Using Interval Composite for timelapses?

[looeee]

Hi
I'm new to the forum and I have a lovely new GRD IV, having had a GRD III for a year.

Reading through all your posts i was surprised to read that my beloved timelapse-camera is thought of as a street-camera by everybody else.
I was attracted to Ricoh as they seem to be the only compact cameras with an interval mode.

I mostly shoot dawns:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Px5PB33A0

but i am partial to the stars moving too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0StNsUAmvZk

When trying to shoot the stars it takes nearly as long to apply the NR as it takes the picture. So a 30second exposure takes 25 seconds to process.
Using interval composite scene with the option set to "save each image" doesn't seem to take nearly as long to do the NR processing (if at all)

I cannot recommend using the composite image produced in-camera as anything other than a draft (its nice to look at in the camera screen as a preview). Using Startrails with all the saved images and a couple of dark frames gives much better results. But when you have the individual frames you can also turn them into a video or use DeepSkyStacker to reveal amazing detail.

1-Second Intervals !!!!
So you can use Interval Composite to get <5 second intervals for timelapsing driving, or other fast-moving things.
If the exposure is <1 second then you can set the Interval Composite time to 1 second
Of course you'll have to discard the composite image produced at the end.

have you had any luck with the Interval Composite mode? have i missed anything?
looeee

 

[thelps]

Thanks for posting your experiences here. And a warm welcome to the forum.
I've been meaning to give both these modes a try at some point but time has been real short lately. I'll get around to it one day.
Thanks for mentioning DeepSkyStacker, I was not aware of this one. It may get some use later on.

The Five Dawns was awesome to watch!

 

[setvak]

Also welcome to the forum from me!

I have no experience with the interval composite scene, but perhaps I can help a bit with the longer exposures. The Ricoh cameras use for longer exposures a dark frame subtraction (DFS), as most of other "better" cameras do, starting from certain exposure time. With the GXR-A16 it is applied from 10 seconds on (in other words, up to 8-sec exposure the DFS is not applied and you can use relatively short intervals for timelapsing, starting from about 10 to 12 seconds - depending if you store not only JPG, but also DNG, or not, and of course on speed of your memory card). With my older GX100 cameras this limit is at 2 seconds (2 seconds are without DFS, 4 sec exposures already apply it). You can check some of my nocturnal timelapses taken with GXR-A16 here:
http://www.setvak.cz/timelapse/2012a_SA-Namibia.html

As far as I know there is no way how to set this DFS limit in a camera, it simply depends on the camera model (and in case of GXR also on the unit attached to it). It doesn't seem to be linked to noise reduction settings (based on ISO) or anything else.

For the short intervals there is also an option to use continuous shooting mode, my comments on this can be found here:
http://www.setvak.cz/timelapse/Ricoh_remote.html

Similarly to you, I also purchased all there of my Ricoh cameras (2xGX100, and GXR-A16) namely because of their embedded interval shooting capabilities My other comments on timelapsing with Ricoh cameras and my timelapse galleries can be found here: http://www.setvak.cz/timelapse/timelapse.html

Cheers, Martin

 

[looeee]

Hi Martin,
That's very interesting stuff, thanks. Based on what you are telling me, it may be possible that the DFS is taking place at the end when it is making the composite image I'll have to get out after dark and take some measurements.
Do you think that taking the dark frames myself by covering the lens at the end of the timelapse it'll be possible to get the same results?

Thanks for the tip about the Ricoh remote. I already own one based on your advice. I originally chose the R10 by going into a family-run camera shop when it was quiet, explaining interval mode and hoping they'd remembered seeing it on one of their cheaper cameras. We divided all the ones on display between us until we found the Ricoh, the only one with the interval mode. The moment I got home I devoured your website, the advice is invaluable. It gave me such a head-start with the settings, and approaches to take. Many thanks!

The settings you list are all for daytime and especially good for clouds. Would you consider writing up a section for when the light is changing (dawn/dusk) or for nighttime?

looeee

 

[looeee]

Thanks for posting your experiences here. And a warm welcome to the forum.
I've been meaning to give both these modes a try at some point but time has been real short lately. I'll get around to it one day.
Thanks for mentioning DeepSkyStacker, I was not aware of this one. It may get some use later on.

The Five Dawns was awesome to watch!

Hi thelps
The scene modes seem to be for the stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else (rather than the 'novelty section' in some other cameras). You can even save everything to a MY too.
glad you liked my dawns

Regarding DeepSkyStacker, if i have spent the night somewhere dark and cold waiting for my camera to finish snapping, then i want to get the most out of it. Being able to make a movie, a startrails shot and a detailed star shot gives triple the value.

 

[looeee]

I tried again with Interval Composite, comparing it with startrails. The in-camera trails are thinner and have better colours. I can add StarStaX outputs too if anyone is interested.

I had the wb and iso wrong and had to do some processing, but i applied the same changes to both images.