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Hi, for shooting documentary time lapse with Alexa, do I need some extra equipment? or can I do it "in camera"?

 

What other options do I have? For ex, may be, can I do it with a Canon5D or similar? What do I need if I use a digital photo camera like the Canon? it's better to do it with a reflex due to its megapixels??

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I know nothing about what the Alexa is capable of in regards to a time lapse. BUT!

 

https://petapixel.com/2016/12/09/power-internet-journey-vimeo-planet-earth-ii/

 

This is an awesome article I read about some of the Planet Earth 2 hyperlapses. Some of the greatest lapses to ever be timed in my opinion, all with what looks like Canon 5D level cameras.

 

I would be interested to hear what the comparison is between Alexa and high end DSLRs when it comes to timelapses if anyone knows.

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There's currently no facility for time lapse using Alexa cameras, however both Alexa Mini and Amira models had an intervalometer function (time lapse and stop motion) introduced with software update 3.0.

 

Since you don't really need a "motion picture" camera for time lapse (or stop motion), most people use far more affordable stills cameras like 5Ds. I'm sure there is plenty of online advice about how to do it.

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Hello, I do a lot of timelapse work myself, feel free to ask me anything. I use a 5D or 6D with Magic Lantern software loaded on the camera. Not completely necessary but can do a bit more than a simple external intervalometer (which also works well). The timelapse is going to be a series of raw images in whatever resolution the camera shoots at, 5.7k on the 5Diii for instance. It should be pretty easy to match up with the Alexa footage in the grade.

 

The post processing can be a bit tricky depending on what you are shooting. If you are doing shorter lapses without drastically changing light than post is pretty simple, it only gets complicated when the light changes (such as sunrise or sunset, or passing clouds) and you have to do special deflicker processing to the image.

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You can do time-lapse quite easily with a DSLR and an intervalometer like the Canon TC-80N3: https://www.adorama.com/catc80n3.html

 

I like to process the raw files in Adobe Lightroom and convert the resulting image sequence to Prores in QuickTime 7 Pro, but I'm sure there are more sophisticated ways of doing the same thing which more experienced time lapse shooters may use.

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Hello, I do a lot of timelapse work myself, feel free to ask me anything. I use a 5D or 6D with Magic Lantern software loaded on the camera. Not completely necessary but can do a bit more than a simple external intervalometer (which also works well). The timelapse is going to be a series of raw images in whatever resolution the camera shoots at, 5.7k on the 5Diii for instance. It should be pretty easy to match up with the Alexa footage in the grade.

 

The post processing can be a bit tricky depending on what you are shooting. If you are doing shorter lapses without drastically changing light than post is pretty simple, it only gets complicated when the light changes (such as sunrise or sunset, or passing clouds) and you have to do special deflicker processing to the image.

 

Hi Dan!

Well... I'm planning to do sunrises and sunsets. How do you deal with exposure? What are your thougths & recommendations?

Probably going to do it with a Sony AS7.

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I've done my fair share of 1fps timelapses of skies (mainly clouds travelling across them) with the Alexa. But as everyone else has said, for 'proper' long-spanning timelapses, you'd do far better with a dedicated stills camera.

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