timelapse exposure question

Post by **the woy** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 2:59 pm

How to correctly expose for timelapse shots? Do you use automatic exposure so that the camera adjusts its iris settings to the changing light situation or do you mesure exposure one time (e.g. on greycard) and leave it fixed for the shot. Or does it depend on the time of day, i.e. sunrise - automatic exp. because of heavily changing available light / day shots with some clouds - fixed??? I'm a bit concerned because of the little latitude of K40.

I'm going to use Super8 for timelapse, p.o.v. and speedramp shots in a new upcoming documentary i'm working on. A lot of shots will be during daylight on a big area/park here in Berlin and I don't have money to make extensive tests. I'm using a Nizo6080 and I'd like to get the maximum of usable shots out of my stock.
Thanks, Nicolai

PS.: Haven't found it yet - does the Nizo have a long time exposure setting (for nice night shots with K40)? Any other (cheap) cameras have this feature?

Post by **matt5791** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:12 pm

I recently used a 6080 to film a sunset in timelapse - 1 frame per 5 seconds.

I locked the exposure at (I think) abour f5.6. I will shortly receive back the K40 I used for this.

I also have used a Nizo pro in auto to capture a sun risem and this worked ok.

The Nizo pro also has the facility to hold the shutter fully open and when set to automB the film advances when a satisfactory exposure has been achieved. The 6080 does not have this feature.

When I receive my film back I will report.

Matt
Birmingham UK

Post by **christoph** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:49 pm

the woy wrote:How to correctly expose for timelapse shots?

it depends a bit... usually i'd just take a manual reading, and lock the calculated aperture for the shutterspeed of your camera.
if there are a lot of light changes, you have three options: use automatic exposure (risking "pumping" in brightness), try to manually follow the changes (which needs easy access to the aperture settings) or just to leave it locked anyway.

PS.: Haven't found it yet - does the Nizo have a long time exposure setting (for nice night shots with K40)? Any other (cheap) cameras have this feature?

the nizo 6080 doesnt seem to have that feature... the cheapest ones i know of would prolly be the bauer royal 6e or similar.. i've got one of ebay for under 10 euros.

A lot of shots will be during daylight on a big area/park here in Berlin

which park is that gonna be (just curious about all super8 happening in berlin;)

++ christoph ++

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 4:36 pm

One other issue about time-exposure at night is not to leave the f-stop wide open. I'd try at keep it at an f.2.5-4.0 split for Kodachrome at the very least. Ideally an f 4.0/5.6 split for more sensitive stocks.

Time Exposure during the day is very difficult but can be done if one uses several ND filters. However, the viewfinder becomes very dim as a result.

Also, for daytime time-exposure, your background should be darker than your foreground otherwise your foreground elements disappear into the background. As for the more standard "time-lapse" function, this feature is gaining popularity in the digital world by simply shooting a scene in real time Digital Video and then speeding it up when doing Non Linear Editing. There actually are several advantages to doing it this way.

However, when it comes to Super-8 time-lapse it's important to realize that wide angle shots will move "slower" than medium or telephoto shots if all are the shots are done at the same "lapse" rate.

It's truly an art form to figure out which time lapse rate works for your specific application although in the digital world time-lapse is being reworked as just another tool in the pursuit of a bigger prize.

Post by **the woy** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 5:58 pm

thanks for your replies so far.

do you think i risk heavy pumping when leaving the exposure on auto or will it be smooth when played back at normal speed?

@ christoph : alles auf und um's biotop alexanderplatz. from april 04 with DV35M and S8.

Nicolai

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:30 am

Ah yes, the pumping effect. At night the pumping effect can be really cool. However I recommend covering half of the light sensor (I'm not sure if all time-exposure super-8 cameras have an actual light sensor, the Nizo's may or may not have one). I had some variable light LED's made that allow me to control the actual time the shutter is open. When I shoot without the LED's that cover the light sensor I'll usually cover approximately 1/2 of the light sensor with black electricians tape.

The I believe the Pumping effect works best when the light sensor is halfway to 2/3 covered.

