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Glenn Thomas

Morning & Night

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This was some timelapse footage I shot on my little Ricoh Caplio R7 camera in Melbourne a few months back. The camera now belongs to my wife, and I miss it :( Replaced it with a Canon SX200 IS. Now the SX200 shoots some nice looking 720P video which I'll be using for some videos soon, but the photos just don't look as nice as those from Ricoh cameras. The Ricoh's have much better macro performance and a proper timelapse option built in. So my next pocket camera will definitely be either a Ricoh CX1 or CX2. Then I can shoot more movies like this again.

Comments

Willem Van den Broeck

October 28, 2009 08:41 AM

Nice one Glenn.

Maybe this link can give you the timelapse you're looking for in the Canon :
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/SX200IS

Glenn Thomas

October 28, 2009 09:21 AM

Thanks Willem.

Wow, I never knew about CHDK before. Thanks for posting that link. Do you use it yourself? I might give it a try. I'm impressed that it has an increased exposure time of up to 65 seconds. That would would be great for long exposure night shots.

Willem Van den Broeck

October 28, 2009 09:24 AM

I plan to use it in my mum's IXUS 75 :) , but i don't have a card reader yet to install the CHDK on a SDHC card. I would especially like to use the CHDK for timelapses. Fall has arrived here, and the light is often very special, as is the beautiful foliage. I could easily let the IXUS take pictures all day, and have a timelapse of a full day. Just need to get a card reader soon :)

Glenn Thomas

October 28, 2009 10:40 AM

Nice one. Yeah, I just installed it. It seems to be a bit difficult to figure out. I'll keep at it though! There's all these menus with so many parameters to adjust. I tried increasing the exposure time, but it didn't seem to work. The timelapse part must be a script? I think it's the default script? I have no idea how that works. There's a setting to increase the image quality to super fine which I set. There's also an option to increase the video quality. The default appears to be 80, so I set that to the maximum 99. Still, I'm not sure if settings actually make a difference.

I bought 2x card readers off ebay for 10c each! Even with the shipping price they were still less than $1. Straight from Hong Kong and arrived in a few days. There's usually a lot on there really cheap.

Shiv Kumar

October 28, 2009 10:45 AM

Glenn,

When you say timelapse are you saying a bunch of photos put together to make a movie (I don't know the camera in question)?

Glenn Thomas

October 28, 2009 11:08 AM

Hi Shiv,

Yes, the camera takes a photo at set intervals. For the shots of the Ferris wheel and the bridge with the red tower I set it to take a photo every 5 seconds. The other walking shots were shot in continuous mode. Basically me walking around holding my finger down on the shutter button. Roughly 2fps in continuous mode I think.

You probably haven't heard of the Ricoh cameras because they're not sold in the US. Their GRD model which has a fixed 28mm (35mm equivalent) lens has quite a following. I used to have one, but the lens broke. The other models are quite good, and they all have the time interval (timelapse) function built in, which I don't think any other portable still cameras have as a standard feature.

Have a look at their latest CX2 model here - http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/cx/cx2/ Go through all 5 features and you'll see how versatile these cameras are! The multi-pattern white balance feature alone is impressive, and there's even a 120fps option, but at VGA resolution. A lot of professional photographers use them too, like this guy - http://nickbland.zenfolio.com/p799406849

Shiv Kumar

October 28, 2009 11:17 AM

Interesting. Thanks for the info and links!

So with your camera you could shoot a time-lapse of say a sunset (using a tripod) because you have a built-in intervalometer? What are the dimensions (in pixels) of the photos you get? And how many photos can you fit on the card you have. I guess, what I'm saying is how come I haven't seen any timlapse videos from you using your R7? :)

Glenn Thomas

October 28, 2009 11:28 AM

The R7 is an 8 megapixel camera. Although when shooting timelapses I would set it to 3mp most of the time, which I think is around 2048x1536. That's a bit more than HD.

