Time lapse or video?

[elsa hoffmann]

I am dabbling with video / time lapse so I can add content to my Tourism website
I have uploaded two videos to my website already (actually via YouTube) but these are quite big.
I am not (yet) sure how big a time lapse video will be for the same length of time..

But my question is more about the camera - the Time Lapse wears on the Shutter - so this is something to consider - actuations will add up quick. Especially if you are still learning and playing.

What wears out when you make a normal movie as opposed to time lapse?

[Jakov Minić]

It depends on the genre 

[David H. Hartman]

A real time video and a time lapse video aren't the same so you've got to choose what you want and then do it.

As to shutter life I'd worry more about banging away at 8 to 12 frames per second than 1 frame per 5 minutes. We tell ourselves we are "investing" in a camera but a camera is an expense. For me shooting burst is like taking your car to the drags while time lapse is like a Sunday drive.

That's my 2 cents,

Dave

[bjornthun]

Maybe it's an idea to get a cheaper camera, like a Nikon D5300 and wear out that shutter instead of the one on a D4 type camera? That is, if you're a Nikon user. Som mirrorless cameras offer a fully electronic shutter, so no wear on the mechanical parts.

[Erik Lund]

A real time video and a time lapse video aren't the same so you've got to choose what you want and then do it.

As to shutter life I'd worry more about banging away at 8 to 12 frames per second than 1 frame per 5 minutes. We tell ourselves we are "investing" in a camera but a camera is an expense. For me shooting burst is like taking your car to the drags while time lapse is like a Sunday drive.

That's my 2 cents,

Dave

The shutter doesn't care at all, it's only a tool so let it fire away. Nikon easily fits a new shutter when/if it wears out

IMHO Car analogy doesn't fit at all here, also a typical car engine is designed for a max revolutions and can continue to run like that...

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Any camera wears out if it's used enough. If its working life has been spent making photographs, or time-lapse, or videos, now that life by design is a happy and meaningful life for the product.

[Jakov Minić]

Bjørn is extraordinarily erudite

[elsa hoffmann]

Bjørn is extraordinarily erudite

Such long words....

David H Hartman - I am in the burst shooting game - so I am not too concerned about that.
But a very valid point to think about - it didnt cross my mind

Bjornthun - mmm - and equally good point

Erik - with the price of Nikon here in SA lately - even a shutter might soon cost an  arm and 3 legs.
But quite true what you say

Bjørn - your budget is bigger than mine!
Thank the pope I bought a second D800 a couple of weeks ago - best decision I could have made for me.

Back to my question - What wears out when you make a normal movie as opposed to time lapse?

[pluton]

When I have used my D800 for the "Time Lapse photography" function, the camera shoots individual frames with the shutter and mirror operating each cycle.  Apparently the camera is shooting a raw and processing it into a 1080(or 720) line video frame at each exposure, then assembling these video frames into a video file at the end.
When using the Interval Timer function, the shutter/mirror cycling is the same.
 
When you shoot regular 24/25/30/50/60 FPS video, the shutter/mirror stays open for the length of the shot.
Conceivably, the heat generated during a long video take could be considered "wear and tear", but that's for someone else to answer.

[Akira]

If you shoot video for an extended time, the sensor will heat up to the level where it wouldn't so far as you shoot stills (single or burst).  In general, the heat will wear out the electronic components.  Of course, the higher-end Nikon DSLRs should be designed with the heat dissipation during the video shooting in mind.

As for the time lapse, I don't think there is any difference from still shooting.

[Tristin]

I agree with Bjørn, a tool worn down through intended use is a tool well used.

[elsa hoffmann]

mmm true about the sensor heating - forgot about that. Some years ago I remember Canon saying that your video clips should not be longer than xx (30secs? cant remember) because of the sensor heating up. I assume longer is in order by now. But no - you are not suppose to shoot looooong footage.

Tristin - only if you can afford the next camera

[Akira]

One more thing to bear in mind would be the 4GB limit of today's (32bit?) file system.  You cannot record one single file larger than 4GB.

The online catalog of D810 says that the video shooting time could be limited to 10-20 minutes according to the image quality setting, even though the camera itself is designed to shoot up to 29min. 59sec.  This should apply to D800 as well.

Dedicated video cameras (even the consumer models) are in general designed to yield multiple 4GB files automatically for continuous extended time shooting which can be combined seamlessly in the software afterwards.

For example, Panasonic GH4 can, unlike other m4/3 series cameras by Panasonic (or Olympus in this case), be treated as a video camera for extended shooting.

[elsa hoffmann]

Akira - hopefully no fear of shooting long videos... especially not 4gb ones - To upload that in SA would take a day
Also one can easily stitch sections - well I assume its easy enough!
I am really interested in 20-30 sec videos so I should be good to go.
Thank you for that info - appreciated

[Peter Connan]

Elsa, I am told that a time-lapse video should normally not be longer than 15 seconds. 10 seconds is more usual.

That amounts to about 300-500 exposures per video, which I think is not too bad, as it's probably not something you are going to do every day.

I did not realize that the D800 already had a time-lapse function built in, as they only started advertising this with the D7200. It is handy for movies in good, fairly constant light.

I like doing time-lapse movies of the sun rising or setting, and for that it's not ideal and I much prefer using the interval timer and making the movie using LRTimelapse in conjunction with Lightroom. Soon I am hoping to get and try out the DSLR Dashboard app...