Timelapse & Tripod Heads

[Haydn1971]

Just seen a great time lapse using motion and it got me thinking about doing time lapse pans - I've seen sliders used before, but is there a "easy" way using a specialist tripod head that can be moved very slowly with some form of cog mechanism to turn the camera view accurately by a fraction of a degree or do photographers just "fudge it" ?

[Sean Setters]

This isn't the solution you're asking for - but it'll do the same thing (except through post-processing):

http://www.panolapse360.com/

Basically, the concept goes like this - you use a wide-angle (or ultra wide-angle) lens for your time lapse. Using the software, you can pan around the image during playback. This is possible because the resolution of your still images is much larger than an HD video.

Every year a friend of mine hosts an outdoor tennis league using his clay court. It's the most beautiful place I've ever played tennis. I created this video as a unique way of saying "thanks."

[Haydn1971]

Genius ! Exactly what I'm looking for ;-)

Thank you

[Sean Setters]

You're welcome!

One thing I've learned, though - be sure to do distortion correction on your images before you throw them into panolapse. While you won't notice distortion in a lot of still images, the distortion will stand out as you pan across a timelapse of images. And on that note, be certain to use the exact same settings for all the images when removing distortion.

[conropl]

I have a GoPro that I use for time laps and underwater photography. Something I have been meaning to try out for panning motion when doing a time laps is to mount the camera on an old kitchen timmer (a.k.a. egg timmer - the old mechanical ones). Basically, lay the timer down on its back, mount the camera to the dial, set (rotate) the timer to say 30 minutes, and start taking pictures as the timer rotates (use it for a rotating stage). I have not tried it yet, but plan to... so take this as an unprooven but low cost idea.

Pat

[Poik]

For time lapse stuff I think the best way is as mentioned above, to do it all in post processing and take advantage of the resolution of the sensor, since it doesn't require any extra equipment. You just need to make sure everything fits in the frame of the UWA lens. Time lapse videos that are taken on a sliding rail have a different effect and can't really be replicated with post processing since the point of view actually changes.

I'm working on an apparatus to match the rotation of the Earth so I can take longer exposures of the stars and it could do this too, but it's a lot more work than post processing!

[Sean Setters]

Here's what I've used to do panning timelapses:

http://www.panolapse360.com/

I just uploaded a sample to YouTube:

[Haydn1971]

Sean, what time interval did you use on that one ?

[Allen Leuken]

Timelapse is really a great technique where time appears to be moving faster and lapsing pronouncing events that would normally appear subtle to the human eye.
I am having Camtree 3ft time lapse slider, my slider really works great. It is perfect in both quality as well as price.. It really adds value in my videos... They also have 8 ft time lapse slider..

I also purchased Tripod from them with fluid head, that was really awesome. My tripod is carbon fiber, very lightweight and sturdy.