# Winter Milky Way Time Lapse - (Canon 5D MK II)



## Harles99 (Jan 9, 2012)

Hello All, 

I have a new time lapse video here named , "Winter Milky Way". - Composed of (+/-) 8000 images. 

Shot with:
Canon 5D MK II, Canon 7D (for the second shot)
Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 Lens 
Canon 15mm f2.8 Fisheye
Dynamic Perceptions Stage Zero Dolly

Also my fist time using Final Cut Pro X. (I usually use Final Cut Pro 7)

Thanks for looking!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXTVKXJ94sw

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.


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## Cyclops (Jan 9, 2012)

very well done!


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## K-amps (Jan 9, 2012)

Very Nice! Beautiful clear night. Can't fault the video in anyway... but next time you need to use the Inception music ;D


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## AJ (Jan 9, 2012)

Nice! How did you control motion?


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## Meh (Jan 9, 2012)

Very cool. Love the video.


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## Harles99 (Jan 9, 2012)

Thanks for the comments

I controlled the motion using the Dynamic Perceptions Stage Zero Dolly and the MX2 controller.


AJ said:


> Nice! How did you control motion?


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## Ryusui (Jan 9, 2012)

WOW. Gorgeous work. I'm not usually a fan of time lapse, but that was really well done.


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## AG (Jan 9, 2012)

Good video, well shot. 

Im waiting for some nice nights out this way in the next week or so so i can do some astral time-lapse.

Its a shame about the compression Youtube puts on it, maybe try Vimeo also?


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## Harles99 (Jan 10, 2012)

AG said:


> Good video, well shot.
> 
> Im waiting for some nice nights out this way in the next week or so so i can do some astral time-lapse.
> 
> Its a shame about the compression Youtube puts on it, maybe try Vimeo also?



Thanks.... and yeah it will be up on vimeo in a few days (Im a Youtube Partner , so its kinda my priority). Also *Sloooowww* internet at my parents house, gotta wait till I go back to my house to upload.


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## scottkinfw (Jan 10, 2012)

Very nice!



Harles99 said:


> AG said:
> 
> 
> > Good video, well shot.
> ...


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## motionfiend (Jan 10, 2012)

Fantastic! How were you able to get animated meteor trails with 30 seconds per exposure? It looks like it's only a few seconds or less per exposure to capture the trails, animal on the cactus, etc....then again, I'm a definite rookie when it comes to long exposures.

Great stuff.


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## Harles99 (Jan 10, 2012)

motionfiend said:


> Fantastic! How were you able to get animated meteor trails with 30 seconds per exposure? It looks like it's only a few seconds or less per exposure to capture the trails, animal on the cactus, etc....then again, I'm a definite rookie when it comes to long exposures.
> 
> Great stuff.



Thanks...those animated trails are airplanes and satellites. Airplanes usually take a few minutes to cross the frame, so they leave trails. Satellites take a few seconds to about a minute to cross the frame and leave a trail as well. Meteors streaking across the sky last only a few seconds and also leave a trail, however they only last for a frame.

^ Gosh, I hope that made sense.


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## motionfiend (Jan 10, 2012)

Gotcha...should have realized that one. Blown away, great job!

So, the dolly/mechanism just moves über-slow so there is no blurring during the 30 sec exp? NICE!


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## Kahuna (Jan 10, 2012)

Oh MY! That's fantastic ! How about a little Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon next time. :


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## Harles99 (Jan 10, 2012)

motionfiend said:


> Gotcha...should have realized that one. Blown away, great job!
> 
> So, the dolly/mechanism just moves über-slow so there is no blurring during the 30 sec exp? NICE!



Yes, the dolly is slow moving.


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## keithfullermusic (Jan 10, 2012)

I always wanted to get a moving thing like that for these exact type of shots, but I can't justify the cost of them. If there was a cheap one I'd totally get one.

Also, are you using noise reduction mode on these shots?


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## Harles99 (Jan 10, 2012)

keithfullermusic said:


> I always wanted to get a moving thing like that for these exact type of shots, but I can't justify the cost of them. If there was a cheap one I'd totally get one.
> 
> Also, are you using noise reduction mode on these shots?



Nope no noise reduction. Yeah they are costly (the Dynamic Perceptions Dolly is too bad for the $$$) they're not the easiest thing to lug around.


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## Harles99 (Jan 10, 2012)

scrappydog said:


> I really enjoyed the time lapse. Good job! The Mickey Mouse shaped cactus was a nice touch.  What was the delay between exposures?



