So what do you do when it's cloudy???

[White Rabbit]

I started getting into timelapse a while back, but recently because the weather has been really bad here in Syd I've gotten back into it.

I get just as much of a kick out of it as I do with the astro stuff and I'm finding that I dont mind the clouds so much now because they make a really interesting subject for time lapse.

Check this out.

http://www.vimeo.com/7426811

Sandy

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Sandy, that's something I'd really like to get into as well - that's a great video, the boats look like they're dancing .
I did a test run a few weeks ago of a cloudy sky from my backyard and would also like to get into Milky Way time lapse (once the skies clear).
To answer your question - trying to process my holiday snaps

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

I look at all the great stuff that you all put up on this great site.

[Ric]

Cool

[troypiggo (Troy)]

Very nice. You're right, the clouds do add interest. Like the boats swaying with the current too.

[Nesti (Mark)]

Originally Posted by lacad01

like to get into Milky Way time lapse

Say what????

Excuse my ignorance, but is that possible to see any change in your lifetime?

[TrevorW]

Nice Sandy

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Originally Posted by Nesti

Say what????

Excuse my ignorance, but is that possible to see any change in your lifetime?

not sure if you're saying that tongue in cheek
See here: http://www.vimeo.com/6276709
Perhaps my bad choice of words or sentence composition...

[White Rabbit]

Thanks guys.

If your thinking about getting into it you should, it's alot of fun.

Adam, same goes for time laps as it does for astro stuff if your shooting stars. Make sure there is no moon. I've yet to get anything I'm happy with with regards to stars. It's really hard to get the exposure length right and not have your image come out choppy.

Sandy

[PCH (Paul)]

Sandy,

that's a terrific time lapse sequence. Do you kow what the 'shooting star' type things are that zip across the sky at about 6 and 7 seconds?

And just for those of us that have no clue about this, can you tell us in a layman's sentence or two, just how you go about filming such a sequence!

Cheers

[kustard (Simon)]

Niiiiice

If the skies are grey I'm usually gaming on my PC...

[White Rabbit]

Thanks guys.

PHC, those are planes that you see zipping across. where I was standing there were planes going right over head whilst I was shooting it, they were quite low. It would have looked pretty sweet if I’d got them in the shot, but once I'd started I didn’t want to move.

Ok, so how it's done is like this.

I have a DSLR and an remote for it that will allow me to trigger the camera. I set the camera to manual, set the focus, then set the remote to take a 4 sec exposure every 6 seconds. Then sit back and wait, and wait, and wait and then I wait some more. This shot would have taken an hour to shoot.
The reason I take a 4 sec exposure ever 6 seconds is because at night you want to capture the movement of things like plane and cars. And the reason I set to take a image every 6 seconds is so that the camera can clear the buffer in time to take the next image. If I was to take a 4 sec exposure every 4 seconds my camera would spit the dummy and miss frames. That would make the sequence jumpy.

Once you have your images; you need between 500 to 800 for a decent timelapse sequence, you’ll need some software to create a movie. This one was 60 frames per second, thats 60 pictures every second. Although it feels more like 30 to by I’m new to this as well so....

You can calculate how long your sequence is going to be because you want to have at least 25/30 fps there for if you want a 30 second clip you need 30*30 fames.

That’s all there is to it. The hard part is finding something thats interesting and to honest this is first one that I’ve had turn out well so it a trial an error type of thing.

Thanks for watching.

Sandy

[PCH (Paul)]

Sandy,

thanks ever so much for the rundown on how to do it. I'm sure others will have enjoyed the explanation as well as myself.

Cheers

[Ian Robinson]

If it's a cloudy night in summer , and the tides are right on a cloudy night , go fishing for jew.

Any other season , if it's too cold to go fishing at night , watch some TV , or downloads , or VCR , or a DVD.

Or if I am in the mood and feel energetic , go square dancing , guaranteed to warm me up.

All else fails, there's always .... get frisky.

[asimov (John)]

I take pics of clouds.

[seanliddelow (Sean)]

Astrobooks, astrobooks and more astrobooks

[Jen]

On cloudy nights i like to annoy everyone on IIS
And chat to my astro buddies in chat

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Jen

On cloudy nights i like to annoy everyone on IIS
And chat to my astro buddies in chat

Naughty girl.

Actually , tonight there were some good movies on .... 2 of them on One, and I'm watching the 3rd one on NBN (it's an oldie but a goody , don't remember ever seeing it before, Dr Frankenstein transforms into Sister Hyde and then back again apparently .... that's a different twist on that old favorate .... ay !!!

Missed Torchwood tonight .... ABC (1 and 2) picture and sound was breaking up again , still only get this problem with ABC, every other digital channel is perfect .... I'm giving up on ABC for now until they fix the their transmitter at Mt Sugerloaf , I'll either use iView to view what I miss or torrent the shows I want too see.

A couple of good movies tomorrow night too ....

Must be rating season again.

[Nightskystargaz (Thomas)]

Sandy,

You are suppose to read all of your astronomy books, and plan your next outting under the stars.

,

Tom