[leadfoot]

jpinpg - good idea! But you still have to go through everything to set up the time lapse - I actually had to write all of it down so I didn't forget something. The intervalometer should be accessible via the program dial USER settings on the K-5.

Here's another time lapse sequence, made at the top of the tram on Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix, France, about a week ago. It's 240 shots, 10 seconds apart (=2400 sec, which is 40 minutes), K-5 with DA 15mm ltd, f/8, 1/640 sec, ISO 100. I froze my butt off, since you can't really set this up, go back inside where it's warm and expect to find everything still there 40 minutes later.

Aiguille du Midi movie

And another sequence from the top of the Helbronner tram, which is in Courmayuer, Italy. The summit of Mont Blanc is on the right. And it was cold too! 15mm, f/11, 1/320 sec, 100 ISO. Due to the faster cloud motion, I used 4 sec between shots, so 240 shots x 4 sec = 16 minutes for the whole sequence.

Helbronner movie

[dekao]

just stunning leadfoot, congrats!

[philbaum]

jpinpg - good idea! But you still have to go through everything to set up the time lapse - I actually had to write all of it down so I didn't forget something. The intervalometer should be accessible via the program dial USER settings on the K-5.

Here's another time lapse sequence, made at the top of the tram on Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix, France, about a week ago. It's 240 shots, 10 seconds apart (=2400 sec, which is 40 minutes), K-5 with DA 15mm ltd, f/8, 1/640 sec, ISO 100. I froze my butt off, since you can't really set this up, go back inside where it's warm and expect to find everything still there 40 minutes later.


Aiguille du Midi movie

And another sequence from the top of the Helbronner tram, which is in Courmayuer, Italy. The summit of Mont Blanc is on the right. And it was cold too! 15mm, f/11, 1/320 sec, 100 ISO. Due to the faster cloud motion, I used 4 sec between shots, so 240 shots x 4 sec = 16 minutes for the whole sequence.

Helbronner movie

Great shot sequences, motivates me to do more with it. I agree, shouldn't be hidden away in the menu, along with multiple images.

[danny_falin]

Hola, I have a question about the interval shooting functionality of K-5, when interval shooting session is started and ongoing in manual mode, is there a way to change shutter speed to adjust exposure ?

[Rnovo]

A friend asked me if I could do a time lapse movie of the laying of a floor in a gym of a non-profit association. I soon found out that the K5 is great for this: 999 frames max (resettable), great battery and all other manual stuff. The problem is finding the proper balance between interval value, shutter speed, and playback fps so the sequence looks smooth enough. I tried 15sec., 0.5 sec., 25, 15, 6, and 2 fps in Quicktime 7 pro and the slower setting seems better - see the link below shot with 250 images, 10 sec intervals, 0.5 sec/f8.0, ISO 80, and running at 6fps? It still seems jerky and I will redo it at 5 and 2 sec intervals.
Any comments on this pls? The final shoot is supposed to be starting tomorrow until Wednesday, laying underlay and interlocking flooring...

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89281898/Test%206_6fps_10sec.%20interval.mov

[Skymist]

I watched it and it looks fairly good already. The .5s shutter speed is good but could be longer. I think you just need a lot more shots. Start by deciding how long the view time of your final video should be. 20 seconds might be a good starting point. With a 24fps display speed, you want 480 shots, and if that's an 8 hour day your interval will need to be 1 minute. To accentuate the blur, increase your shutter speed to say 30s. You'll need a dark neutral density filter to permit that. Playback will then look smoother but moving objects will just be streaks of color. The longer your shutter is open, relative to the interval time, the less jumpy things will seem. The ultimate is having the shutter open almost 100%, but you'll have to experiment to get the interval you want then. For optimum settings, see my post here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5/143409-k-5-astrophotography.html#post1497528 With DFS off, you could try shutter 30s and interval 32s, to get a 40 second play time, 960 frame video of an 8 hour timespan with minimum shutter closed time, but proper filter selection will be important.

[jbinpg]

Off topic - I just read the K-30 manual (pdf) last night. It has the ability to take interval shots in movie mode them stitch them all together in camera to make a complete movie. Sounds like this is a feature in the upcoming models.

Jack

[rawr]

Sounds like this is a feature in the upcoming models.

The Q had that feature first, if I remember correctly.

[Rnovo]

Here is the final result which I prefer - at 6fps - as opposed to the standard TV 25 fps which I find too "jerky". The work covers a total period of time of 4hr50min rendered in 2min35sec. I started at 1 min interval after giving in to local "pressure" and soon found out it was too much and changed it to 30 sec...The final exposure is all manual (including AF) f5.6; 1/6; ISO80; WB fluo N. The result is 892 images taken at the lowest K5 resolution of 2M and one star quality which gives 1728X1152px at 300ppi 237KB/image; the whole file at that resolution is 245.40MB. The result is great for viewing on a regular monitor and I love this "dropbox" public folder for sharing a 225MB .mov file with people.
The 25fps quickTime movie is only 35sec but, in the end, I find this a great experience and the managers love it so I'm happy!
One last thing, the painting of the new floor will be done shortly and I will post the end result.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89281898/Day%201%20new%20floor%206%20fps.mov

[leadfoot]

