Timeline photography - need help

[$qwuzzy]

so here's the deal: we've just gotten some new water lillies for a pond in our garden. over the last few days i've discovered that the flowers actually open and close each day. so that put an idea into my mind: i'd really like to get a timeline of the flowers throughout the day - so maybe a photo every 30minutes or so. but i definitely do not want to have to sit there and press the button each time.

and so then i was thinking - i've just gotten this shiny new macbook, i wonder if there is a program that i can setup on it that will make my 300d take a photo every x minutes? would be great if it was free too, but then again beggars can't be choosers.

thanks for your help

 

[Mydriasis]

If you installed the canon utilities that came with the camera then you already have a program that can handle it. If not you can download it for free off the canon website.

In EOS Utility go to tools<timer capture:

then check the interval box, set the interval timeframe and interval time. And your good to go.

Remember the battery though!!!! You have to turn off auto sleep...etc.
Have fun.

 

[dllavaneras]

Doesnt' the Rebel have an intervalometer? You could set your camera on a tripod and let it do the shooting itself...

 

[$qwuzzy]

thanks heaps Mydriasis - looks like i'm going to have to install the canon software after all this time!

dlavaneras - i was under the impression that the intervalometer only worked with the higher end cameras (may be wrong though)

 

[dllavaneras]

I don't think that feature is reserved for the higher end cameras, as my Canon P&S has that feature... I'll see if I can find anything about your camera

 

[ChrisA]

A Canon DSLR was used to shoot Tim Burton's animated film "Corpse Bride". You should be able to get better than 1080p quality video from your DSLR. It will take a LOT of storage. 1080P is 60 frames per second so a 100 second video is 6,000 frames Shot "tethered" so you can save the image files direct to disk. There is software with can assemble frames into video, even free software.

I just bought a new Sony 1080p LCD TV It will be years before I can afford a 1080 format video camera. I've been looking for a project. where I can use the DSLR to make HD video. Moving cloudscapes is one but yours is a great idea. One problem will be the changing light as the Sun moves. It looks bad to see the light change. You may want to control the light Set up a stobe in a small softbox or bounce setup.

 

[$qwuzzy]

dllavaneras - i thought you meant the canon remote control thingo. the higher end canon remote does this, but it's only for higher end dslr's. as far as i know, there is not way to do it with a 300d (or digital rebel) by itself.

ChrisA - i was thinking that the changing light may be part of the charm, but i can see what you mean that it may look bad. i guess the only thing for it is to do it twice! one with a softbox and one without.

what software can i use to assembly the photos into a video?

 

[Mydriasis]

1080P is 60 frames per second

Well, actually the 1080 refers to the number of pixels the image is tall and the p stands for progressive telling you how the image is drawn. 1080p comes in 1080p24, 1080p25, 1080p30, 1080p50 and 1080p60; those numbers represent the fps.

what software can i use to assembly the photos into a video?

Anything from QuickTime, Motion, FCP or any stop motion animation app (like Frame Thief or Single Framer).

 

[Aperture]

I just wanted to tune in & say I don't believe the Rebel can do it itself. (I have the original 300d) I just installed the Canon software tonight, it is really cool.

One note though, I downloaded the RemoteCapture utility from Canon.com and it would NOT launch. I installed the older version of it from my camera's disk and it worked fine.

Best of luck,
Kevin

 

[Mydriasis]

I am assuming by your name that you have aperture. You know that you can shoot tethered with that canon software and aperture! (by tethered, I mean the camera is hook up straight to the computer with a usb cable, and the images show up in aperture as soon as you take them)