Time lapse - tips?

[andyroo]

Hi I'm new to the forum,

I was inspired by some time lapse shots on youtube so I decided to try my own, my camera is only a 400D but it is better than nothing, I had my first try last night, battery in camera only lasted around 3.5 hours. Just wondering if anyone can view my video and give me some tips on how to improve it. Was not sure about the focus, it was about as good as I could get it though with my crappy lens.

I think I need more light..

Settings, crappy canon lens at 18mm, ISO 1600, whitebalance 5000K, F stop 3.5, shutter 30 sec exposure every 30 seconds (so continuous). Used 'DSLR remote pro' a free program very very good, can set all camera settings from latop, as well as start and end time for timelapse.
Stitched together in a free program called "videomach" but its only a trial hence the watermark, I'm still not sure which program I will use in future, but videomach is very good. You have to watch in full screen, it looks way darker on youtube than on my pc for some reason..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXw76KqDXzI

I'm going to try and make my own power adapter for the camera today, it does not have dc power plug so I will try and hack something together!

Thanks for looking and any tips on how I can improve/comments welcome.

Andy

[andyroo]

Well looks like I won't be doing any more time lapse, or any other kind of photography with my DSLR. SO STUPID. :mad2: I STUPIDLY used a 9v adapter thinking "oh well an extra 1.5v shouldn't hurt" and in most electrical devices you'd be right in assuming that. Except an expensive digital camera.

It's dead.

I'm 99% sure it's just a fuse thats blown and done it's job, but I don't have a multimeter atm or even a screwdriver that could fit the body screws. Even if I did pull it apart and manage to find the offending fuse I don't have a replacement, so I'd just have to bridge it, which is what I might do.

Although I'm gutted and so angry at myself, its not all bad, I really like the video features on newer DSLR so thinking I might just get a 550D, or Nikon 3100, I really love the Nikon brand, but I've already got canon lens so it's a much cheaper alternative to just get the canon body..

I might just put the canon on ebay maybe rather than try and fix it.

Expensive (and infuriating) lesson learned.

[Logieberra]

Sorry to hear that :(

If you get back online, check out Barry Armstead's site - he's a keen time lapser: http://www.asignobservatory.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=118


Cheers.

[Liz]

:sadeyes: Thats a shame Andrew.
I liked your time lapse though, have never tried it myself. :thumbsup:

[andyroo]

Oh wow thanks, it looks much better in fullscreen too. The plan was, and still will be, to make a compilation vid of a few nights of time lapse. I'll def post it up once it's done (who knows when now lol).

[East17]

Andy...I thought that was a good result from what can be a tough photographic challenge....well done. Gaz.