My Morning Commute (Version 2 added)

[MarkBarbieri]

I decided to start playing with Time Lapse photography again. I did a prior experiment (read about it here) using a DSLR and a remote timer switch. This time I used a point and shoot and some hacked firmware.

There is a program/firmware called CHDK. It is sort of a temporary extension to the firmware for Canon P&S cameras. It loads off of your memory card and then goes away when you restart your camera. It adds lots of interesting features, including scripting capability. The script I used allows you to set it to take an unlimited number of pictures at a regular interval. I chose to use a 1 second interval.

In the video, each frame is a different picture. The pictures were taken 1 second apart. The video is at 30 frames per second. That means that what you are watching is sped up to 30x speed. After reviewing the video, I think that speed works well when driving down reasonably straight roads, but it is way to fast for areas with turns like my neighborhood and my company's parking garage.

The camera, a Canon G9, actually has a bit in time lapse video mode. The problem is that it only shoots 640x480 and I don't think you can adjust the frame rate. Using CHDK, I can shoot at resolutions above HD and pick just about any frame rate that I want.

The video I posted is just a quick 720x480 rendering to get a feel for things. The actual frames are 5mp, so I could generate an HD version easily. I shot this pretty early in the morning, so it is pretty dark. I think it would work much better with more light.

Incidentally, the pause in the middle of the video is from me stopping to get gas.

You can see the video here. I'd love to hear feedback and suggestions.
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/Experiments/MC/13219576_TEgcv#959836689_YneuG

 

[VVFF]

I now know that MarkBarbieri is officially NOT a tailgater. Good work!

 

[RBennett]

I jumped ahead and watched the video before reading all of your post, and it turns out that you already mentioned my only critique. I think the whole thing is REALLY creative and neat to watch, especially considering each frame is an individual picture, but in the turns it does seem a little fast. Overall, I really enjoy your projects because you seem to do some really innovative things that most of us wouldn't think of to do or at least wouldn't have the patience to figure out the details. (At least I wouldn't.)

 

[WDWFigment]

Very cool--if I were to offer any suggestions, it'd be to slow it down a little (fewer FPS).

Somewhat related note: I shot images for a time lapse on our honeymoon, but I haven't figured out how to adequately assemble it. I tried CS3 but had an error, and the maximum FPS on Picasa is 1 FPS, and I want 2 FPS. Any suggestions for free software?

 

[Steve's Girl]

Ya'll drive really fast down there!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I now know that MarkBarbieri is officially NOT a tailgater. Good work!

It's hard to get a good perspective on how close I am because I'm shooting at a wide angle. In reality, I'm very much NOT a tailgater. I hate riding with people that are. One of the cool features of my car is that you can tell the cruise control to get no closer than two seconds from the car ahead of it. So now I can keep a safe following distance with the car doing a lot of the work.

It also has a really cool auto braking system. It activated for the first time yesterday. I was driving alongside a lane of stopped traffic when one of the people in that lane suddenly decided he wanted to be in my lane. I immediately slammed on the brakes, but the car beat me to it. It went to full ABS activated slam and jerked my seatbelt uncomfortably tight. I'm pretty sure I would have managed on my own, but it was nice to know that the car was paying attention just in case I hadn't been.

I jumped ahead and watched the video before reading all of your post, and it turns out that you already mentioned my only critique. I think the whole thing is REALLY creative and neat to watch, especially considering each frame is an individual picture, but in the turns it does seem a little fast. Overall, I really enjoy your projects because you seem to do some really innovative things that most of us wouldn't think of to do or at least wouldn't have the patience to figure out the details. (At least I wouldn't.)

I just added a new version here. It's slower. The camera's max speed appears to be about 24 shots per minute at the resolution I used. I put that into a 24fps timeline with each shot taking 2 frames. So the result should be 30 seconds of real time per 1 second of video time. It's still too fast for turns, but it is better.

Very cool--if I were to offer any suggestions, it'd be to slow it down a little (fewer FPS).

Somewhat related note: I shot images for a time lapse on our honeymoon, but I haven't figured out how to adequately assemble it. I tried CS3 but had an error, and the maximum FPS on Picasa is 1 FPS, and I want 2 FPS. Any suggestions for free software?

I don't have any suggestions on software. I'm using Premiere Pro, which is a bit more expensive than free. With it, I tell it how many frames I want for each image when I import them. Then I just dump the set on the timeline. You might be able to use some slideshow software. Just set the time per slide to something like 0.1 seconds and no transitions.

 

[Todd_H]

Very cool, Mark. I've been wanting to try out time lapse photography. Been thinking about picking up one of the Promote Controls, mainly for more automated bracketing options, but it can also be used for time lapse. The thought of a firmware hack scares the crap out of me.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Very cool, Mark. I've been wanting to try out time lapse photography. Been thinking about picking up one of the Promote Controls, mainly for more automated bracketing options, but it can also be used for time lapse. The thought of a firmware hack scares the crap out of me.

The firmware hack is the mildest of firmware hacks that I've seen. It doesn't replace the camera's firmware. It's more of a software hack. The camera loads it and runs it but doesn't store it. That's not to say that it has zero risk, but it is much less risky than something like Magic Lantern which replaces your firmware.

Just to make sure that no one thinks I'm panning Magic Lantern - I've never heard of a single problem with people using it. I'm just saying that there is a significant difference between something like CHDK that goes away when your camera is turned off vs a firmware hack that replaces your firmware.


The Promote Control is pretty cool looking, but I'll give you a major word of caution if you plan to use it with a DSLR for time lapse. Unless you can do some trick with Live View or something that doesn't cause a shutter click with each frame, you are going to add a LOT of clicks to your shutter in a hurry. I took about 1600 shots with my p&s yesterday and today doing some fairly short time lapse shots. I think we took about 10,000 doing the pergola shoot. Many shutters are only good for 50,000 to 100,000 shots. So my advice for anyone planning to do a lot of time lapse work is to consider a shutterless camera like a p&s.

 

[pgowder]

Very cool--if I were to offer any suggestions, it'd be to slow it down a little (fewer FPS).

Somewhat related note: I shot images for a time lapse on our honeymoon, but I haven't figured out how to adequately assemble it. I tried CS3 but had an error, and the maximum FPS on Picasa is 1 FPS, and I want 2 FPS. Any suggestions for free software?

Lightroom has a plugin now for it.

http://lightroom-news.com/2009/10/28/direct-timelapse-video-export-from-lightroom/

I've played with a little and seems to work great!

Some WDW timelapse shots are on my list for December, but looks like you are going to beat me to it!

Can't wait to see it.

 

[Todd_H]

The Promote Control is pretty cool looking, but I'll give you a major word of caution if you plan to use it with a DSLR for time lapse. Unless you can do some trick with Live View or something that doesn't cause a shutter click with each frame, you are going to add a LOT of clicks to your shutter in a hurry. I took about 1600 shots with my p&s yesterday and today doing some fairly short time lapse shots. I think we took about 10,000 doing the pergola shoot. Many shutters are only good for 50,000 to 100,000 shots. So my advice for anyone planning to do a lot of time lapse work is to consider a shutterless camera like a p&s.

I hadn't thought of that. That's a really good point.

 

[mabas9395]

Looks like your next project should be cleaning out the garage.