I was up all night. We only get about four hours of darkness here so I decided to go for broke. I succeeded in that ambition at least. Next time I’ll pop the camera on Aperture priority and start a bit later. The battery ran out just to add to the joys of life.
I really hope I can master this business but I’ve a long way to go.
Have a great weekend.
I admire your dedication and effort Adrian. That's a super time lapse, maybe you could arrange for more dramatic cloud formations for next time though?
ReplyDeleteWhich battery ran out first yours or the camera?
Have a good (sleepy?) weekend...[;o)
I'm going to have another go tonight if it's still clear. I'll stick to manual and start the dusk 2 1/2 stops over. do the dark at par, then the dawn starting 2 1/2 stops under and keep going till it blows out.
DeleteThe posh folk use a big external power supply and a wee electric blanket to save wiping the lens.
I don't like being a Muppet.
If I crack the job I'll build an wee jobby to draw from the van battery. I just need a knackered Canon battery rip it's innards out and buy a little gizmo to drop the voltage and regulate it to 7.5v. I think that's what the camera likes. Canon do one but it's £200.00p bloody ridiculous. I bet Maplin do a little bit of kit to sort aout the voltage and current for a tenner. Harrison Cameras will find me a duff battery. There is a little rubber seal already built into the camera to allow a wire to poke into the battery box.
I got dual battery packs / grips for the 50D and 70D. Both 3rd party items and work perfectly. Canon, like many big names charge silly prices. Sort out the voltage needed for under £4 from Amazon
ReplyDeleteJohn, yes third party batteries are fine. I used the 1ds for this which already comes with a dual battery. Inside it will give over six hours without live view. It was 4 degrees here last night and it died after four hours. I like doing these videos but I guess practise will improve things. It did manage 2600 sRAW images of which about 500 were 30s exposures. and the rest under a second. Interval was between 3s and 1s. I would like half a second or write to card time for the stars.
DeleteMuch of the problem is my impatience.
Well, I for one am mightily impressed. I'd no idea you had so little darkness up there. Here, we have more than enough.
ReplyDeleteFrances, I was downhearted but this is a skilled job. Juggling all the variables. I watch Spring Watch, they use this a lot as do Countryfile. I try and work out what they have done. A bad workman...I know....but they are using over a hundred thousand pounds worth of equipment x two. I did have a go on a RED camera....too many buttons.
DeleteSpring Watch I love but I get distracted by Michaela.
I want to be in Durness for just after the solstice. On a clear day you can see a sunset sweep the northern horizon.
You'll be pleased to know I spent last night reading Dead Earnest in between buggering up a shoot the camera could have managed on it's own. I succumbed I wish I was half the photographer that you are the writer.
PS. Frances it is headlamps on all day on a dull cloudy day in winter.
DeleteVayaaaaa es precioso Adrian. Me gusta ver como se ven las estrellas, está muy bien hecho. Le has puesto una buena música.
ReplyDeleteNos vamos unos días a Madrid a ver a nuestro "niño" chico ;)
Buen fin de semana.
Un abrazo
Laura me olvidé de usar tu en mi último comentario. Yo no escribo español muy bueno. Que tengas un buen viaje a Madrid.
DeleteAdriaan class
ReplyDeleteThanks Bas.
DeleteWhat's good for investment bankers is good enough for us mere mortals go offshore and visit the 7dayshop.com on Guernsey for cheap as chip batteries. About 3 years ago I brought some replica 1d mk2 batteries for £10 good service good batteries too
ReplyDeleteDouglas, I don't buy Canon batteries. What I'm after is an external power supply.
DeleteI found the movie genuinely fascinating.
ReplyDeleteWhat does "breat" mean? Is it Scottish Gaelic for copulate?
YP, I will try and master the exposure malarkey.
DeleteI used a coloquial version of copulate when I noticed I'd missed the 'H' off. I'd already converted the text layer so could pop the F'ing 'H' in.
A lot of hard work has gone into this clip, i like when the stars come out.
ReplyDeletepeter
Peter, about twelve hours. I ought to edit, save and keep coming back to them but I'd fouled up the exposures so just got on with it.
DeleteI'm impressed. You are indeed dedicated and it looks good to me.
ReplyDeleteHilary not good but at least you can tell what it is.
DeleteThe stars moving across the sky were really cool. You had a lot of cloud go by in a day.
ReplyDeleteRed, A pity I couldn't have made it last longer but the battery died.
DeleteIf you look closely from about 1s you can see Venus setting.
I'm impressed! Sometimes my nights seem that quick, too. I don't know anything about it but I reckon you're getting pretty good at this stuff.
ReplyDeletePauline, it seemed a long night. I had the camera just outside the van, so I could see it's little red light. I must have nodded off because I never noticed the battery needed changing.
DeleteBrilliant Adrian.
ReplyDeleteOne day I'll do one that is perfect.
DeleteBeautiful transitions and the stars are really nice too.
ReplyDeleteMaria, I don't think I'm halfway there yet.
DeleteFor an impatient person you seem to have a great deal of the quality. Do you stop down and up gradually in ½ stops or were the bursts of light change due to larger step?
ReplyDeleteGraham. it was and is difficult. I went one stop the camera is in full manual mode for Canon they don't have a wee ring on the lenses for aperture. What I will try and do is set off two stops over and run until the bright stars and planets come out. The interval for this is between 2s and 5s depending how fast I think the clouds are going. When it gets dark, it's only for an two or three hours I will use a 1s interval and a 30s exposure to get a bit of a trail. When it starts to gets light I will start again and go two stops under and run at 2s/5s interval until I get blow out. It is a challenge. I should have cut the exposure cuckoos. Mersad is trying this as well so I thought a bad one with the reason why may help other folk. It does require a lot of guessing. I love these. I am on the look out for a 30mm manual lens. I'll get an adapter turned up. The slight flicker is caused by Canon resetting aperture. No canon lenses have an aperture ring. I have some leaf shutter manual lenses but the widest is 90mm. Neither use nor ornament on a 35mm for this job. I hated editing video. This has grabbed my imagination. It doesn't half soak memory and RAM. I've had to clean up the lap top twice since I started.
ReplyDeleteAssuming that noise isn't a problem would it be easier to alter the exposure?
DeleteGraham, yes it would but I'm trying to equate two disparate objectives. I want the stars to blurr but that means having fewer frames. It makes the video of the stars very short, I could use ISO up to at least 1000 and take a dark frame at the end to virtually eliminate noise. I usually take on anyway just in case as it gets rid of hot pixels. I didn't with this as the battery was flat and I only have one battery for the 1Ds. They are a fortune. I'll look for some 3rd party ones.
DeleteReally amazing. I am still out shooting various pieces for my next timelapse.
ReplyDeleteMersad
Mersad Donko Photography
Before I forget, at what intervals did you shoot the stars?
ReplyDeleteMersad, 1s interval. Exposure was 30s. The smaller the interval the better as long as you don't make it shorter than write to card speed. Make sure noise reduction is off. If you get noise then just take a dark frame at the end by putting the lens cap on. A big problem with stars is the condensation on the lens. I check every half hour. You will almost certainly get a hot pixel or two I pan about in the Raw converter looking for little red dots and clone them out. they will be in the same place on every image. When you go select all> synchronise check the little box that is near crop, It is down at the bottom. If you dont the spot removal tool doesn't work on all of the images.
DeleteShame about your battery, the scourge of modern gadgets. Always worth trying to push things to the limit
ReplyDeleteJay, I now have a spare so next time I can go on till I fill a memory card, 64GB's worth.
Delete