Sun Time Lapse

[Samuel Haskell]

I am trying to shoot a time lapse on the epic of the sun rising and going across the sky until about noon.

What filters should I get/ what do I need to protect my camera/sensor.

Also, what frame rate should I shoot at to get the smoothest image, what RC should I shoot at?

Thank you

[Christopher Barrett]

This time of year that scene will take about 5 hours (in Chicago, where I am). How long do you want the clip to last? Let's use 5 seconds as an example...

5(seconds) * 24 (fps playback) = 120 frames
5 (hours of scene) = 300 minutes
300 / 120 = 2.5 ... shoot a frame every 2 and a half minutes. You could also just shoot more and adjust the clip speed later to your liking.

Plug in your own sun duration and you should be good.

Filters? ND for sure. HDRx to boot for DR.

My Too Sense...

[Pawel Achtel]

25 seconds at 24 fps is 600 frames; shot over 5 hours gives you one frame every 30 seconds. So, you will need about 12 - 14 stop ND when shooting at ISO 320, depending on your f stop and shutter.

[Liam Hall]

25 seconds at 24 fps is 600 frames; shot over 5 hours gives you one frame every 30 seconds. So, you will need about 12 - 14 stop ND when shooting at ISO 320, depending on your f stop and shutter.

That won't work. If he's shooting from dawn to noon, he's in a wide shot. 14 stops of ND will end in extreme underexposure of everything except the glowing orb. HDR is his only hope. Do an exposure test the day before at noon - depending on the weather, that should be the brightest part of the day.

[Radim Schreiber]

I believe the biggest issue you will have is change in exposure from day to night, more than 8 stops. How do you control exposure so you achieve smooth transition? You may choose to let the sunset go very dark, but that may not be very pleasing to the eye.

[Christopher Barrett]

This is why I always use my 5d2 for Timelapse... Set it up with aperture priority auto exposure and leave it alone while I'm shooting motion elsewhere with my Reds.

[Pawel Achtel]

That won't work. If he's shooting from dawn to noon, he's in a wide shot. 14 stops of ND will end in extreme underexposure of everything except the glowing orb. HDR is his only hope. Do an exposure test the day before at noon - depending on the weather, that should be the brightest part of the day.

Why not? I routinely shoot 2s shutter with 10 stop ND at f/8. If you shoot 15-30s shutter, your ND would need to be around 14. Example:

http://vimeo.com/29347608

[Pawel Achtel]

If you normally shoot 24fps with a 4 stop ND, when you slow down to 1 frame every 30 seconds, your exposure goes up by about 1000 times, which is about 10 stops. Thus, 10+4=14 stops ND.

[Christopher Barrett]

If you normally shoot 24fps with a 4 stop ND, when you slow down to 1 frame every 30 seconds, your exposure goes up by about 1000 times, which is about 10 stops. Thus, 10+4=14 stops ND.

Not sure what you mean by that.... there's no reason you couldn't shoot at 1/48th (for example) regardless of the interval. Your shutter speed does not have to be relative to your FPS.

[Pawel Achtel]

Not sure what you mean by that.... there's no reason you couldn't shoot at 1/48th (for example) regardless of the interval. Your shutter speed does not have to be relative to your FPS.

Sure, if you don't mind jerky footage and lack of motion blur.