2012/10/30

Time lapse #2

This one had a couple of adjustments.
  1. To get maximum depth of focus: set the aperture to be as small as possible (f/22) and let the shutter speed be automatically determined. By the last few frames, the exposure time is up to 3-4 secs. 
  2. To compensate for the lack of trains: added a hurricane!

2012/10/29

Time lapse

Here's a little experiment I did this weekend. My first ever time-lapse video:

It consists of:
  • one photo every 5 minutes, 
  • 101 images which become
  • a movie of 10 frames per second, 
  • for a speedup of 3000 x real life.  
Setup: 
  1. Plug camera into laptop via USB. 
  2. To remotely control camera: a program called EOS Utility which comes included with most Canon DSLRs. I'd never even looked at those discs that came with the camera, which is more than 3 years old.  Good thing I never threw them away! 
  3. To make the HD movie out of the JPEG images: Movie Maker tool in Picasa.
IMG_4427I'd assumed it was all going to be much more complicated but as soon as I started looking into it, it became obvious that everything I needed was already right here at my fingertips.  This reminds me of a previous little weekend project -- 100% wireless...   There ought to be a word for this, when things turn out delightfully easier than expected. The opposite of a bug. Let's call it a butterfly.