Time lapse photography/video.

[andybuk99]

Hi, I have been asked by a client to produce a time lapse video of a warehouse fit out with mezzanine flooring etc being installed. I don't want to leave any of my expensive cameras on site for the 4 weeks period so what are the options? A GoPro with visits to download the footage etc?

[GetCarter]

I quality isn't too important these work fine: http://www.ultrasecuredirect.com/acatalog/portable...

[andybuk99]

I think they want at least 720p

[RizzoTheRat]

A Gopro can be set up to take stills at timed intervals, and you can get a shed load of still on a decent sized card, although you'd obviously need to have it powered rather than on battery. Bear in mind they have a very wide angle lens though.
Here's one I prepared earlier, didn't have it on power though so I had to stop it and change the battery ever couple of hours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUwOT7QVP04

[GetCarter]

andybuk99 said:

I think they want at least 720p

Hmm... trouble with GoPro is batter life - which is rubbish. (unless they now do a mains adapter?)

[andybuk99]

What was the shot interval?

[RizzoTheRat]

If you've got a skeleton housing you can run a GoPro while it's connected to a USB charger.

I think I had the above video set to 1 frame every 5 seconds, and then put it together at 25 fps to get 125x speed. Pretty sure mine can do 1 frame per minute at it's slowest setting, but that's an original HD1, you can download the manuals for the HD3 from thier website to see what they can manage.

Quick calc, if they work 8 hours a day, 6 days a week for 4 weeks, 1 frame per minute played back at 30fps gives you 6.4 minutes, so I guess 1fpm would be fine

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 30th April 11:30

[GetCarter]

/\ That's the way to go!

[Craikeybaby]

I agree, I've found timelapses much easier with the GoPro, than my Canon DSLRs with a timer remote. As you say, you will need to change the card over, if you can have the GoPro powered at 1 frame/min you shouldn't need to get to the camera too frequently.

[crmcatee]

Or a Contour with it's car battery charger/USB lead -

That way you can place the camera and a 12v car battery and never have to touch it. No need to run mains or anything - especially when a fit out is going on - the power will be on and off all the time.

[RizzoTheRat]

You can run a a GoPro from 12v too, but it's a good point, there's a lot of decent alternatives to the GoPro around now, like the Drift and Contour, plus quite a few cheaper ones, though I'm guessing some might not do the interval modes.

[option click]

The GoPro's internal timelapse settings only allow for a max of 1 shot a min.

It's possible to set the intervals further apart, but it requires some extra hardware:
http://cam-do.com/GoProTimeController.html

As said above, the main issue is keeping the camera powered up as the batteries don't last for long.

[JulianHJ]

On a related note, what software are you guys using for your GoPro time lapses?

[RizzoTheRat]

I use Cyberlink PowerDirector 9

[crmcatee]

JulianHJ said:

On a related note, what software are you guys using for your GoPro time lapses?

Timelapse Assembler on the Mac.

[Phunk]

option click said:

The GoPro's internal timelapse settings only allow for a max of 1 shot a min.

It's possible to set the intervals further apart, but it requires some extra hardware:
http://cam-do.com/GoProTimeController.html

As said above, the main issue is keeping the camera powered up as the batteries don't last for long.

You can set it to 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60 seconds. We use a GoPro3 at work for time lapses. A 32 GB card should last two days straight, avoid formatting the card in the camera as it can crash the camera.

The WIFI is also extremely handy for positioning.

[Craikeybaby]

JulianHJ said:

On a related note, what software are you guys using for your GoPro time lapses?

I'm using the GoPro software and iMovie.

[JulianHJ]

crmcatee said:

Timelapse Assembler on the Mac.

Cheers! That's nice and simple isn't it? Very happy with the results of a test shot I compiled with it.

[andybuk99]

Thia is the type of video they want to recreate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...

[RizzoTheRat]

The tracking shots in timelapse would presumably need some expensive kit, but for real time there's some really cheap systems people have made for GoPros using rotary kitchen timers