{"id":46400,"date":"2018-10-27T22:52:11","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T02:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=46400"},"modified":"2020-05-27T23:20:12","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T03:20:12","slug":"using-an-external-intervalometer-for-time-lapse-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/using-an-external-intervalometer-for-time-lapse-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Using an external intervalometer for time-lapse photography"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/297465532?byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h1>Using an external intervalometer for time-lapse photography<\/h1>\n<p>A night-to-day time-lapse shot from our apartment window when we recently visited Toronto. I wanted to travel lightly on this trip, so I took my \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-a7-iii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sony A7 iii camera<\/a> (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-a7r-iii-bh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">B&amp;H<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-a7r-iii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amazon<\/a><\/em>)\u00a0and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-fe-16-35mm-f28\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sony 16-35mm f\/2.8<\/a> (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-fe-16-35mm-f28-bh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">B&amp;H<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-fe-16-35mm-f28\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amazon<\/a><\/em>). And just in case, I also packed the lightweight\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sirui-traveler-tripod-bh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Siriu 1004X traveler tripod<\/a>\u00a0with E-10 ball-head (<em>B&amp;H<\/em>), since I anticipated doing some low-light photography, and perhaps even some time-lapse photography. At the time, Sony, in their infinite wisdom, somehow didn&#8217;t have an intervalometer built into their cameras. They have since fixed this glaring omission with subsequent firmware updates. \u00a0For any time-lapses, I knew I would need an intervalometer, therefore I added the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/vello-shutterboss-ii-for-sony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vello Shutterboss II for Sony<\/a> (<em>B&amp;H<\/em>). If you want an intervalometer that is slightly more sophisticated with wireless control, then I would recommend the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/vello-wireless-shutterboss-iii-for-sony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vello Wireless Shutterboss III for Sony<\/a> (<em>B&amp;H<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>I set the Shutterboss timer to start at 2am, long after we went to bed. The silent shutter on the Sony A7 III allowed us a quiet night, without the constant clicking shutter noise. Brilliant!<\/p>\n<p>I chose an interval of 15 seconds. If you want to know more about\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/camera-settings-for-time-lapse-photography\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Camera settings for Time-lapse photography<\/a>, please check out this link. I chose 15 seconds, because I aimed for a final video of less than 1 minute, and I knew I would have the camera shoot for 8 hours to get the transition from night to day. I always had the option then in post-production to discard frames, or even speed it up. In the end, I shortened the video by truncating the original start and ending of this video &#8211; I thought that a 30 second time-lapse clip would be short enough to hold attention, yet long enough to be captivating.<\/p>\n<p>To avoid interior reflections from the glass window, I taped a black T-shirt to the window and draped it over the camera. You can still see a few spots of light in the top right-hand section of the video. I don&#8217;t know where those reflections came from, but I don&#8217;t think they are all that distracting in the end.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/vello-shutterboss-ii-for-sony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/timelapse\/gear\/vello-shutterboss-ii-sony.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Photo gear (or equivalents) used for this video:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-a7-iii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sony A7 iii camera<\/a> (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-a7r-iii-bh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">B&amp;H<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-a7r-iii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amazon<\/a><\/em>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-fe-16-35mm-f28\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sony 16-35mm f\/2.8<\/a> (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-fe-16-35mm-f28-bh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">B&amp;H<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-fe-16-35mm-f28\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amazon<\/a><\/em>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sirui-traveler-tripod-bh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Siriu 1004X traveler tripod<\/a>\u00a0with E-10 ball-head (<em>B&amp;H<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/vello-shutterboss-ii-for-sony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vello Shutterboss II for Sony<\/a> (<em>B&amp;H<\/em>),<br \/>\nor the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/vello-wireless-shutterboss-iii-for-sony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vello Wireless Shutterboss III for Sony<\/a> (<em>B&amp;H<\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you