Thanks everyone, for taking the time to comment, it's much appreciated. I almost forgot it was an internet forum for a moment - where's the sarcasm and nitpicking?
PassingWind said...
Are you using Twixtor....if so how much does it cost?
Yes, most of the slowing down is done with Twixtor, and also adding a bit of motion blur to the timelapses so they look less jerky. Twixtor Pro adds options for guiding the process and reducing the dragging of backgrounds behind foreground objects, but it's time consuming and I didn't bother on this video.
It costs far too much! A free option that gives fairly similar results (but needs a bit of computer experience and a much more fiddly workflow) is MVTools with AVISynth and VirtualDub
What editing software? Premiere, Vegas, final cut?
I used Vegas Pro 11 for this. I'm not a real fan though, except for the audio features which are great. It's always seemed a bit buggy and unpredictable. If you have a decent graphics card, at least V11 will use it to make editing HD compressed files bearable. Free options include 'Lightworks' and 'Blender' if you can work out how to use them!
How do you get your timelapses to move diagonally are you doing a moving crop or something or is it done live?
Yes, just a moving crop. The frames are taken as fairly high res photos, so it's easy to add a bit of pretend camera movement to add interest. (I would like to try moving the camera for real some day.)
Im looking at the canon 550d but ive heard avchd is a pain to edit? would you recommed them over say a Superzoom camera with 24 xtimes zoom etc cheaper??
That needs a three page answer - I'll try! Briefly, most cameras now record using H264 compression (AVC, AVCHD, MOV, MP4) including Gopros, and all compressed HD files tend to be a pain to edit. SLR's like 550d's have a sensor hugely bigger than handycams and compact cameras, and have the potential to make very cinematic pictures, but are hard work to use, particularly to focus. (Shallow depth of field is an advantage and disadvantage) There are now hybrid cameras with no mirrors that can autofocus while filming and these might be good for surf photography. Many cheaper cameras record HD video, but the lens/sensor/compression combo doesn't resolve the detail, so there's no point. Smaller cameras also interlace the video which complicates effects like Twixtor.
How good is the zoom on the kit lens? only 4x times?
I think the standard one is 55mm-200m, so yes 4x, although I think there's an 18mm-200mm. With a large sensor camera, you have to change lenes to get the zoom range. Kit lenes are generally regarded as a bit fuzzy and too small an aperature to take good stills, but the sharpness is fine for HD video as effectively you are just taking a series of 2megapixel snaps.
Tobes said...
From your past track record I imagine you've made a panning head from lego, fishing line and an old kitchen timer...
Not for the timelapses (not yet anyway - the kitchen timer sounds good). I do use a home made 'over the shoulder camera holder' to help with hand held shots, and the slider shots are done with a little tricycle dolly made with used inline skate wheels...
