Time-Lapse Time Table

It's no secret that we like shooting time-lapse footage.  It's a great way to compress time and show things that you couldn't ordinarily see with the naked eye.  Shooting time-lapse however can be an excruciating experience.  You need to anticipate what your scene will look over the course of several hours, then you need to dial in your manual settings before shooting your sequence.  If your shutter speed, aperture, white balance, or interval length are off slightly you probably won't get another chance to shoot the sequence that day.

In order to help us plan our time-lapse sequences we put together a quick table which helps us determine how many frames to shoot, the interval duration between shots and how long we need to plan on shooting to get enough frames to make a video clip.

There are two charts, one with a 5 sec final video clip length and one with a 10 sec final clip length.  Both charts make the assumption that your final video clip will run at 24 frames per second.

Your Shoot Interval will be a creative decision.  For fast moving scenes like people walking or clouds moving you should shoot with a faster interval like 2-5 seconds.  For slow moving scenes like weather patterns or plants growing you should shoot a slower interval.

To use the charts, first decide what your shoot interval will be.  Then set your intervelometer to shoot the Total Frames with the Shoot Interval and be prepared to wait the amount of time Shoot Length shows.

It's not rocket science but this chart does help avoid doing the math so you can concentrate on your settings.  Hope this helps!  You can download a .PDF of this here.

Final FPS	Final Length	Total Frames	Shoot Interval	Shoot Length
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:00:02	0:04:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:00:03	0:06:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:00:05	0:10:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:00:10	0:20:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:00:15	0:30:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:00:30	1:00:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:01:00	2:00:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:02:00	4:00:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:03:00	6:00:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:04:00	8:00:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:05:00	10:00:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:10:00	20:00:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:20:00	40:00:00
24 fps	5 seconds	120	0:30:00	60:00:00

Final FPS	Final Length	Total Frames	Shoot Interval	Shoot Length
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:00:02	0:08:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:00:03	0:12:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:00:05	0:20:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:00:10	0:40:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:00:15	1:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:00:30	2:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:01:00	4:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:02:00	8:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:03:00	12:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:04:00	16:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:05:00	20:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:10:00	40:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:20:00	80:00:00
24 fps	10 seconds	240	0:30:00	120:00:00

Tether To An iPad Wirelessly

As with most photographers in the Bay Area we take a particular interest in new technology that promises to make life easier for us.  There have definitely been a few game changers lately - iPhone and iPad being two of them. But one product in particular, not only stands up to it's promise, it actually blew us away!

The Eye-Fi memory card is a standard looking Secure Digital memory card in a 4GB or 8GB configuration.  You stick it in your digital camera and it works the same as you would expect any SD card to work - storing files and all. The genius of the technology however is the Wi-Fi radio built into the card itself!  What this allows you to do is leverage an existing Wi-Fi network to wirelessly stream the photos from your camera to a desktop, laptop or yes... an iPad.

We ordered an Eye-Fi Connect X2 4GB card recently and wanted to see how useful it would be to shoot images to our iPad in a real-world, professional environment.  Would it be as cool as Lee Morris showed us in his FStoppers YouTube video? Would we be able to use it in the studio as a new proofing tool?  Let's find out!

The good news is the Eye-Fi card definitely performed as advertised and provided us with some nice "cool factor" points. The bad news is that it won't replace tethering to your workstation for professional studio shooting.

We purchased the basic Connect X2 card which gave us 4GB storage capacity and 802.11n wireless transfer speeds.  If you spend a little more you get other nice options like Geo Tagging and Direct Mode capability.  Eye-Fi recently announced that the Direct Mode feature will be available to ALL X2 cards with a firmware update sometime soon.  That'll be nice because what that will allow us to do is create a small 'virtual' network just between the card and the iPad instead of having to rely on an existing Wi-Fi network.

So how did it work?  Well before you can use the card you have to sign up for an Eye-Fi account and configure the card to work with an existing Wi-Fi network.  Apparently the network configurations are stored on the card so the cards have to be configured with the desktop software first.  The configuration was quick and simple enough however it must be done every time you change networks.  This could be a real pain if you plan on using public Wi-Fi networks.  Our recommendation on this is to bring your own wireless network.  We used an Apple Airport Express for this purpose.  You don't need an internet connection, just an active Wi-Fi network.

