Best way to film this...
Discussion
Quick ones guys... Im trying to film a whole bathroom installation (around 40hours) then put it into a time lapse of around 1 minute.
What would be the bet way to do this as a novice ? Is there a go-pro that will do this? can I process on macbook ok ? Looking to order what ever camera I need this evening.
What would be the bet way to do this as a novice ? Is there a go-pro that will do this? can I process on macbook ok ? Looking to order what ever camera I need this evening.
Gopro's have a built in time-lapse function - and are wide angle enough to give good coverage in a bathroom
Some things to think about;
Power - go pros have tiny batteries, as the camera is small. Probably 2 or 3 hours max on time-lapse. However, they have charge and can be powered by, their usb port. So you can run mains power to one, and use a 13 amp plug that goes to USB, and plug into that. Or have a large enough mobile phone style top up battery, and plug into that. I've done tests with a 3200 mAH size mobile phone charger battery (just bigger than a large pack of gum), and that ran a go pro in video mode for nearly 5 hours. (your mileage may vary).
Casing - The standard go pro casing is waterproof, and isn't designed to have anything plugged in. You may need a skeleton type housing, that allows you to plug in. (or drill a hole in the waterproof housing)
Media - A 40 hour time-lapse may use a lot of media. Put a 64gb card inside, and do some maths to work out a good interval for the shots. I'd recommend doing an interval that gives you a longer film that you need. You can always speed that up further after - but you cant extend a time-lapse is its too quick
Software - yup, you can compile on mac. I use after effects, not sure what free / cheap / easy software is out there - but there will certainly be a lot to choose from. Essentially the go pro will just take a jpeg image at every interval, so you just need software that'll stitch together the image sequence.
Mounting - Where will you place the go pro? Make sure you have a good way of mounting it. Suction cup or sticky pad on window, may be a good solution.
hope that helps
Some things to think about;
Power - go pros have tiny batteries, as the camera is small. Probably 2 or 3 hours max on time-lapse. However, they have charge and can be powered by, their usb port. So you can run mains power to one, and use a 13 amp plug that goes to USB, and plug into that. Or have a large enough mobile phone style top up battery, and plug into that. I've done tests with a 3200 mAH size mobile phone charger battery (just bigger than a large pack of gum), and that ran a go pro in video mode for nearly 5 hours. (your mileage may vary).
Casing - The standard go pro casing is waterproof, and isn't designed to have anything plugged in. You may need a skeleton type housing, that allows you to plug in. (or drill a hole in the waterproof housing)
Media - A 40 hour time-lapse may use a lot of media. Put a 64gb card inside, and do some maths to work out a good interval for the shots. I'd recommend doing an interval that gives you a longer film that you need. You can always speed that up further after - but you cant extend a time-lapse is its too quick
Software - yup, you can compile on mac. I use after effects, not sure what free / cheap / easy software is out there - but there will certainly be a lot to choose from. Essentially the go pro will just take a jpeg image at every interval, so you just need software that'll stitch together the image sequence.
Mounting - Where will you place the go pro? Make sure you have a good way of mounting it. Suction cup or sticky pad on window, may be a good solution.
hope that helps
Edited by Fordo on Wednesday 4th November 21:26
I would suggest you purchase a Mobius action cam and plug it into an external power pack.
Mobius Manager software options for time-lapse are .25, .5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30 and 60 secs.
Video does eat memory so I would recommend you purchase a large memory card from a reputable seller.
The video format options are MOV or MP4, so the footage can be edited on a Mac, I use a MacBook Pro so can vouch for this.
The Mobius manufacturer has a shop on Ebay, eletoponline365, so there is no need to pay through the nose for the camera, link is: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/eletoponline365/m.html?_...
The video quality in the daytime is very impressive indeed, though not so good in low-light or night-time conditions.
Mobius Manager software options for time-lapse are .25, .5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30 and 60 secs.