Actually, you'll see R7 timelapses in a few of my videos. The opening shots of - http://exposureroom.com/tycotic-capturedrap A few shots in the video I did for this guy - http://exposureroom.com/jay2p-id where I panned across the timelapse and this one was all shot on the R7 in continuous mode - http://exposureroom.com/4year. Plus this video which was shot using the VGA video mode of the camera and is a good example of how good the macro focusing is - http://exposureroom.com/avene-4webspinners I upsized it to HD :)

Shiv Kumar

October 28, 2009 11:48 AM

Glenn,

Ok, so I seem to have missed some of your videos :). Of course it wasn't clear that the time lapses were done using a different camera.

I've just done my first time lapse using my Canon 5D Mark II and an intervalometer. Turned out quite impressive (I think), and so the interest in photo timelapses.

Glenn Thomas

October 28, 2009 12:05 PM

Oh yeah, that's what I don't like about the Canon SLR cameras. You have to buy the intervalometer separately. I remember Don bought one a few years back. It cost him almost twice as much as a little Ricoh camera with all those functions built in :)

Shiv Kumar

October 28, 2009 12:12 PM

Yes, I bought the Canon one. I think the way Canon and professionals see it is that the camera body is "disposable". Lenses and other accessories are re-usable across camera bodies, so why pay for some things (built in)?

Yea, it was Don who first introduced me to the concept of time lapse using a still camera.

Willem Van den Broeck

October 28, 2009 12:17 PM

Glenn,

I think the CHDK for your device is still in beta. I would assume not all the functions are properly integrated, since the SX200IS is a recent camera. But it is my impression that for the Powershot/Ixus range of cameras, CHDK development is rather fast.

I wish there were a CHDK for the 500D to shoot 24p at the nearly 50Mbps codec like the 5DmkII (or 7D) also uses. It would bring filmmaking a lot closer to my budget. (It would probably kill Canon's sales of the 7D, too)

Shiv Kumar

October 28, 2009 12:42 PM

Willem what is the bit rate the 500D records at? I don't quite understand the issue as regards "filmmaking". Besides, 30p footage can easily be converted to 24p. Granted, one more step in post but heck, if it's a spoke in your filmmaking wheel :)

Glenn Thomas

October 28, 2009 12:54 PM

Shiv, yes, he likes his timelapses. And especially with that 10-22mm lens they bought. And you're right, an intervalometer may outlive the camera itself. I never thought of that.

The 500D shoots at 20fps as far as I remember. You could probably speed up the footage to 24p, but then it may look like something from the 1920's!

Willem, yes, it's a beta version. All the functions appear to be there. I'm just not sure how they all work exactly.

Willem Van den Broeck

October 28, 2009 01:38 PM

Shiv,

The problem is -like Glenn says- that the 500d shoots only up to 20fps. Unlike 30fps that is a real issue, cause there's very apparent jello and an overall fluid look, compared to 24fps. It's good to see why 24fps must have been chosen as the standard frame rate for film. So unfortunately the 20fps renders the 500d useless at full hd res. (720p on the 500d can indeed shoot at higher rates)
The bit rate is the same as on the 5DmkII, and i assume also the 7D, namely between 40 and 50Mbps, i don't remember exactly. High enough to shoot good images, until RED comes with affordable motion RAW.

Charles Frisby

October 28, 2009 01:40 PM

My wife keeps stealing my cameras too. First it was my HV40 and then my Canon Rebel 450D. Now that I have a 7D.... I'm hiding my XHA1! ;)

In all seriousness, great time laps. Especially shaky street walking with the cuts. The Ferris Wheel and boat shot looks reel worthy.

Those small cam's have decent senors if you know how to trick them to do what you want. I guess even prosumer cameras are guilty of that.

Great work.
frisby

Glenn Thomas

October 28, 2009 03:08 PM

Thanks Charles,

Yes, it's hard not get get decent quality footage when using still photos for video, even when they are more abstract looking like the shakey street walking part.

My wife's already done a few videos with this little camera, but hasn't got around to uploading them yet. I think in the last I saw her working on she'd shot a few continuous parts holding down the shutter, plus some video on the camera at VGA resolution. But cut together you don't really notice the VGA footage appearing that different from the HD timelapse/continuous shots.