HDSLR Timelapse [v0.1] * Updated 2014-01-18 *

Started by Matheus, January 15, 2014, 01:32:36 AM

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Matheus

Hey guys from ML community!
Just felt like sharing my small "weekend project" with you guys... :)

In a nutshell, I've made a pretty simple program in C# to act as a intervalometer and bulb shooting program. Until now, the only difference is that it's capable also of ramping the exposure time (I think it's almost like ML does it too, but I looked for something I could do on stock firmware) and you can change the settings on-the-fly, in case you feel like you need to.

It's in a very raw form right now and it's a way too buggy for production use, but should improve over time (I also plan to share the binaries when it's in a good working state).

Here's a not-so-amazing video that I made this afternoon by using it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matpratta/11955727684/ - Starting at the last 14 seconds (after a bright flash frame) you should be able to see it's exposure ramping working, ramping a exposure from 1/2s to 4s and then 7s during about 30 minutes (on a 10 second interval)...

Here's a screenshot of it working (and during the exposure ramp):



These two progress bars indicate the current exposure progress and the time until next exposure. The program also enforces a minimum 2 second interval between each exposure end/start to prevent errors.

Edit: The "MLU" button is just for when you have mirror lockup enabled on camera, so the program will activate it before each shot (this seems also to enable shooting bulb with faster speeds, like 1/60 and below).

What do you guys think? :D

** EDIT (2014-01-18):
After some work on it, I've managed to get it to a stable point and decided to release a version for people who want to test it. Currently, I've only tested it on Canon EOS 70D, but should work fine on all other Canon EOS cameras supported by Canon's EDSDK.

Here's the download link (v0.1): https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B89CpY3irum7aU1yTVlqM3QzQnc/edit?pli=1 * Requires .NET 2.0

Instructions:

The process should be very simple, just plug your camera on the USB port and open the program. Also, set your camera to the Bulb exposure mode (B).
When inside the program, you will have three main areas: Exposure, Intervalometer and Bulb Ramping.

Exposure
- "Single (in-camera settings)" will take a photo with the current settings (in case you are not in bulb).
- "Timed Bulb" will take a photo with the interval chosen on the "Bulb Seconds" field. I found out that while using bulb, you will need to enable Mirror Lockup if you want to have exposure times below around 1/30.
- "MLU" is only needed if you have Mirror Lockup enabled on-camera, so it can flip the mirror up before starting an exposure.
- "Review" will show you a full-size copy if the image after it has been taken.

Intervalometer
- "Method" is where you can select if you are using bulb mode (Timed Bulb) or any of other modes (Camera Settings).
- "Interval" is pretty obvious, the interval between each photo. Currently the lower limit is the bulb exposure time plus two seconds.

Bulb Ramping
- "Start" is where you set when you want the exposures to start ramping
- "End" is where you set when you want the exposures to start ramping
- "Smth" is where you can select some sort of "smoothing" of the exposure ramp, where 0 is linear and 100 is an S-curve.
- "End(t)" is where you can set how many seconds you want the exposure to be at end of ramping. It can be both more or less than the initial exposure time.

Note: you can change most settings after you started the intervalometer. Just remember that while bulb ramping, the "Bulb Settings" field under Exposure will change before every new shot.

Debug:

The debug panel is mostly intended for testing, and should not have many interesting things for users. There you have options like the about screen, reset camera, properties checker and also access to a small filesystem tab, where you can view the files inside the camera (and open them, by double-clicking). Again, this panel is intended just for testing.
Cams: Canon 70D (70D.111B)
Lens: EF-S18-135mm f3.5-5.6STM, Sigma UC 70-210mm f4-5.6, Helios 44M4-MC 58mm f2
Audio: Zoom H4n + Rode Videomic Pro

mageye

I appreciate that you share your program with us all. It looks interesting and I love everything to do with time-lapse (apart from the time it takes >:().

The link you put up there is a FLCKR link to a photo that doesn't seem to display :-\. I haven't looked through all the photos there but I like the lightning one :).

I am assuming that you meant to link us to a video that (at least) I would like to see!

So where's the video? :o ;) :D
5DMKII | 500D | KOMPUTERBAY 32GB Professional 1000x |Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II | Samyang 35mm f/1.4 ED AS UMC | Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III | Zoom H2 (4CH. audio recorder) | Mac OS X 10.9.2 | Photoshop CC | After Effects CC | Final Cut Pro 7

Matheus

Quote from: mageye on January 15, 2014, 02:49:31 AM
I appreciate that you share your program with us all. It looks interesting and I love everything to do with time-lapse (apart from the time it takes >:().