5 second delay between exposures... Thanks!


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## Minnesota Nice (Jan 10, 2012)

I'll have to make a trip away from the city lights to do this some time.

Or I can just do a city time lapse.


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## sheedoe (Jan 12, 2012)

Being a shutter-count paranoid that I am, I would have difficulty putting that much mileage on the body for 1 project. Nonetheless, truly nice work!


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## zim (Jan 12, 2012)

WOW superb really enjoyed the vid thanks for posting! apologies for the dumb question but I have no idea about this sort of thing. Is the dolly moving constantly or just in the 5 seconds between each photograph?


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## pj1974 (Jan 12, 2012)

Awesome video, very well produced Harles99! The music and moving images match very well together.

I can appreciate the patience needed in getting to the final outcome. Well worth it!

Thanks for sharing.

Paul


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## handsomerob (Jan 12, 2012)

Awesome indeed! Thx for sharing.


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## squarebox (Jan 12, 2012)

sheedoe said:


> Being a shutter-count paranoid that I am, I would have difficulty putting that much mileage on the body for 1 project. Nonetheless, truly nice work!



If you use magic lantern there is a way to take time-lapse with the mirror up the whole time so it doesn't hurt the shutter. Plus you can just replace the shutter box pretty easily. Just had mine die on me a few months ago and had my camera back after a week. Was covered under teh warranty too.


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## Harles99 (Jan 13, 2012)

zim said:


> WOW superb really enjoyed the vid thanks for posting! apologies for the dumb question but I have no idea about this sort of thing. Is the dolly moving constantly or just in the 5 seconds between each photograph?




The dolly moves between each shot, thanks


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## RC (Jan 13, 2012)

Kahuna said:


> Oh MY! That's fantastic ! How about a little Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon next time. :



"Dark Side of the Moon" would make it perfect! 8)

Awesome video!!

I've been meaning to try a time lapse myself but haven't gotten around to it. I'm assuming (and guessing) you used something like the TC-80N3 timer. With 5 second intervals, about how many shots did you have to fire per each sequence?


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## Harles99 (Jan 13, 2012)

RC said:


> Kahuna said:
> 
> 
> > Oh MY! That's fantastic ! How about a little Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon next time. :
> ...



RC - I use a Satechi TR-A remote timer ( $50 on Amazon) basically with 5 second intervals I get a about 120 photos per hour. Each sequence is about 6.5hrs long (with the last 3 sequences being about 7.5hrs) giving me about 800-900 photos per sequence. I shoot more than I need to and trim out some so that each sequence isn't to long. A lot of the original files will be sold as stock footage later on. 

I also had to cut out two separate shots because of the lens fogging up, which sucks . So with the two failed sequences that fogged up I was somewhere near 8000 photos in the making. 

8000 photos is a lot to take for a video like this, but hey I bought my 5D MK II to use. 

Thanks again everyone for your comments, I really appreciate it.


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## vuilang (Jan 13, 2012)

AMAZINGGGGG.... ur patience/skills to top notch...
I always been try to take 1 shots of the sky like how you did in 1 of 8000s pics.. would you mind to share the setting? or give a couple of advices to follow you?


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## alek35 (Jan 13, 2012)

Great work, really enjoyed it.

Two questions:
1/ which mode did you shoot in (P, Av, Tv, M) ?
2/ What was the aperture?
3/ did you shoot in Raw or Jpeg ?

Best regards,
Thomas


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## JR (Jan 13, 2012)

Wow really well done Harles99. I was wondering how this is done in another post just this morning and now realize it takes a bit more talent and patience then I originally expected!  I will have to give this a try at one point...


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## Harles99 (Jan 13, 2012)

alek35 said:


> Great work, really enjoyed it.
> 
> Two questions:
> 1/ which mode did you shoot in (P, Av, Tv, M) ?
> ...



I shoot Manual, @ f2.8 , in Raw. 

Also to add: 30 second exposures, ISO 3200, White Balance 3400K. I don't think I mentioned those settings on here.


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## kubelik (Jan 18, 2012)

Harley, that is a great time-lapse video (good job on the music pairing as well). I found the clouds that wafted through the field of view absolutely mesmerizing against the backdrop of the stars ... something surreal about that image.


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## Axilrod (Jan 18, 2012)

alek35 said:


> Great work, really enjoyed it.
> 
> Two questions:
> 1/ which mode did you shoot in (P, Av, Tv, M) ?
> ...