Post by **christoph** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:36 am

the woy wrote:@ christoph : alles auf und um's biotop alexanderplatz. from april 04 with DV35M and S8.

ah, the most ugly place all over berlin ;)

you might wanna try to get into one of the buildings at the cornern otto-braun/karl-marx allee... great view down on the crossing for night time time exposures.

++ christoph ++

Post by **Attej** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:13 pm

Does anyone have some information about reciprocity failure with kodachrome 40?
The only information I've found is for 135 kodachrome still-photography film and for that shutter times longer than 1 second aren't recommended.
I'd like to try some night time-exposures with Nizo s480 (manual time-exposure) + k40 and it's probably essential for correct exposures to take the reciprocity failure into account.

Regards,
Atte JÃƒÂ¤rvinen

Post by **shralp** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:39 pm

I've found that using the auto exposure on my Nizo Professional has worked just fine, (using K-40). If you do have any bright portions in your shot, this may not work though, (such as a rising sun, etc.). I'll manually meter for the portion of the screen that I want to expose for if this is the case.

You should be able to achieve the same results with your Nizo 6080.

If you would like to see any examples of Nizo timelapses using this process, you can go to http://www.fsft.com click on Super 8 and download my movie "Sanctuary". Its got a fair number of K-40 timelapse shots in it.

Good Luck

Post by **Cranium** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:50 pm

I've done about a bazillion timelapses with Minolat XL400s.
Last 4th of July, I got up at about 5am and set the camera up pointing over the beach and ocean.
I set it to auto exposure and left it rolling. I think 1f/min?
The minolta has a fixed shutter speed, so the stuff before sunrise was pretty much black. It made a nice, natural fade in from black as the sun came up. Keep in mind that I live in California, so the sun wasn't in the shot. It was in the evening, but I think the auto exposure worked well there, too. Gave detail to the sunset (and fireworks.) I think it looked great. No noticeable pumping from auto exposure. I think the frames tend to even themselves out at 30fps.
If it's cloudy at all, and you set a fixed aperture, the exposure will pump anyway, as clouds pass.

Post by **christoph** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 8:14 pm

Cranium wrote:Keep in mind that I live in California, so the sun wasn't in the shot.

i had to read this sentence three times over and still have no clue what you wanted to say with that... but it would make for a great slogan ;)

++ christoph ++

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:06 pm

Yeah, Republican Politicians outlawed the sun.

Actually I think Cranium was referring to sunrises. Although I have shot sunrises.

By the way, time-lapse is different than time-exposure.

Post by **christoph** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:21 pm

Cranium wrote:Keep in mind that I live in California, so the sun wasn't in the shot.

Alex wrote:Actually I think Cranium was referring to sunrises.

aah, now i get it... in california the sun doesn't show up during sunrises then *g*

Although I have shot sunrises.

wait, and you life in california? amazing, how did you do it ;)

man, this is so unreal, just the thought of a place (california even, lol) where you can't capture the sun during sunrises.. makes me think of the woody allen sketch with the man who is out of focus all the time

thanks for a few really funny minutes :)
++ christoph ++

Post by **mattias** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:33 pm

Cranium wrote:I got up at about 5am and set the camera up pointing over the beach and ocean.

christoph wrote:man, this is so unreal, just the thought of a place (california even, lol) where you can't capture the sun during sunrises.

when the camera is pointed towards the ocean? i don't find that very strange at all. here on the swedish east coast it's impossible to shoot at sunset towards the sea and get the sun in the shot.

/matt

Post by **christoph** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:10 am

mattias wrote:when the camera is pointed towards the ocean? i don't find that very strange at all. here on the swedish east coast it's impossible to shoot at sunset towards the sea and get the sun in the shot.

uh oh, jeah seems logical now you mention it ;)

guess that's one of those things you never think about when you dont live at a big plod of water.
sigh, another illusion lost to the power of logic, the thought of california without sun was too funny.

++ christoph ++

Filmshooting

timelapse exposure question

timelapse exposure question

Re: timelapse exposure question

Re: timelapse exposure question