The link you put up there is a FLCKR link to a photo that doesn't seem to display :-\. I haven't looked through all the photos there but I like the lightning one :).

I am assuming that you meant to link us to a video that (at least) I would like to see!

So where's the video? :o ;) :D

Well, the link IS actually to the video itself (and it displayed fine here)... Have you tried refreshing the page or opening through my user's photos page? :)

But well, I'm working on refining it (and taking off the bugs from it), before I release some sort of application.. :)
Cams: Canon 70D (70D.111B)
Lens: EF-S18-135mm f3.5-5.6STM, Sigma UC 70-210mm f4-5.6, Helios 44M4-MC 58mm f2
Audio: Zoom H4n + Rode Videomic Pro

Matheus

*** UPDATE

Just added a download link along with instructions of how to use it.
It's pretty stable and should work perfectly, just don't forget to set into bulb exposure mode if you intend to use bulb ramping! :)
Cams: Canon 70D (70D.111B)
Lens: EF-S18-135mm f3.5-5.6STM, Sigma UC 70-210mm f4-5.6, Helios 44M4-MC 58mm f2
Audio: Zoom H4n + Rode Videomic Pro

mageye

The video still doesn't play in Google Chrome on Mavericks 10.9.1 >:(. I am thinking that it will probably need a Flash or Shockwave plugin update or something because I did manage to get it to play in Safari ;D (although that's not really my browser of choice).

I like where it's going - the time lapse thing. It's a little hard to take it in, because I feel, the sequence is a little too short. This is what I mean about the time it takes! >:(

The bit with the thunder is good ;). I assume you had it set up somewhere close to home? I can see that it would work well if you had it set up as a more 'composed' shot ;). Also it's a shame that thunderstorms don't last longer! ;D Can't really change mother nature I suppose! :D

Anyway keep at it :). I apologise for my criticism :-\. Maybe I should upload more of my stuff and I am pretty sure I would get plenty of criticism :-\. There is plenty that is not right about what I do! ;D
5DMKII | 500D | KOMPUTERBAY 32GB Professional 1000x |Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II | Samyang 35mm f/1.4 ED AS UMC | Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III | Zoom H2 (4CH. audio recorder) | Mac OS X 10.9.2 | Photoshop CC | After Effects CC | Final Cut Pro 7

Matheus

Quote from: mageye on January 19, 2014, 01:48:40 AM
The video still doesn't play in Google Chrome on Mavericks 10.9.1 >:(. I am thinking that it will probably need a Flash or Shockwave plugin update or something because I did manage to get it to play in Safari ;D (although that's not really my browser of choice).
Pretty weird, since I thought Chrome even had Flash pre-installed, but well, I've put it on YouTube, just for ease for those who can't really watch it on Flickr: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnLWucqMPcY

Quote from: mageye on January 19, 2014, 01:48:40 AM
I like where it's going - the time lapse thing. It's a little hard to take it in, because I feel, the sequence is a little too short. This is what I mean about the time it takes! >:(

The bit with the thunder is good ;). I assume you had it set up somewhere close to home? I can see that it would work well if you had it set up as a more 'composed' shot ;). Also it's a shame that thunderstorms don't last longer! ;D Can't really change mother nature I suppose! :D
I have to agree on this, I'm still trying to get the hang of timelapse stuff. At first, my idea was just to let it run so I could test the program for the first time, not to make something really long (thinking better, I should have made a longer transition to night though).

The timelapse itself was made from my garage, if I really knew the size of the storm I'd gone to a better place, without houses and stuff...

Now, I can't change mother nature ;)

Quote from: mageye on January 19, 2014, 01:48:40 AM
Anyway keep at it :). I apologise for my criticism :-\. Maybe I should upload more of my stuff and I am pretty sure I would get plenty of criticism :-\. There is plenty that is not right about what I do! ;D
To be honest, I really enjoy getting *real* feedback on my works... Most of time people I show them will just say "cool" or something like that, but won't really point like "oh, this could have been a little longer" or something like that, maybe people think we are perfect people that never fail? :P
Cams: Canon 70D (70D.111B)
Lens: EF-S18-135mm f3.5-5.6STM, Sigma UC 70-210mm f4-5.6, Helios 44M4-MC 58mm f2
Audio: Zoom H4n + Rode Videomic Pro