Another drivelapse attempt...

[Ron Hunter]

Last fall Kent Frost inspired me to try to create a "drivelapse". At that time I used my GoPro HDHero 2 camera and, while the video turned out well, there wasn't much "persistence of motion" in the video.

This week I decided to try the same drivelapse with my DSLR (over 3,500 images that were shot with 1 second interval). The resulting 24fps video is much shorter with more persistence of motion effect than for the GoPro. (However, it doesn't have as much persistence of motion as Kent achieved with a Sony Vegas effect, can't remember the name of it.)

Details: 1/50", f/18, ISO 100, fine detail medium size JPEG format, 1" interval, tripod mounted inside car, Lightroom 5 and Premiere Elements 12 used for editing. Music is "The Complex" from Incompetech.com.

Anyway, please let me know what you think of it.

[Steve Grisetti]

Very effective, time lapse, Ron!

[sidd finch]

Just goes to show you that no matter where you are in the country...traffic is dismal.

Sidd

[Kent Frost]

Ron, this looks good! Even though it doesn't have the motion blur, that's okay. It doesn't have to have it. If you DO want motion blur using the way I described, though, you'd have to use the actual video mode, not the timelapse mode. And the higher the frame rate you can set it to the better. Again, I don't know what Premiere's equivalent feature is, or if it even has one, but in Vegas it's c called resampling. By default in Vegas, resampling is turned on, and this is what forces frame ghosting when your clip and your project frame rates don't match. But, if you speed up a clip when this feature is on, it blends the frames in a way that shows the paths of motion, creating a kind of faux motion blur. But, if you're only shooting 24 or 30 fps, it's very obvious and doesn't quite look right; you can see the individual frames. You start getting closer when you hit 60fps+. However, if your GoPro is the HD Hero 3 Black Edition (or the 3+ Black), you'll have the option of using the 720p mode at 120 frames per second, or 960p at 100 frames. That's where the effect is most useful because there are so many frames packed together to create that blur that it's difficult to see the individual frames.

Here's an example of what I mean. This is a frame taken from a drivelapse that I rendered twice; once with blur and once without. The video was originally shot at 120fps, so the blurred one has lots of video frames packed into it to create this blur. I hope this makes sense. lol

[Ron Hunter]

Thanks Kent, that does help. I used my DSLR for this drivelapse and I thought a slower shutter speed (1/50") would create motion blur, but it didn't work. (Interval between frames was 1 second.) If I tried to play the stills at a higher frame rate, say 60fps, the video motion would be so fast it would be difficult to follow. But I understand how 60fps or 120fps with a GoPro gives the editing program lots of frames to work with and allows the resampling to create motion blur. I have an older GoPro (HD Hero 2) that maxes out at 60fps (720), so maybe it's time to upgrade.

I'm still happy with the way this drivelapse turned out, but it would be cool to get the motion blur you have in your drivelapses. I just purchased Final Cut Pro X for my Mac laptop and I'm learning how to use it. Maybe FCPX has a resampling function...

[Bob]

In Premiere Elements, it's called Frame Blend. In earlier versions, you could right click on the clip in the timeline and select Frame Blend. Starting with Premiere Elements 11, that's greyed out and you set Frame Blend in Tools/Time Remapping.

[Ron Hunter]

Thanks Bob, I'll try that.

[momoffduty]

Very nice drive lapse Ron. Thanks for posting the specs, very helpful. Have you tried using a filter to get your aperture open wider? May be able to get a slower shutter speed too.

Thanks Kent for the details. I will have to try out a drive lapse. How long will the GoPro shoot before turning off? Mine shut off after about 30 minutes, but I had the LCD backpack on and it was very hot 90+. After about 20 minutes it did turn back on.

[Kent Frost]

It depends on which GoPro you have. I've noticed that on the HD Hero 3 Black Edition that it shuts off in about that amount of time if I have the wi-fi turned on. With it off it'll go for a little over an hour. It gets pretty hot, though. I have one of those clips on the hood of my car and I've been able film drivelapses from Springfield, Missouri to Harrison, Arkansas, which is a little over an hour.

[momoffduty]

It depends on which GoPro you have. I've noticed that on the HD Hero 3 Black Edition that it shuts off in about that amount of time if I have the wi-fi turned on. With it off it'll go for a little over an hour..

I've accidentally turned on wifi and heard it was a battery drain. I have the Black 3+.