Video does eat memory so I would recommend you purchase a large memory card from a reputable seller.
The video format options are MOV or MP4, so the footage can be edited on a Mac, I use a MacBook Pro so can vouch for this.
The Mobius manufacturer has a shop on Ebay, eletoponline365, so there is no need to pay through the nose for the camera, link is: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/eletoponline365/m.html?_...
The video quality in the daytime is very impressive indeed, though not so good in low-light or night-time conditions.
You don't need to "film" it, you need to photograph it.
1 minute at 25 frames per second = 2100 photos. Of course you don't need 25fps, I'd say that 5fps would work, so just over 400 photos.
I'd make a simple rig to fix a DSLR into position and just leave it running on an interval timer. I've done this a few times to "film" a big suite at a hotel being set up for a wedding and it works really well.
I'd be pretty certain that loads of compact cameras offer this option too.
The only slightly tricky thing will be exposure as the light levels will vary a fair bit throughout the day. You could use an automatic mode but it will still flicker a bit on playback as things like someone in white overalls standing near the camera will force it to underexpose.
Easy enough though, but photos, not video. (Added bonus of much better quality too).
1 minute at 25 frames per second = 2100 photos. Of course you don't need 25fps, I'd say that 5fps would work, so just over 400 photos.
I'd make a simple rig to fix a DSLR into position and just leave it running on an interval timer. I've done this a few times to "film" a big suite at a hotel being set up for a wedding and it works really well.
I'd be pretty certain that loads of compact cameras offer this option too.
The only slightly tricky thing will be exposure as the light levels will vary a fair bit throughout the day. You could use an automatic mode but it will still flicker a bit on playback as things like someone in white overalls standing near the camera will force it to underexpose.
Easy enough though, but photos, not video. (Added bonus of much better quality too).
budfox said:
1 minute at 25 frames per second = 2100 photos. Of course you don't need 25fps, I'd say that 5fps would work, so just over 400 photos.
1 minute at 25 fps is 1500 photos...Start with your desired running time of the final (timelapsed) edit. If that's 1 minute then you need to spread 1500 photos over 40 hours - which according to my calculator is one photo every 1.6 minutes.
Simpo Two said:
1 minute at 25 fps is 1500 photos...
Start with your desired running time of the final (timelapsed) edit. If that's 1 minute then you need to spread 1500 photos over 40 hours - which according to my calculator is one photo every 1.6 minutes.
OK, so my maths were a little out, but the point is still valid. It's just about taking the right number of photos to fit the desired frame rate/length of final video. I think 25 fps would be too high. I think about 5fps will work best, so each photo will be displayed for 1/5th second. That's where I think I ended up when I did this.Start with your desired running time of the final (timelapsed) edit. If that's 1 minute then you need to spread 1500 photos over 40 hours - which according to my calculator is one photo every 1.6 minutes.
budfox said:
You don't need to "film" it, you need to photograph it.
1 minute at 25 frames per second = 2100 photos. Of course you don't need 25fps, I'd say that 5fps would work, so just over 400 photos.
I'd make a simple rig to fix a DSLR into position and just leave it running on an interval timer. I've done this a few times to "film" a big suite at a hotel being set up for a wedding and it works really well.
I'd be pretty certain that loads of compact cameras offer this option too.
The only slightly tricky thing will be exposure as the light levels will vary a fair bit throughout the day. You could use an automatic mode but it will still flicker a bit on playback as things like someone in white overalls standing near the camera will force it to underexpose.
Easy enough though, but photos, not video. (Added bonus of much better quality too).
Except he wants to video it NOT photograph it.1 minute at 25 frames per second = 2100 photos. Of course you don't need 25fps, I'd say that 5fps would work, so just over 400 photos.
I'd make a simple rig to fix a DSLR into position and just leave it running on an interval timer. I've done this a few times to "film" a big suite at a hotel being set up for a wedding and it works really well.
I'd be pretty certain that loads of compact cameras offer this option too.
