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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 :)

Motion!

Tom Lowe

Tom Lowe

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I finally got a chance to try out my new Mumford moco stepper-motor panning head. I shot at my favorite spot at White Tank, Joshua Tree last night and the night before. I only had a few hours of moonlight to work with, so these are really just tests.

Canon 350D, f/4, ISO 800, 10mm, 35s, 6s intevals, with .075 degrees revolution per frame. In other words, 400 frames equals 30 degrees of panning motion.

75MB H.264 MOV

http://www.timescapes.org/motion720.mov

BTW, if anyone is working on any cool projects that could benefit from timelapse work, let me know and I'd love to come out and shoot for you this summer - for free. Only thing I ask is that it's a legit project that will be seen by people - MTV, Discovery Channel, a feature film, major-label music vid, etc. :)
 
Tom, that was fV<king, unbelievably beautiful.

It looked like a shot out of Chronos... but cleaner.

Bravo!

Andrew
 
Careful, Andrew..... don't dare compare my measly work to His Exalted Excellency -- His Holiness Ron Fricke, may His name be remembered for a thousand generations! :)
 
Tom said:
Careful, Andrew..... don't dare compare my measly work to His Exalted Excellency -- His Holiness Ron Fricke, may His name be remembered for a thousand generations! :)
Click to expand...

I knew that would get your attention!:)

Outstanding work though, Tom.

So, how do you like the Mumford head? I had the url bookmarked from your mention of it back in March. Looks like a great portable system. How is it in the field/ ease of use issues?

Thanks again Tom for sharing. I am still up for getting together later this summer when I get my deal in... Dueling timelapses could be very cool! Oh, I now have access to a couple great Canon DSLRs through my friend... so the elements are there. I hope we can work it out.

Cheers,

Andrew
 
Holy shit!!! Wow, absolutely amazing. Freaking cool!
 
Unbelievable, Tom. That looks absolutely amazing. I checked out your demo reel too... I'm just blown away. And totally jealous! I LOVE timelapse. :love:
 
Andrew Benz said:
I knew that would get your attention!:)

Outstanding work though, Tom.

So, how do you like the Mumford head? I had the url bookmarked from your mention of it back in March. Looks like a great portable system. How is it in the field/ ease of use issues?

Thanks again Tom for sharing. I am still up for getting together later this summer when I get my deal in... Dueling timelapses could be very cool! Oh, I now have access to a couple great Canon DSLRs through my friend... so the elements are there. I hope we can work it out.

Cheers,

Andrew
Click to expand...


Yeah, the Mumford system is easy to use. Of course, it takes more time to set up in the field than simply throwing a DSLR onto a static tripod, but the system itself could not be any simpler. My next goal is to add a dolly axis (another rotary stepper) to the rig. One of the guys on this forum, Larry Gebhardt, has built a rig similar to the one I have in mind, so I'm hoping to pick his brain about it.

As far as shooting later this summer, one thing I was thinking about is how we might match the live-action RED footage with the DSLR timelapse at night. The sensor size is roughly the same on a crop-factor Canon DSLR and the RED. Next you would have to match the lenses somewhat. Then, I'm thinking you might need to make some kind of custom base plate for the DSLR so its lens is exactly the same distance and height from the axis of the moco head, so that you can match the comps perfectly in post. In other words, it would stick the DSLR out about 5 inches or whatever to match the length of the RED. Some type of sliding plate so you can measure and adjust it on the fly, perhaps?
 
Hey Tom,

I would wanna use you for something I have in mind for next year, a comp of time lapse and RED footage, but I want the time lapse background to be shot, sacrilege!, daytime. Which means you're probably not interested :-) Good work anyway.
 
Rudi, in that case, just do it all RED - very easy! Shoot both elements on RED and it should be super easy to comp. If you're in Cali and want to use my panning head, just let me know. It will work with RED. I think it holds about 30 lbs.
 
Awesome, Tom!

This is why I want my Mirus.... Help me CVB, you're my only hope. The Mirus should also be killer for comps -- shoot the live action, recording the head motions, then shoot the timelapse later, replaying the head motions scaled to fit the timelapse duration. Shouldn't be too difficult to align a DSLR to match up with a RED on the moco head. Better yet, I'm still hoping that RED will eventually have longer exposure and more intervalometer functions.
 
My mom is going to buy your first Baraka-like DVD Tom. She loves this stuff!

Hell, I'll buy It too. Who am I fooling? haha

:)

PS: Why some exposure variations in the first shot?
 
My cap remains doffed. Great work. I was expecting the sun to rise fully through that sequence but you were pushed for night time eh? Outstanding my friend.

Cheers,
Mark.
 
Mark I wish you had been able to make it out there. It was beautiful weather. I even brought along my extra AC adapter and intervalometer in case you called and were within driving distance. :)
 
Hey Tom

Absolutely stunning stuff. I especially like the timing of the shot of Arch Rock, where it's dark, then the moonlight first hits the rock, then the Milky Way reveals above the Arch...then daylight...beautiful! ...a dance of different light. The pan really makes it work, with the shot moving toward the light.

I imagine the bit of flicker at the head of the first one is from the moonlight hitting the lens before it fully reveals? (Skims along the edge of the rocks?).

You can pick my brain anytime...in fact I am in LA shooting some commercials, one of which we will shoot in OC (Irvine) on the 12th, tech scouting tomorrow...maybe meet for a beer after the scout? I may be driving down with the director though, but if not then, sometime.

I would like to see your Mumford rig, and in particular, can you program different ratios of speeds in for later comping shots with different intrervals?

The advantage of using the Mumford rotary table pulling a dolly (say on a rail rig like mine, as opposed to pulling with my servo motor) would be the repeatability of the move...again for comping shots of different intervals, if speed ratios are easlily programmed.

Anyway, let's talk when you have a chance...I'll PM you for your number again...(I left it in Atlanta).

Larry
 
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