GBTimelapse - Minimum Hardware for Expert Videography

People often ask me "What hardware do I need to run GBTimelapse?" Well, that depends on your situation. GBTimelapse is a powerful tool that's being used by all kinds of folks. Pros are using the software for feature films and network TV, sometimes with incredible lenses that cost the same amount as a house, and sometimes with a very basic setup. The great news is that you can get amazing time-lapse results with a simple, portable and inexpensive setup.

If you want to capture quality time-lapse on a budget, please read on. I'll show you the specs of my minimum system. It's low cost, low weight, and low complexity - but can still deliver near "holy grail" time-lapse results.

"Minimum Hardware for Expert Results" System Specs:

Computer	ASUS EeePC 1025 netbook (~$300)
	Weight: 2.5 lbs
	OS: Windows 7 Starter, 32-bit
	RAM: 1GB
	Hard drive: 100GB
	Processor: Atom 1.6GHz, four cores
	USB: 3 USB 2.0 ports
Camera	Canon 7D
Lens	Canon 10-22mm zoom
Filter	Hoya 9-stop
Other	Tripod and ball head

About the computer:

ASUS claims a 12 hour battery life for the model 1025 netbook. So far, I have only run it for four hours in the field but still had plenty of battery life left.

It's not a very fast machine, so it takes longer to download and process RAW images. It can capture full-sized RAW images in about a 12 second interval. I can get the interval down to 6 seconds by setting GBTimelapse to only display RAW thumbnails during a time-lapse.

About the camera & filter:

I recommend a wide angle zoom like the Canon 10-22mm lens and a very dark neutral density filter like the Hoya 9-stop. With this combination, I can use a bulb time of one second in daylight at f/4.5 and ISO 100.
After sunset when the bulb time has increased to 16-seconds and the ISO to 3200, I can remove the filter and continue on in bulb-mode to capture the night sky.

Check out the demo:

The video below walks you through the system. You can get good results with this minimal hardware, of course, if you use a more powerful laptop, camera or lenses, the results will be even better. Check out the demo..

GBDeflicker Application New Features: Instant Gratification!

You know it's always best to shoot in RAW when doing a time-lapse, because of the higher quality images. But if you're like me, you're anxious to see the results as soon as possible. It takes a lot of time to process a RAW image sequence and then fire up After Effects (or other editor) to make a video.

Now you can get instant gratification with RAW, through two great new features in GBDeflicker 2 (Windows Application).

1) New Canon RAW file support
GBDeflicker can now import sequences of Canon RAW files (.cr2 or .crw) in addition to .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp and .tif files. It will deflicker the images and output a sequence of .jpg, .bmp, .png or .tif files. Take the deflickered output and run it through the video program of your choice (After Effects, Premiere, etc.).

2) New preview video
GBDeflicker can make an output video (.mp4 format) of your image sequence. This is a great way to get a quick look at your work without the need to run After Effects or some other video program. Normally processing a RAW image sequence is a time-consuming task, but now you can drop your RAW image folder onto GBDeflicker and make a quick-look video in just a few minutes. You just set the preview image width (320, 640, 720, 1280 or 1920) and leave the rest to GBDeflicker.

Watch this short video to see how quick and easy it is...

The preview video feature is free, you don't need to buy a license!

GBTimelapse bug fix for Canon 5DMk II

Canon firmware has been caught misbehaving! The Canon 5DMk II firmware has a significant bug related to bulb exposures. A fix is included with GBTimelapse version 3.3.24. If you are using a Mk II, please download and install the latest version of GBTimelapse.

GBTimelapse has stalled several times when controlling a 5D Mk II with a very short time-interval. I traced the problem  down to a bug in the Mk II firmware (or maybe in the Canon driver - it's not possible to tell). Even though this bug is due to the MK II firmware, I've found a way to clear the error and continue.

The BUG: a random and intermittent failure to start a bulb exposure. It can happen if GBTimelapse starts a bulb exposure immediately (no delay) after having downloaded the image from a previous bulb exposure. Sometimes when GBT sends a bulb-start command to the camera, the camera returns a value indicating success - but fails to open the shutter! This leaves GBT waiting for an image download that never happens.

My TEST: to reproduce the bug, set a 5D Mk II to RAW images, bulb-time = 2 seconds, and time-lapse interval = 4 seconds. With these settings it takes nearly 5 seconds to do the bulb exposure and download the image. Because the interval is only 4 seconds, GBT tries to capture the next image immediately after the download. The 5D Mk II will fail to capture an image about once every forty images under these conditions.

The FIX: the new GBT version detects the error, clears the Mk II, and continues with the time-lapse. However, the interval for that one image will be a few seconds longer than normal. You will see a message on the main screen when this happens "Bulb Start error 'EDS_ERR_DEVICE_BUSY'", but the time-lapse will continue.

TIP: although the error is fixed, it's best to avoid the situation - I suggest not pushing it. Make sure your time-lapse interval is longer than the total capture time (bulb time + image download time). Just take a test exposure to see what the total capture time is.