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Timelapse equipement: do or don't

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dialedinmedia
Posts: 27 - Karma: 102
Last week I shot a time-lapse in the backcountry. I was stoked on the results but also a little disappointed
I have looked in to it and realize I need the following equipment
Battery grip: 150$
2 batteries: 60$
More advanced remote: 50$
My question is: Is it worth spending that much or are there alternative solutions?
Or possible third party companies where I could get a battery grip cheaper?
Here is the time-lapse

Apr 19 2013 5:56PM
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[J_Gasper]
Posts: 2983 - Karma: 1,594
If you have a Canon DSLR, you can install Magic Lantern and get the free intervalometer than comes along with it. Super easy to use. Thats really all u need to start timelapses. Once you start to get better, certain filters, dollys, sliders, etc will be a desire.
Apr 19 2013 6:06PM
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dialedinmedia
Posts: 27 - Karma: 102
Will magic lantern work with a t4i?
Apr 19 2013 6:47PM
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mvf
Posts: 786 - Karma: 1,581
That looked dope if the clouds hadn't shown up you could have bumped the shutter speed even longer to get both brighter stars and foreground.

Quick way to make time lapses more visually interesting is to do a digital zoom or digital pan. The photos you take are larger than the 1080p or 720p frame size. You can use those extra pixels to do zooms, pans, rotations, etc...
Apr 20 2013 2:18PM
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dialedinmedia
Posts: 27 - Karma: 102
Thanks for the feedback
I definitively could have bumped the shutter speed but i didn't want anymore blur in the stars then I already had
Apr 20 2013 5:34PM
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Mag
Posts: 8155 - Karma: 14,809
Damn that could have been awesome, stupid clouds. What processing did you do? Try bring out the stars more.

Why do you need a battery grip? Also they're like 30$ with 2 batteries,
Apr 20 2013 5:52PM
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lamppost
Posts: 277 - Karma: 201
ive never done a time-lapse but:

how would you change the batteries while it's taking the pictures? i dont really understand
and
why would it matter to have the Magic Lantern
Apr 20 2013 8:06PM
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mvf
Posts: 786 - Karma: 1,581
You can stop it from taking pictures and change the battery, but there will be a spot in the time lapse where there is a usually obvious shake from the imperfection of the placement of the camera when you set it back down to continue shooting.
This can be fixed in post.

Magic lantern supplies your firmware with its won intervalometer, which is basically a remote that tells your camera when to trigger its shutter (take a picture, wait 2 seconds, take a picture, wait 2 seconds, etc)
Without magic lantern you need an external remote to do this.
Apr 20 2013 8:18PM
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lamppost
Posts: 277 - Karma: 201
and you can download ML to the camera?
Apr 20 2013 8:38PM
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mvf
Posts: 786 - Karma: 1,581
Yes.

Well you put the actual ML operating system on your memory card, then install it onto your camera as you would any update to your camera's firmware. However, if you use a different memory card you won't have ML until you put the original card back in (without deleting the ML files from it.
Apr 20 2013 8:45PM
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dialedinmedia
Posts: 27 - Karma: 102
All I did was a image sequence in premiere. I would need a battery grip so I could extend the length of the timelapse
I messed around a little but I wasn't really sure what type of colour correction to use to bring out the stars
Apr 20 2013 9:03PM
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markc
Posts: 367 - Karma: 540
not yet they are still working on it. i think it is coming out in the near future though or at least that is what they are saying
May 1 2013 8:27PM
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Randy_Quench
Posts: 5447 - Karma: 4,343
are third party battery grip/batteries/intervalometer not an option? I got my grip for 20$ shipped on amazon, an intervalometer for 15, and 3 batteries for 1.50 a piece or something like that. no problems with any of my equipment so far.
May 1 2013 11:52PM
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dialedinmedia
Posts: 27 - Karma: 102
Where?????
May 13 2013 10:39PM
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Randy_Quench
Posts: 5447 - Karma: 4,343
.
May 14 2013 10:48AM
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Deezy
Posts: 4580 - Karma: 1,004
Coming from a dude who has invested over $10 grand on his camera. You do not necessarily need to buy the best of everything for the best photos. (if you want to get paid on the other hand try not to DIY everything hah, youll be fired as you set your shit up. keep that in mind i guess)
May 14 2013 3:08PM
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