One of the things that I love that my newest cameras can do is the time-lapse video modes. I have been experimenting with them and trying to improve their quality.
I have set my own rule that I wanted to get all the footage at 4K.
Our last trip away gave me a few chances to place the cameras and capture some interesting video. I have spliced the footage together and put it onto YouTube.
Equipment
I have been trying out the following cameras for getting time-lapse footage. Each has their benefits and disadvantages.
GoPro Hero 6
The GoPro is one of the most convenient ways of getting footage as it has easy menu options, is fully weatherproof and is very small. There are many versatile mounts to get great vantage points such as tripod and suction cup mounts.
The main disadvantage of the GoPro is that the view is static unless you place the camera onto some third-party timer mount.
Osmo Mobile (1 or 2)
The Osmo allows for the iPhones to be mounted and used as the capturing camera. There are many reasons that I like this, but one of the biggest things is that it lessens the equipment that I need to have available and charged.
The Osmo allows for videos that ‘track’ through the scene. This is a great plus and is simple to use.
The downside for the Osmo, for me, is that it ties up your phone while it is capturing the time-lapse. This also drains the battery significantly. There are situations where I have chosen not to use the Osmo because of security concerns.
Canon M50
One of the newest cameras in my kit is the Canon M50. This is a super small & light mirrorless camera. It is an excellent all-rounder camera for travel.
The camera provides some basic, but sufficient, time-lapse capture modes.
The main advantage of the Canon is that it can be zoomed much further than the other options. The quality is much better because of a large sensor.
The video format that it captures in is not to my liking, so I tend to capture individual images and put them together in my video editor.
Issues
One of the most significant issues that I am facing in capturing is changes in the lighting levels during the capture period.
The flickering of the captured video can be minimised by setting a consistent exposure (manual mode), but this is not a foolproof fix. I have just shot a time-lapse of footage of a room where there was sunlight coming in. Even on a what seemed to be a consistently dull day there was a visible flicker on the output video.
I am continuing to work on this and am hoping to improve in this area.
Simon & Julie 