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Cirrus Cloud Time Lapse

Steaphany

Well-Known Member
First, my thanks goes to Uwe allowing me to post the link to my vimeo video.

Ever since I was a child, I loved the look and magic achieved with time lapse photography. So, along with all the other toys that I accumulated to go along with my SD14, a priority was an intervalometer. I found the TM-Series Multi-Function Timer Remote Control manufactured by JJC through ebay which claimed to be compatible with the SD14. I had to open it up and see why it "didn't work" and found they soldered the Shutter lead to the Camera Common. The circuit board had the Focus lead correctly soldered to the AF terminal and there was nothing tied to the SH terminal. Moving the Shutter lead fixed the problem and now my intervalometer properly controls both the auto focus and shutter, functioning like the Sigma CR-21 cable release, while also providing complete control for automated interval shooting.

My first opportunity to shoot a time lapse was on April 5th. A cold front just came through and the sky was filled with a procession of cirrus clouds. Starting at roughly 11:00 AM, I located my tripod mounted SD14 on the East side of my house so that it would be sheltered from the strong winds. I used my Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 EX DC Macro lens set to 18mm. I added my Sigma C-PL polarizing DG filter and adjusted it to bring out the darkest sky. The exposure was set to Manual, 1/320th Shutter, f8, ISO 100, Sunlight white balance. I manually focused the image and this is a sample:

View attachment 1375

Since I intended to compile the images into a time lapse video, I set the SD14 to shoot Norm quality JPG with a Low, 1296x864, resolution, the very first time I ever used these settings. This also has the advantage of a small file size with under a one second write time. I then set my JJC TM-Series intervalometer to trigger the shutter every 5 seconds and and then I baby sat everything for 128 minutes as my SD14 accumulated 1540 images.

In post processing, I opened the first frame in Paint Shop Pro and used it to create a series of title "Key Frames" each saved as 1296x864 JPGs. In Animation Shop, I opened the key frames and inserted transitions to to blend between the key frames with fades. The frames were then saved off as sets of 1296x864 JPGs. I then used IrfanView's batch processor to copy the five title frame sets, totaling 300 images, along with the 1540 SD14 images into a single series of files numbered consecutively, a requirement of the next step. All 1840 JPGs where then loaded into VirtualDub as an image sequence where I then set the Compression to XviD, Frame rate to 25 frames per second, and I added a filter to resize the final video to 648x432. The AVI file produced by Virtual Dub was just over 2MB in size. Here is the result:

My Cirrus Cloud Time Lapse

Vimeo reduces the image size further and, on my computer viewed through FireFox, the flow of the video has slight random pauses. When I view the time lapse with Winamp locally on my computer in the original 648x432 resolution, the animation is smooth.

I was a bit disappointed by the results of all this work. Through out the shoot, I would occasionally check through the SD14's viewfinder to see how the image was being framed, but I did not realize the wind was blowing my hair in front of the lens. :z04_menno: Next time I'll know better and I'm really looking forward to shooting time lapses of the storms which will soon be coming.
 

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Did you use a shutter release...???

On Ebay

I was looking at getting one of these...when I get my equatorial setup done...just not enough time in the day...

I like what you did...what type of tripod did you use...??

Tony C.
 
Tony,

That is the exact intervalometer that I got, possibly the same seller.

I am not sure if the wiring problem mine experienced was an individual flaw or a problem in how they wire them up for the SD14. It is an easy fix and the only tools needed are a small Phillips screw driver and a soldering iron. I have my notes and can easily provide a full set of instructions if needed.

The tripod used was a Velbon DF50 which I purchased years ago which can support up to 12 lbs. Due to the winds, I did not extend the leg length and kept everything low to the ground.

Since the SD14 was only 25 inches from the ground, I also used my SEAGULL 1x-2x right angle viewfinder which explains how my hair blew in front of the lens when I did not realize it.

I used my Voigtländer Vitoret RM6.0 to shoot some snaps of my set up:

View attachment 1376

View attachment 1377
 

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Nice,

Why did you have to open-up the timer...?? Was there an issue with it or did you modify it for your use...??

Thanks for the info...

Tony C.
 
As I mentioned earlier, as received, the JJC intervalometer did not work.

I opened up my Sigma CR-21 and compared it's wiring to the JJC. The PCB is the terminals labeled and I saw they have the shutter release wire connected to the shutter/auto focus common. The Sh terminal had nothing on it. I moved the one wire ate all was fine.
 
Cool...I would like the info you have saved just in case...I ordered one...to kick myself into gear and get my equatorial working....

email: tcoglia@aol.com

Thanks again..

Tony C.
 
Steaphany,

Cool video!! Thank you for taking the time to make / post this. There is a lot to making this. I enjoyed it.

Do you have any other types of time lapse that you enjoy doing? I like doing flowers opening. I will need to obtain an intervalometer if I am going to make them with my Foveon sensor camera. :)

I look forward to seeing more if you are able to find the time :)

good luck with your pictures,

Robert
 
Robert,

Right now I like cloud and weather time lapse plus I've seen astrophoto time lapse where the Milky Way can be seen as it moves across the sky. I will be shooting more but I'm dependent on the weather or time of the year to have something impressive to shoot. As for shooting time lapse of plants and flowers, that requires the plants be grown indoors with a controlled environment, something that I would need to set up.

Here is a web site which features astro time lapse which you may find interesting and inspire you to try your hand at it:

Astro video

I have seen that many people who use vimeo post time lapse videos, at last count there was well over 10,000 tagged as "Time Lapse"

-=-=-

To Tony,

I'll post the intervalometer fix to a new threat on the Accessories page. I'm sure the info will be valuable to any other people here interested in buying one.
 
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