The partner in crime to this wireless solution is the ShutterSnitch app for iPad.  Neither Eye-Fi or Apple make an application for listening to the Eye-Fi card so that's where 2ndNature software filled the gap with their ShutterSnitch app for iPad and iPhone. It's a $15.99 purchase from the iTunes App Store but it's in version 2.0.2 now so apparently there's enough of a user base that 2ndNature keeps the app updated.  The app is simple in design and does what you expect.  You can create Collections and within the Collection you can view images, thumbnails and zoom in/out on images.  It even adds a few interesting features like alerts if your images don't match customized criteria like shutter speed or ISO.  Kinda neat!

Now here's the rub - It's slow!  We tried various configurations and found that if we shot anything other than Small JPG's it was painfully slow to transfer the images.  The transfers were consistent however and if the transfer lagged for any reason it was good about keeping in sync with what was shot.  Initially we were nervous that that ShutterSnitch was missing images but sure enough, every image shot was transferred eventually.  We used the card in the Canon 1d Mark III which contains a CF slot and SD slot and allows us to save different image sizes to each slot.  We were able to shoot RAW images to the CF slot and Small JPG's to the SD slot which would be transferred to the iPad.  It took 4-6 seconds on average to transfer an image wirelessly.

So is it useful?  That depends on what you need.  It's fun for Art Directors to sit back in a comfy chair and review images at their leisure instead of hovering over your shoulder or the shoulder of your digital tech.  It's useful for lighting assistants or stylists to be able to review their work in almost real-time.  It's great for "chimping" while you setup because a 9" LCD is always better than a 3" LCD. Where this technology really shined for us was while shooting time-lapse images of San Francisco. When it was 40 degrees outside, we could monitor the camera from inside our warm car.

Ultimately this is just another tool in our toolbox and will come out when the tool is right for the job. I think what this technology does best is provide another window into the digital workflow.  It adds a new collaborative tool to the process where, during a shoot, the photographer and other creatives can gather around the screen and discuss in real-time how the shoot is progressing.  For us, anything that helps the creative process in this way is a great thing!

UPDATE: April 20, 2011

The guys at Eye-Fi have made their Connect X2 cards even BETTER!  They've added the "direct mode" feature available to all users of the X2 card via a firmware update.  This now gives us the ability to send photos from the camera to the iPad without an existing WiFi network.  Yes that's right, the card itself can now act as it's own wireless access point.  If there are no "remembered" WiFi networks in range the card will start it's own wireless network which the iPad can connect to and recieve images.  The new firmware update even extends the wireless range and improves the reliability.  

DIY Battery Packs

When powering strobe lights on location, a reliable power source can be a huge issue. One option is to bring your own power solution but that either means a loud generator or heavy battery packs. Paul Buff, Inc. makes a portable power solution based on a seal lead acid battery they call Vagabond II, and just recently introduced a lithium version called Vagabond Mini. Profoto also makes a portable battery solution for their D1, ComPact and Acute2 flash equipment they call the BatPac. All of these solutions are reliable and extremely useful on location but they can be pricey!

Luckily there are some do-it-yourself options which will save you quite a bit of money. I do have one disclaimer: I am not an electronic specialist. I took an electronics class in high school and can do some basic soldering but that's about it. What follows is my personal experience and not a professional recommendation. My goal was to build three batteries, one for each one of my strobe heads. That way I could attach one pack to one head and have the freedom to move my lights around without tripping on extension cords. Here's how I built three individual battery packs for less than the cost of one Profoto BatPac.

STEP 1: FIND THE RIGHT POWER INVERTER

The key to getting this system to powering your lights correctly is finding the right power inverter. There are a lot of cheap power inverters that will convert volts to watts but they don't output that power correctly. What you need is called a "Pure Sine Wave Inverter" and the best inverter I found for this project is made by a company called Samlex. The model I found to work best is the PST-300-12A. That's a 300W Pure Sine Wave Inverter that converts 12V of DC current to 120V of AC current.  $140 at Amazon.

STEP 2: FIND A SEALED LEAD ACID BATTERY

These are pretty easy to find at electronic stores or automotive stores. This particular battery is used for boats, scooters or battery backup systems. I found a lot of 5 from an eBay seller for a steal (although I paid a lot for shipping as these batteries are heavy!) because I knew I wanted to build a few of these packs. The SLA batteries I purchase were Rhino 12V 18Ah. These are $38.99 on Amazon right now. The important thing to keep in mind when buying the battery is getting the voltage and amperage correct. It should be at least a 12V and 18Ah.



STEP 3: FIND A CONTAINER

At this point the only other item you would need is something to house and carry the battery components. I went through MANY different iterations, including small tool cases and assorted bags until I finally found the perfect carrying case for my battery packs. I bought three SLR Zoom cases from Case Logic for $23 each on sale. These cases held my power inverter and SLA battery in a vertical configuration exactly like I wanted with no room to spare.  The vertical position is important because it allows me to unzip the bag and plug my lights right into the power inverter which is pointed up.