need an external intervalometer, for Sony I would recommend the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/vello-shutterboss-ii-for-sony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vello Shutterboss II for Sony<\/a> (<em>B&amp;H<\/em>) or the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/vello-wireless-shutterboss-iii-for-sony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vello Wireless Shutterboss III for Sony<\/a> (<em>B&amp;H<\/em>). Vello makes these with connectors for other brands as well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>When an external intervalometer is necessary<\/h2>\n<p>I have photographed long-term timelapses projects where the event takes place over several days or weeks or even months. Then you need to run off AC power. With that, you don&#8217;t always have control over the situation, and event staff or the construction team might switch power off during construction &#8212; in that scenario, if you were using the built-in intervalometer of your camera, your camera would wake up without the intervalometer sequencing programmed in.<\/p>\n<p>This is where an external intervalometer is essential. Should the camera be powered down because AC power is lost &#8211; the external intervalometer keeps working. Therefore when the power is switched on again, and the camera wakes up, the external intervalometer keeps triggering the camera. Perfect. Nothing lost. Your time-lapse photography continues without you having to be there to make sure the camera is programmed properly.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Post-Production of the time-lapse video<\/h2>\n<p>One of the first things I did in editing the RAW files, was to correct for the converging verticals! \u00a0Then I had to sweeten the exposures and WB of the 1,900 files that I shot.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;Holy Grail&#8217; in time-lapse photography is the smooth transition from night to day, or day to night. That change in long exposures at night changing to shorter exposures for daytime, can be a challenge. It is best handled by a specialized controller for that. The <a href=\"https:\/\/timelapseplus.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Timelapse+ controller<\/a> is one of the best on the market right now. With this video though, I didn&#8217;t use a controller for that.<\/p>\n<p>I simply shot in\u00a0Aperture Priority on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/sony-a7-iii-bh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sony A7 III<\/a>\u00a0(<em>B&amp;H<\/em>), and the exposures of the 1,900 images were remarkably close to what I needed. The WB was also pretty good, especially for the evening images. Still, the best results with time-lapses is to allow\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lrtimelapse.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LRTimelapse software<\/a> &#8211; an essential part of time-lapse workflow &#8211; to\u00a0iteratively adjust the RAW files to smoothy ramp the exposures and WB changes. If you want to delve into time-lapse photography, you will nearly inevitably end up using <a href=\"https:\/\/lrtimelapse.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LRTimelapse<\/a> &#8211; so do check it out.<\/p>\n<p>For those who know LRTimelapse &#8211; since I shot in Aperture Priority, the Holy Grail option is greyed out. However, you can add your own keyframes where <strong>you<\/strong> define what exposure and WB you want. LRTimelapse takes care of that and smoothes it all out. It works beautifully.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Related articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/camera-settings-for-time-lapse-photography\/\">Camera settings for Time-lapse photography<\/a><\/li>\n<li>More articles about <a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/category\/time-lapse-photography\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Time-lapse Photography<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/review-sony-fe-24-105mm-f4-g-oss-lens\/\">review: Sony FE 24-105mm f\/4 G OSS Lens<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/category\/equipment-reviews-sony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reviews of Sony camera gear<\/a><\/li>\n<li>For more videos, follow me on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/neilvn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vimeo<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/NeilvanNiekerk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Using an external intervalometer for time-lapse photography A night-to-day time-lapse shot from our apartment window when we recently visited Toronto. I wanted to travel lightly on this trip, so I took my \u00a0Sony A7 iii camera (B&amp;H \/ Amazon)\u00a0and the\u00a0Sony 16-35mm f\/2.8 (B&amp;H \/ Amazon). And just in case, I also packed the lightweight\u00a0Siriu 1004X&nbsp;<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/using-an-external-intervalometer-for-time-lapse-photography\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read more inside&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[349],"tags":[897,451],"yst_prominent_words":[11836,12989,12507,1021,5079,11850,12508,11852,11849,11845,11851,11847,12988,11795,12158,11837,11838,11844,11848,11846],"class_list":{"0":"post-46400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-time-lapse-photography","8":"tag-time-lapse-photography","9":"tag-time-lapse-photography-tips","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46400"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48835,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46400\/revisions\/48835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46400"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=46400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}