'd like (eg sunsets) because I'd rather take pictures. Blah Blah. Anyway, nice community service work on your part man!! Someday I'll get around to posting some new TLs - have tons of frames..

[MentalLapse]

Great series. I've been using a Canon SLR and hadn't really looked into something smaller that has a built in timer. This part has got me curious about looking at this type of camera, mainly for traveling because it wouldn't be as bulky to carry :)

[mikehedge]

super informative. thank you

[Mavi222]

Very very very nice! I am looking for part 3 ;c)) I am using Canon EOS 400D for timelapses ;c)) Thanks for this very interesting video :c)) .. I love the part between 6:10 and 6:21 :cDD

[JanneH2006]

Id be glad if you could make "How to make HDR timelapse" guide. :)

[tobe2d]

Thanks so Much for your Videos

i am really glad to know someone who have this kind of knowledge to share, thanks so much for sharing it,

i will be waiting for the part3 i hope it will be about the D300 :)

----Please Check your private messages in youtube i sent you one :-)

[milapse]

the D200 and D300 are essentially the same for timelapse... Yes, I'll be talking about DSLRs in part 3.