STEP 4: FIT AND FINISH

I was really trying to avoid the DIY look for my power packs so I went the extra distance and purchased 3 socket power couplers (Like the cigarette or power adapter in your car) so that I could recharge my batteries easily. Then I bought a standard SLA battery charger and soldered a power socket to the business end so that I could easily plug the sockets together to charge each battery. This may be an important detail - be sure to buy a proper Sealed Lead Acid battery charger. SLA batteries can be finicky in how they hold/charge/discharge and you don't want to ruin your new batteries so be sure to buy a proper charger for them.

STEP 5: ASSEMBLY

At this point, once you have all the components you need, it's an easy task to wire everything together. Use some heavy gauge wire and get creative with the electronic connectors you might find at Fry's or Radio Shack. I used standard 1/4 inch studs to secure the wires to the batteries. Keep positive to positive and negative to negative (but if I have to tell you that than you probably shouldn't attempt this project!) and shove everything into the case.  In the photo you can see my battery pack from the top down.  The lid is zipped open, the battery is on it's side and the power inverter is standing up on end.  You can also see the charge socket which is wired to the battery for easy recharging.  To use the pack I simply unzip the lid and plug in.  To recharge the unit I plug one end of my charger into the wall and the other end into the charge socket.

Location Equipment Kits

We often get asked about the kind of gear we shoot or the equipment we use on location so in response we thought we'd give you a sneak peak into our "black boxes".


THE DSLR KIT
Our DSLR kit is the most used kit in the group and the first one to get pulled out for a job. We're definitely a Canon shop. Our digital kit contains a full-frame 1d Mark I body for landscape and wide-angle shots and the 10fps 1d Mark III body for sports and timelapse shoots. If all things are equal, the quality of your image will come down to your choice of lens so our kit includes the Canon 70-200mm f4 L, the Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L, the incredible Canon 85mm f1.2 L and a Tamron Aspherical 17-35 f2.8 to round out the bunch. The rest of the kit includes a set of neutral density filters, Sekonic L-758dr light meter, spare batteries for both bodies, a set of 2-way radios for the crew, an intervalometer for shooting time-lapse, battery charger for the 1d Mark III, various trigger cables and my photographer credentials. This all comfortably fits into the Pelican 1510 watertight case.

THE MEDIUM FORMAT KIT 

As good as digital technology is these days, we still love to shoot film! When a job calls for medium format resolution we turn to film and our medium format kit which includes a Mamiya RZ67 Professional with a 150mm f3.5 portrait lens and 220 film back for studio work.  For location work where we need a more hand-holdable solution we use our Mamiya 645 Pro TL with winder grip, 80mm f2.8 and a 150mm f3.5 lenses. If you're curious how film fits into our digital workflow we bring our rolls to a local vendor for quick turnaround then scan the films through our Canon Canoscan 8800F film scanner. Our last camera in this kit is the Canon G10 with various lens attachments which we use for location scouting or anything that require a really small digital camera with manual control. This all fits into the Pelican 1500 watertight case.

THE LIGHTING KIT

When it came to lighting we made an investment in Paul Buff's Alien Bee lighting system. We found their feature/price ratio to be unbeatable and their customer support to be top notch! The contents of our lighting kit include 3 AB800 monolights with the standard 6" reflectors, an ABR800 Ring Light, a Canon 430EX Speedlight with a set of Gary Fong Lightsphere diffusers along with some various grip gear. We completed our Paul Buff system by selling our Pocket Wizards and buying the CyberSync wireless triggers and the CyberCommander control unit which we love! The CyberCommander allows me to control up to 16 individual lights right from my camera. For good measure we also threw our Bogen 3021 pro tripod into the frame as well. All of this gear fits nicely into the Pelican 1620 watertight trunk.

THE LIGHTSTANDS & MODIFIERS - The last bit of luggage we bring on locations contains all the other grip and light modifiers we might need. This kit consists of 6 air cushioned light stands with assorted clamps and grip, two Dynaphos silver umbrellas, one white Dynaphos shoot-through umbrella, two small Dynaphos softboxes, one Dynaphos 6-foot strip lightbox and a large Dynaphos octobank. Our favorite light modifiers (which aren't pictured) are the 5-in-1 reflector disc by Dynaphos and two Paul Buff 22" High-Output Beauty Dishes.


So there you have it! That's a little bit of what it takes, in terms of equipment, to produce quality photographs on location.