Here is the final result which I prefer - at 6fps - as opposed to the standard TV 25 fps which I find too "jerky". The work covers a total period of time of 4hr50min rendered in 2min35sec. I started at 1 min interval after giving in to local "pressure" and soon found out it was too much and changed it to 30 sec...The final exposure is all manual (including AF) f5.6; 1/6; ISO80; WB fluo N. The result is 892 images taken at the lowest K5 resolution of 2M and one star quality which gives 1728X1152px at 300ppi 237KB/image; the whole file at that resolution is 245.40MB. The result is great for viewing on a regular monitor and I love this "dropbox" public folder for sharing a 225MB .mov file with people.
The 25fps quickTime movie is only 35sec but, in the end, I find this a great experience and the managers love it so I'm happy!
One last thing, the painting of the new floor will be done shortly and I will post the end result.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89281898/Day%201%20new%20floor%206%20fps.mov

Interesting - I never thought to change the output frame rate to be anything other than 24 or 30 fps, but then I've never tried doing something like a floor installation, or quickly moving subjects. Learn something new every day!

One other thing I've discovered making time lapse sequences, is that you want to run your lens all the way open or 1 stop down (use an ND filter if needed). Or use a lens with an aperture ring. This eliminates a source of "flicker" in the resulting movie. I saw a bit in your movie, but much of that was probably due to the outside light changing.

The reason is that the mechanical aperture closing has a very slight variation from shot to shot. Think of a 1 mm error (or whatever) on the aperture lever. If the lens is wide open or 1 stop down, this 1mm error won't change the lens opening very much. However, if the lens is being stopped down to something like f/8, that same 1mm error has a much larger effect. And this shows up as flicker in the resulting movie. I've looked at the actual pixels in the flicker, and it's amazing to see that even a very small variation, on the order of 1%, is very noticeable in the resulting movie.

With an aperture ring, the camera just drives the aperture until it hits a mechanical stop in the lens. You still get a bit of flicker, but it's less than if you use the lens in "A" mode.

You can verify this behavior as well. On a tripod, shoot two pictures in a row, wide open. Then shoot two more stopped way down. If you go into your favorite image program, you'll find that wide open, the images will be (or should be) almost exactly the same. Stopped way down, you probably will see a slight variation. And this shows up as flicker in the resulting movie. It's also almost impossible to fix in post processing.

[Rnovo]

Changing the output frame rate suits me fine depending on the final results. I have had trouble making my mind up in choosing a mix of interval/shutter speed and so forth - in doubt - I'm happy with a different frame rate and QuickTime 7 pro gives you lots of choices. It really boils down to what suits you and the effect you want to give...
As far as the flicker you noticed, I saw that in my video and, as you said, much of it is caused by the setting sun and shading clouds coming from the side windows. In my second video that effect is very pronounced 2/3 of the way and I just left it like that mostly due to the fact that I'm shy about getting into PP over a set of 200 images...! That's the way it looked for real anyway! I agree with your comments on aperture and I would use your recommendations as DOF is sufficient wide open at that distance, but this shoot was done with a DA*16-50 f2.8.
This brings me to mention another problem: on the K5 you don't know where you're at, at any point: frame 345 or 563, or even 856...? Once the sequence is under way the only option is to stop it, make notes, check the time, change settings, and restart - missing a few shots is not a big deal, but still... There is matter for a firmware change there: flexibility during the sequence?
Anyway, I had a blast doing this and I think my settings are, for that job, so far, so good.

[Rnovo]

I forgot to mention an important point when performing time lapse photography: relying on battery power is not an option! Get yourself an AC adapter... This last session was plagued by battery problems. While the Pentax L-D190 is flawless I still managed to forget to top it up overnight and my e-bay gizmo klonked out on me twice. I was able to finish the shoot with the remaining power on the Pentax one. All together an 11 hour process and 1562 images.
So I ordered the K5 AC adapter and another real battery at B&H which offers great prices for us Canadians!

[leadfoot]

What ever story you come up with, there is always room for Otis

Here's another time lapse. Mt Hood on Christmas Eve morning as a storm rolls through. K-r, about 500 shots, 4 sec interval, DA 70 Ltd, f/8 (should have been wide open...), 1/125 sec.



And another one, again with the K-r.



My New Years Resolution is to start putting these into a movie, with music, etc

[RonHendriks1966]

Here's another time lapse. Mt Hood on Christmas Eve morning as a storm rolls through. K-r, about 500 shots, 4 sec interval, DA 70 Ltd, f/8 (should have been wide open...), 1/125 sec.



And another one, again with the K-r.



My New Years Resolution is to start putting these into a movie, with music, etc

Looks good, very smooth movie the first one.

[Dr_who]

I have used it recently in fact, however I asked for a Intervalometer for Christmas as I need more control over it's abilites that the built in one couldn't do. Mainly functionality in bulb mode over 30s. The one I got was Hahnel Giga T Pro II Wireless Remote Review in this review (Pentax was used as it's compatabile with the Canon one). Interesting features include it being wireless, as well as being a remote trigger. Also you can set a timer on the timer. So you can do a burst of 24 frames every 3 seconds, and then pause 30min, and redo burst of 24 frames. Which is really handy for stop motion videos ect. Again I mostly want it for Bulb mode of 4-5 minutes for astrophotography stacking.

For general use however the built in one in the camera is nice and can be useful for group photos, settign it up on a tripod and have it take a few images in succession ect.