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AV mode shutter speed too slow for sunrise timelapse (very low light)

glimmer33
Contributor

Hello all!

 

Firstly I'm a bit embarressed to ask this as I'm sure its entry level stuff but I've posted in several other forums to work out what the problem im experiencing is and i now have narrowed it down to a simple question... I think..

 

I am trying to shoot a sunrise timelapse. At dawn when the camera is in AV mode, due to the low light it seems to be frezzing up when i go to take a photo. I realise now its not freezing up its simply tusing a long shutter speed to compensate for the lack of light.

 

The problem is, I see loads of sunrise timelapse tutorials and they all suggest using the AV mode due to the changing light conditions.  (I had to use manual mode with a low aperture in the end and halfway through once the sun came up my photos were all horribly over exposed)

 

How can i combat the low light issue in order to use my camera in AV mode for photos with intervals of 4 seconds?

 

At the moment i cant use it at dawn because the shutter speed slows up so much it makes it impossible to do a timelapse.

 

Any feedback would be massivly appriecated.

 

Thanks!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

ebiggs1
Legend
Legend

OK, here goes.

Av and Tv are really semi-manual exposure modes.  You are fixing the aperture or the shutter and expecting the camera to select the oppisite.  If you selected an Av that requires too long a shutter to take the proper exposure, you are going to get the very long shutter.

You can up the ISO or select a larger Av.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

View solution in original post

28 REPLIES 28

Remember all of this is related, aperture. shutter speed and ISO.  Is it really going to matter if you switch to Tv vs Av?  You are actually concerned about the EV (exposure value).  Most Canon cameras have around 20 EV's.  So this is going to depend on just where you start, if TV allows more adjustment in the direction (decreasing/increasing light?) it just may be best.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

I see what you are saying. Thanks!

Would this method work too:

Go to spot where timelapse is shot and at the point of the sunrise that is the brightest find a setting on manual mode that looks good and isnt over exposed. Make a note of the settings and next time set the camera up on manual mode with those settings and let it run from there knowing that however dark it may start that when it gets to the point where it get brightest you know the camera is set up ready not to over expose the image.

Would that work?

Changing your aperture (using Tv) is going to create a noticable change in the image as the depth of field and sharpness change.  I realize that you're focusing at infinity, but I think you'll still see the shift.  Not to mention that most lenses produce unacceptably soft images when fully stopped down (we were talking sunrise, not sunset, correct?), IMHO.  And I think you'd be relying on chance to have the smallest aperture limit the exposure just when you needed it.

 

I would try (and perhaps I'll have to give it a go) Av and use exposure compensation gradually.  Then I'd use a program like the one I listed above to smooth out the EVs.  It seems this process would work much better for sunrise than sunset as you can choose your exposure in the darkness, which is the tough part.  So long as the camera doesn't overexpose the light side shouldn't pose a problem, and it's easy to underexpose in post.

 

 Edit: Found this interesting page.  Note the section on the bottom.  Also note, that they call sunrise/sunset timelapses the "holy grail" of timelapse, alluding to you not being the first person to seek this quest and the perfect solution hasn't been found yet.  Though this page is old, and I suspect the solution lies in smarter software to organize the data for you.

 

http://forum.timescapes.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1871

 

Edit Edit: There's a link at the bottom of that link that goes to another interesting page, where they cover several different methods in detail with some great videos.  One of the primary is to use Av, and ramp your exposure, then fine tune in post. Another being to use a set exposure and do it all in post.

That is an excellent link thank you so much!

I'm going to have a good read of that later this evening ready for tomorrow mornings shoot!

My memory card only gives me 500 RAW files and i need 1500+ so I'm going to have to take a gamble and shoot in jpeg until i can afford a bigger faster memory card.

Planning to shoot in AV mode and take a gamble on setting the white balance correctly.

Will look at getting de-flickering software too.

I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow, wish me luck!

"Planning to shoot in AV mode and take a gamble on setting the white balance correctly."

 

My gut feeling, and that is all it is since I havn't done this, is Av is going to be the choice selection.  But your idea to see how much EV you need for the brightest extreme is a good one.  Set it for that a let the rest fall where it may.

 

Second, I am a RAW shooter and always recommend RAW for everybody, however, in this case I would shoot jpg's until you figure it out.  RAW is usually not an issue with all the newest software out there.  You don't even know it is RAW any more like in the olden days.  If you have 1500+ RAW files, you are going to have a mountain of data for your computer to sort.  And then find it was all for naught.  Nah, shoot jpg's first and get it down.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

Hello!

 

Ok so I did the sunrise timelapse the other day on AV mode, auto iso and an aperture of f8.0.

I shot for 3 hours straight.

 

After an hour of shooting i gently opened the lcd screen and stopped down to f11.0 as i was worried about the images being over exposed.

 

After trawling through lots of forums since then and downloading different programs and plugins and hitting a brick wall every time etc I feel I have finally cracked it. All I need to do now is work on my actual shooting technique to get better results but in terms of post produciton I've found a method that suits me best.

 

These are a couple of examples of the timelapses I've done since I was on this this site.

 

The sunrise has had deflickering and motion blur applied. The night time lapse is just deflickering and was on TV mode with a 4 second shutter speed and 8 second intervals.

 

Sunrise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H65Odp5O90Y&list=UUajat8WP1ku587cunCgiPjw

 

Night timelapse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obbkWlIjQKA&list=UUajat8WP1ku587cunCgiPjw

 

Make sure you select 1080 in the youtube settings if you watch them.

 

Cheers!

This is another one I did.

 

AV mode, iso 100, f8.0

 

1hr 20 mins

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfJTaxZdFa0&feature=youtu.be

Looks good!  :smileyhappy:  I like the lake.

 

 

But remember when you have auto ISO selected and Av, changeing the Av part does not change the EV.  As the Tv is allowed to float, too.  Smiley Frustrated

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

Did you notice he moved the lens off contact?  I did not even know this was possible so you guys are way above what this old guy knows. I am not getting why full manual works as expousers change with each minute of the day.  It looks like to me that would cause a problem in manual too. Hmmm.....

 

I have made a very few TL shots but I admit this is out of my expertise.  Hope you do well with it.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!
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