Pentax Q Time Lapse


creampuff

Senior Member
Jul 11, 2006
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Dover
Decided to use the intervalometer function to test a very short time lapse clip with the Pentax Q with the Standard Zoom 02.
A little jittery because I was using a cheap Gorillapod instead of a tripod. Assembled using Photoshop CC.

[video=youtube_share;_dHddjZm8i8]https://youtu.be/_dHddjZm8i8[/video]
 

there is flicking, due to inconsistency of opening and closing of lens aperture or camera shutter or both.

since you are shooting ing long exposure, than should be lens aperture is the cause, shooting in wide open aperture this issue will be solved.

or you can use deflicker software or plugin, smoothen the flickering at the post.


as for jittery, you can load all files into stack layers and use auto align, crop it and export each layer into individuals file again to compile into timelapse.
 

there is flicking, due to inconsistency of opening and closing of lens aperture or camera shutter or both.

since you are shooting ing long exposure, than should be lens aperture is the cause, shooting in wide open aperture this issue will be solved.

or you can use deflicker software or plugin, smoothen the flickering at the post.


as for jittery, you can load all files into stack layers and use auto align, crop it and export each layer into individuals file again to compile into timelapse.

Thanks for the very informative feedback. I did suspect the closing of the lens aperture as a cause. Using the stack layers is a very good tip and I believe it can all be done in Bridge. Considered dumping all the files into Adobe After Effects to make things simpler but was messing around with Photoshop's video tools for this quick and dirty time lapse. Will need to make more tests. But nice thing is Pentax cameras do have a built in intervalometer in the camera menu if one doesn't want to buy an external intervalometer. A nice feature that my now obsolete Pentax Q has. It's so under used so it's now relegated to do tests like these, which were all shot on jpeg. Seriously thinking of getting the likes of a Panasonic GH4 or used GH3 for what it can do.
 

Last edited:
Redhill mrt,

cool, I used to live near there, and shoot same angle from the top HDB there.:)

and you can see the City Hall area fireworks and harbour front fireworks from there too.
 

I don't think bridge can do auto align, and the wrap stabilizer in after effect is dealing with shaky footage or timelapse sequence, won't work for this situation.

if you just want to compile jpg timelapse sequence into timelapse footage, Quicktime Pro can do quick and simple job.

a built in intervalometer is convenience, but a external intervalometer offer much more, can pause and restart timelapse without touching the camera.


btw, I shot the same scene in day time.

http://www.istockphoto.com/video/arial-view-of-redhill-housing-estate-singapore-56336504?st=cd4ffc2
 

Nice stuff, both!
 

@creampuff

the Pentax Q has a very good intervalometer.. in fact it's better than most entry level DSLRs, the only problem i have with the Q system when doing timelapse is the battery life, the flickering i dont bother much since its very difficult particularly if you are shooting night to day or vice versa wherein the exposure changes drastically in a few minutes during sunrise/sunset.

It's the battery life that is my main problem when doing very long timelapse (or maybe my tripod) since i am only using a very small slik tabletop tripod with a ballhead and even a small increment in change in position when i change the battery could be seen on the final output as per below trial timelapse with the pentax Q i shot about a year ago.. this one took about 4-5 hours to complete and requires 2 battery changes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgDT80HQk1k