creating time-lapse movies with a canon 7d using either mac or windows | john mason

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March 11, 2011

by John Masonin avi, canon, chdk, FCP, fps, Gadgets, giotto, gorrilapod, imovie, intervalometer, mac,MakeAVI, Photography, quicktime, software, time lapse, timelapse, tripod, Video, windowsComments ( 2 )9,020 views

Creating time-lapse movies with a Canon 7D using either Mac... http://www.johnmason.me/2011/03/11/creating-time-lapse-m...

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Creating time-lapse movies with a Canon 7Dusing either Mac or WindowsTime-lapse is the crazy little world in between the land of the still image and that of video. Usingthe techniques time-lapse photography, you can create some amazingly interesting and creativeeffects with both objects and time, just as you probably did as a child using a flip-book drawing.

Canon 7D set up for time-lapse outside theBank of England

Shooting time-lapse is a relatively straight forward affair. The equipment you need varies


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depending on the duration and or quality of the time-lapse you’re trying to capture. At the basicend of the scale, all you need is a camera. With just a camera, it all about you! All you have to doit take photos in series at a specific interval using the shutter release. Obviously, if you’re doing itmanually the end result may not be the most professional – but it will be a time-lapse non the less.

Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency atwhich film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than that which will beused to play the sequence back.

EquipmentSo, to improve the quality of the time-lapse you’ll need two things (three if you include the time ittakes to capture!). The first is an appropriate tripod based on the camera you’ll be using and thelocation at which you’ll be taking the photos. For the less intrusive camera positions (or morecreative) I always use my trusty Joby Gorillapod. For safe, wide open spaces where people aren’tan issue, I use my Giottos Carbon Fibre Tripod.

The second depends on your camera – the intervalometer. Some cameras come with the featurebuilt in to the software (or if you’re using an iPhone and suitable app), some cameras can behacked to provide the feature and the rest will need an appropriate piece of equipment.

Canon 7D set up for time-lapse at the Tower ofLondon

As a quick side note, the CHDK firmware enhancement for compatible cameras is great. I’ve used


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it with my old Canon A620 to capture lightning during storms and sunsets with great success. But,as it says on the tin, it’s for compatible Canon cameras only. Unfortunately that does not includethe Canon 7D or Canon G series!

So, for shooting time-lapse with the Canon 7D you’ll either need to buy the Canon TC 80N3 or amore reasonable third party model. Both have the same features, it just depends whether you haveto have the Canon badge on it or not!

So, you’ve got your camera positioned and intervalometer set up. Next, what mode to shoot in,what resolution and what interval between shots? As a general rule, I always shoot in AV modewith manual focus at a resolution of 4.5M (2592*1728) which resolves most issues with exposuremetering and card space! The interval depends on a number of factors including the subject matterto be recorded and the desired duration of the resulting time-lapse movie. With regards to thesubject matter you’ll need to vary the shutter speed to capture the effect you want – i.e. longexposures at night to (a) gather enough light and (b) generate suitable motion in the image. Fastshutter speeds tend to result in a choppy time-lapse movie, so it’s good to get a little blur in theimage to soften it down. When considering the duration of the final time-lapse movie, you’ll needto calculate the number of shots you need to take in order to generate the desired film duration atyour chosen FPS (24 or 30 FPS is the norm). So, for a 5 minute 24 FPS movie with shots takenevery second you’ll need to capture 5 * 60 * 24 = 7200 individual frames. If you don’t want tocapture so many frames, then you can mess around with the frame rate as anything from 8 FPS canresult in a pleasing movie.

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Once you’ve worked out the number of images you’ll need, you can then estimate the size of thememory card you need and the likely hood of your batteries running out before you’ve captured allthe images!

SoftwareSo, you’ve captured the images and now it’s time to put them all together! Now, if you’re on aMac things couldn’t be easier – well, quite easy. Firstly, you should resize all you images to yourdesired movie render – i.e. 1080 or 720 – but if you’ve got a fast mac and want incredibly ultrahigh definition movie then leave them as they are. Once you’ve settled on the size, place all thefiles in a folder and make sure they’re sequentially named. Then using Quicktime 7 (notQuicktime X) open the files using the “open image sequence” and select the appropriate framerate. That’s it! Just save your new movie and off you go. Further adjustments can be done using


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the usual programs such as Final Cut Pro/iMovie etc.

If you’re on a PC then there’s a couple of choices that I’ve seen around. Microsoft Movie Makerhas a similar image sequence import but is restricted to 8 FPS. MakeAVI is a freeware app thatwill also resize your images while it generates the AVI file.

Example time-lapse shot at various locations around London

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Tags: camera, film, FPS, london

« iPad updated to iOS 4.3 GM tested with Canon 7DiPad with iOS 4.3 tested with iMovie »

2 Responses to “Creating time-lapse movies with a Canon 7D using either Macor Windows”

ian July 16, 2011 at 11:56 am #

Some good tips in your article.If your going to run out of space on your card you can also use a mac laptop with the camera

1.

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tethered via the usb port.Automator and a few lines of code will run your capture for you!

Cheers IAn

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Quick guide to using the intervalometer (remote control) with a Canon 7D - April 13, 2011

[...] of your time lapse? The answer is to calculate the desired number of shots (see my otherpost on creating a time lapse) and put the camera on external [...]

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creating time-lapse movies with a canon 7d using either mac or windows | john mason

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