The only slightly tricky thing will be exposure as the light levels will vary a fair bit throughout the day. You could use an automatic mode but it will still flicker a bit on playback as things like someone in white overalls standing near the camera will force it to underexpose.
Easy enough though, but photos, not video. (Added bonus of much better quality too).
If he doesn't already have a DSLR he will need to buy one which will cost substantially more money, and realistically would you really want to position an expensive DSLR for a whole bathroom installation what with all the muck and dust, when you could purchase a Mobius which records in 1080p, and is little bigger than a box of matches for substantially less.
As for the video quality, don't just take my word for it, take a look at the Mobius review posted on YouTube by TechMoan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wmIyD1fM4M and make sure you select 1080p in the YouTube video quality options (found in the cog settings underneath the video window).
The simplest way surely is to use a device that creates the film in camera, rather than having to compress and import 1500 individual stills into whatever editing software the op is using.
I would say a go pro or similar as has already been suggested is the easiest method.
It will create a file that needs minimal editing, and would be my preferred choice.
I would say a go pro or similar as has already been suggested is the easiest method.
It will create a file that needs minimal editing, and would be my preferred choice.
Super Slo Mo said:
25 fps will look a lot smoother than 5 fps.
When Budfox said '5fps' I thought the meant the shooting speed! Why have jerky when you can have smooth?Yes, you can take still photos and make a normal video out of them. I did a project exactly like that 20 years ago (3 months into 90 seconds) and it paid for my first Jaguar
Mains power / 12V supply
Big memory card.
Contour camera on timelapse mode put on a sucker mount (generally stuck to a window or something flat).
Move it about based on where the work is going on.
I downloaded the card every second day (but we did start and stop it each day)
This is how it turned out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOf98crPL7Y
Big memory card.
Contour camera on timelapse mode put on a sucker mount (generally stuck to a window or something flat).
Move it about based on where the work is going on.
I downloaded the card every second day (but we did start and stop it each day)
This is how it turned out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOf98crPL7Y
Jamster123 said:
I bought a go pro hero 4.... been messing around with it.
Im going to film time-lapse on it at 30 second intervals, will stop it every day day and download... should work ? got neat bracket to hang it on door frame or window..
I would have said 30 secs was too long - especially when you compress the timescale to create your video. Just run it at 5 seconds and you'll have a smoother running footage at the end.Im going to film time-lapse on it at 30 second intervals, will stop it every day day and download... should work ? got neat bracket to hang it on door frame or window..
Will the battery last all day or will you need an external power source - I would have said a power source was essential.
crmcatee said:
I would have said 30 secs was too long - especially when you compress the timescale to create your video. Just run it at 5 seconds and you'll have a smoother running footage at the end.
Will the battery last all day or will you need an external power source - I would have said a power source was essential.
It will give a much smoother video, you're right, but what it won't do is compress 40 hours of work into 1 minute of time lapse, give or take. The estimate of 90 seconds earlier in the thread is about right. 30 seconds between frames will give around 3 minutes of footage at normal playback speeds.Will the battery last all day or will you need an external power source - I would have said a power source was essential.
Going ok so far.... Yes 30 seconds is pretty fast but otherwise my finished product would be 5mins+...
Learned neat trick today.... I bought a usb charger for our dewalt 18v batteries ...... It slips on the top of the standard 18v battery and then I can run a lead from there to the go pro.... A neat solution for anyone looking to do long time lapses..... I had mind most of the day but Id imagine a fully charged 18v lithium, battery used to running drills etc will run a go pro a fairly lengthy time!
Learned neat trick today.... I bought a usb charger for our dewalt 18v batteries ...... It slips on the top of the standard 18v battery and then I can run a lead from there to the go pro.... A neat solution for anyone looking to do long time lapses..... I had mind most of the day but Id imagine a fully charged 18v lithium, battery used to running drills etc will run a go pro a fairly lengthy time!
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