Time-lapse with the Canon 1014

[Moises Perez]

I’d like to share two options for those of you who want to do time-lapse photography with the Canon 1014 Super 8 film camera.

 

One is the MK111 interval timer by Velleman, Inc.

http://www.vellemanusa.com/products/view/?id=350686

 

The other is the TR-90 by Phottix.

http://www.phottix.com/en/phottixr-tr-90.html

 

These interval timers will allow you to control the camera with the same basic principle. Using an intervalometer you’re able to take single pictures at any desired frame rate. With these timers you can take several frames per second or one single frame at any preferred time interval. Both timers are great, none is better than the other, they are just different in price and performance and they will give you different results.

 

Price:

The MK111 is cheaper than the TR-90. The price in the USA for the MK111 is less than $10.00 but you need to BUILD it yourself. The TR-90 is about $65.00, depending where you buy it. The nice thing about it is that it is ready to use right out of the box.

 

Power supply:

The MK111 needs 12V DC but I was able to make it work with a single 9V battery. The TR-90 uses two AAA batteries and they are included when you buy it.

 

Performance:

The two timers control the camera in a similar way. The difference here is time precision when this is important versus the ability to freely control the camera to achieve special results.

 

The MK111 allows you to manually increase the speed at which you take the pictures. This means that you can start taking several frames per second up to one single frame every few minutes. In the same manner, you can do the opposite, you can start taking one single frame every few seconds and increase the frame speed to take several frames per second. This is very handy when you want to do some kind of ramping.

 

The TR-90 offers you the opportunity to precisely control the frame rate in intervals of one second. You can take one single frame per second or increment the interval time up to one frame every 99:59:59, this is the camera will expose one single frame every 99 hours, 59 minutes, add 59 seconds. This is very important when timing your shoot. You know that you can take precisely 60 frames in a minute, thus allowing you to plan your project with digital precision.

 

Here is a sample with the MK111. The film stock is the B&W Tri-X and I under exposed it to increase the grain structure and to get the high-contrast look. The color was enhanced in After Effects. The vertical white lines are permanent scratches on the film produced at the lab, but it has nothing to do with the MK111 timer. I’ll post more samples of both timers in the following days.

 

Enjoy it,

 

https://vimeo.com/65940818

[Bill Rodgers]

Those are cool timers. B)

 

 

 

In all honesty, I just tend to use a Bolex 5120 or 5122 for time-lapse. The large 72mm lens is AMAZING on those (Chinon manufactured) models and the simple intervalometer is in-built.

I favour them to both my Canon 1014 XL-S and Braun Nizo 6080 for time-lapse.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Bill Rodgers