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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Announcing my debut film, "Southwest Light"

Tell me, is it necessary to lock-up the mirror when doing time-lapse? I did a T/L test of that sunset but the footage is shakey, mostly due to the high winds buffeting my flimsy tripod but I was wondering if the mirror shutter was causing some shake.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
Tell me, is it necessary to lock-up the mirror when doing time-lapse? I did a T/L test of that sunset but the footage is shakey, mostly due to the high winds buffeting my flimsy tripod but I was wondering if the mirror shutter was causing some shake.
Click to expand...

The accumulation of mirror vibration wind etc ... you know the drill.
Every exposure I make is made on a tripod. And I lock my mirror up every time, it makes a considerable difference. Mirror shake is a little less problematic on long exposures (in the seconds) since any vibration is only a small fragment of the whole. Problems can occur (approx.) at the 1/4 - 1/120 and up, depending on focal length, and the tripod, and, obviously, the duration of the mirror vibration.
 
Well on the Canon cameras, I always shoot in Live View mode, which automatically locks the mirror up permanently throughout the timelapse sequence. It seems to save a lot of battery power, not to mention trauma to the camera by preventing repeated mirror slap.

David, now that you are into timelapse, you need to get some beefy sticks and have some little weights (like Boa Bags) to keep the tripod and camera rock solid.
 
I've been shooting my timelapse in live view for a while now, back when I got the 40D and then onto the 5D2. As Tom said its just a little easier on the camera to shoot timelapse that way. Would be better if they got rid of the mechanical shutter all together and that's what I'm looking forward to in Epic. Night timelapse on Epic should be awesome, of course on the 6K FF35 Epic is will be much better.

Its also better to shoot timelapse using live view because checking focus is way easier and you are seeing exactly what the sensor is seeing. Also using the zoom function in live view helps a lot to make sure focus is tack sharp.
 
On the Canon 550D, how do you keep Live View from switching off after a few seconds? Took me awhile to find the menu setting that locked-up the mirror, only to discover that as a consequence, I have to hit the trigger twice in order to take a picture, and all it seems to do is actually just put a delay between the mirror flipping up and the photo being taken. So the mirror can't be permanently locked-up.
 
David, the mirror locks up automatically in Live View (as you are viewing the scene on your LCD). You needn't fool around in the menu for mirror lock. Just turn that off. Once you are viewing the scene through your LCD, just go ahead and begin your timelapse sequence using your intervalometer, and the mirror will stay locked up for hours, while your shutter fires away. You will notice that the camera is much quieter, because there is no mirror slap.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
On the Canon 550D, how do you keep Live View from switching off after a few seconds? Took me awhile to find the menu setting that locked-up the mirror, only to discover that as a consequence, I have to hit the trigger twice in order to take a picture, and all it seems to do is actually just put a delay between the mirror flipping up and the photo being taken. So the mirror can't be permanently locked-up.
Click to expand...

Not exactly sure how the 550D works in regards to the mirror lock up or the Live View but there might be a sleep function that is turned on. Which is it? The T2i or the T1i. You should be able to leave it in Live View for some time.
 
David,

if you can't get 5Dmk2 (needs anyway all Canon L FF35 lenses) you could get 7D (even with PL or PV mount) and solve all those DSLR shutter problems.

"The sensor format is good for 1:1.78. The actual sensor size is 22.3 x 12.53mm,

which is comparable to motion picture Super 35 – 3 Perforation ANSI 1.78 format (23.11 x 12.98mm).

The 7D active senor size is very close to the standard 3 Perf film format."

F&D Times>>>

pl7d-getsolid.png

PL retrofits for Canon EOS 7D HDSLR cameras appear to be the most sophisticated yet...

fgv-pl7d-angenieux.png

FGV PL7D with Angénieux Zoom

fgv-pl7d-up-mb.png

FGV PL7D with Ultra Primes

fgv-pl7d-mp.png

FGV PL7D with Master Primes

FGV Schmidle


PL retrofits for Canon EOS 7D HDSLR cameras appear to be the most sophisticated yet...

Also I could be totally wrong about all I'm saying here...

Be aware of that too...
 
David Mullen ASC said:
I've just been playing with the 550D and have noticed that even in Live View, the mirror flips down and up at the moment you snap a photo.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't! But then again, I haven't tried a 550D.
 
w00vw1.jpg


I took another crack at Manzanar last night. It came out pretty dazzling, but I can be obsessive about imagery, so I will probably try this shot at least twice more this year, hoping for something very special to happen with the light, the weather, the sky, etc. :beer:
 
Nice viewing of the milky way! Looks like the sky was on fire out there.
 
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