Timelapse - help?

Paulw

I've been trying a few timelapse bits of late.

Doing a daytime/sunset timelapse is fine. It takes time. Turn it on, let the camera snap away and then put it all together. Some examples - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnlfxcV_RjCRC1lJJJXhe2g/videos

BUT ...... when it comes to night time, star timelapse, it seems to be more complex. The battery seems to die very quickly. I tried one, 40 sec intervals, 20 sec exposures. But, the battery dies after about 3 hours (approx 480 picts). Now the battery should last me for nearly 3,000 exposures under normal daytime conditions.

Any ideas/comments?

Gregor Samsa

What kind of battery is it? Most battery types perform worse at cold temperatures, and some are more affected by it than others. Although, it's not that cold these nights, so it might not be the (full) cause.

Also, can you get 3,000 20 second exposures out of your battery during daytime conditions? Is that 3,000 figure the CIPA rating, or from your experience? A 20 second exposure is going to use a lot more power than a 1/500 second one.

Also, also, if your camera is doing automatic long frame noise reduction, it's actually taking two shots of equal shutter speed for every one you set (the exposed one and a dark frame - then subtracting the noise in the dark frame from the exposed one). I'm not sure if this is the case for you, though.

Paulw

The battery is a Canon LP-E4 battery.

It is rated at approx 3,000 images per charge, and from experience, it's not far off.

With long exposures and such, I would have expected roughly 1,000 frames from it, but only getting about 400 was very surprising.

I don't use in-camera noise reduction, nor any of those extra functions.

The weather at night was clear, but not that cold (stayed above 5c).

I guess I need some trial and error, and some practice.

Iancar29

When i went to Northern Sweden to view the northern lights the lads with there cameras being over a year or 2 old had major problems with there battery life at night time ( temps around -22o C ) ... they would only last about a half hour, 45mins per battery .. b4 theyd hav to go warm or charge them again. But me and another lad had only upgraded and had brand new battery. mine being A nikon EL i 15 ( think thats the one ) .. and worked fine for me , nearly 5, 6 hours life for me.


So maybe its running low on its charges?.. a new one may help.

Heres one of my timelapses from then. Shot with a Nikon D7000

http://youtu.be/ofuFilKpgsA?hd=1 ... best watched in HD full Screen.

magicbastarder

i think NR reduces battery life, but there's plenty of stories of people managing only a couple of dozen long exposures (minutes rather than seconds long) before a battery would crap out.
don't forget the sensor pulling in data will be a drain on the battery. i'd have thought 400 20s exposures was good going...