I would always do manual for these types of things, and you usually want to shoot pretty close to wide open. If you're in a place with very little light pollution you can get away with much shorter exposures. I've gotten some amazing results shooting at f/2, ISO 1600 for 5 seconds. 

I saw the OP didn't like the DP dolly, but I LOVE it. It's super easy to set up and the intervalometer is built in to the controller. You can set it up to move anywhere from .12 inches per minute to 30 inches per minute, or you can put it in SMS (shoot, move, shoot) mode and that will give you the smoothest motion possible. 

You can also mount it upside down and get some really cool shots (since the track is no longer visible). This is an example of that : http://vimeo.com/32800222

Sure it's kinda pricey for the money, but it's not that bad carrying it around in a ski bag. I'm just going to ship the rail to the west coast when I fly out there.


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## spaced (Jan 18, 2012)

Harles99 said:


> I shoot Manual, @ f2.8 , in Raw.
> 
> Also to add: 30 second exposures, ISO 3200, White Balance 3400K. I don't think I mentioned those settings on here.



Harles99 - I was blown away by your video - truly well done.

One question though... if you're taking 30 second exposures, how have you not got star trails?

Inspired by your pictures, I tried taking some images of the stars a few nights ago and found that above 15 seconds the stars start to trail :-\


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## PaperTiger (Jan 18, 2012)

Looks awesome!


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## Axilrod (Jan 18, 2012)

spaced said:


> Harles99 said:
> 
> 
> > I shoot Manual, @ f2.8 , in Raw.
> ...



It depends on the focal length, the wider you're shooting the longer exposure you can use. What lens were you using?


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## stefsan (Jan 18, 2012)

Wow, well done! I love time lapse videos of the milky way and this one is particularly beautiful. Fantastic work Harley!


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## spaced (Jan 18, 2012)

Axilrod said:


> It depends on the focal length, the wider you're shooting the longer exposure you can use. What lens were you using?



thanks for the reply - now that you pointed it out, it does makes sense that a wider view would allow for longer exposures.

(For the record I was using the 24-105 - taking the photos at 24mm)


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## ams2d (Jan 19, 2012)

Harley,

That is the _worse _ video I have ever seen ... in fact I think you should keep making them until it is decided that you finally got one that is acceptable.



Obviously I am *kidding* was an amazing video and reading the time and effort you put into it only adds to the *WOW* factor of the video. Thank you for your effort and for sharing your work. I didn't read (maybe missed it) but what kind of post processing was done on the photos? Given the volume of photos am curious.


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## Harles99 (Jan 19, 2012)

Axilrod said:


> alek35 said:
> 
> 
> > Great work, really enjoyed it.
> ...





I do love the DP Dolly. Its a great piece of equipment.



ams2d said:


> Harley,
> 
> That is the _worse _ video I have ever seen ... in fact I think you should keep making them until it is decided that you finally got one that is acceptable.
> 
> ...




When Im done shooting I import to Adobe Lightroom and make color corrections or noise reduction ( if necessary) then use Quicktime Pro 7 to make a .mov file, then its off to Final Cut. 


Thanks


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## g2 (Jan 20, 2012)

Two words sir, 
Absolutely Stunning.


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## Harles99 (Jan 21, 2012)

g2 said:


> Two words sir,
> Absolutely Stunning.



Thanks!


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## UltraReef (Mar 28, 2012)

Fantastic video, thanks for sharing.


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## dturano (Mar 28, 2012)

Really nice work, here is another great one,

Plains Milky Way - Watch in HD


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## UltraReef (Mar 28, 2012)

That is another well done video, thanks for posting.


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## BobSanderson (Apr 5, 2012)

Harles,
Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous work and also for taking the time to explain your technique. I'm sure few here will have the talent, dedication or time to try this but maybe even trying a short version might be exciting.


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## Wideopen (Apr 8, 2012)

Wow!!!!!! That is amazing!


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## JoelBelmont (Apr 27, 2012)

Awesome timelapse!!!


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## gngan (Apr 28, 2012)

Nice time lapse! Always wanted to do something like this but the equipement is too expensive. Did you just use the battery grip for 3-4 hours of shooting?


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## cezargalang (Apr 29, 2012)

Awesome! Like it ;D

I have a few questions though,

Do you shoot raw?
Do you process each photo?

I'm also thinking of doing timelapses, is a 2.8 lens necessary? Sorry for my questions as i have never tried capturing stars or doing scapes at night.


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## gngan (Apr 29, 2012)

cezargalang said:


> Awesome! Like it ;D
> 
> I have a few questions though,
> 
> ...



Here you go. 



Harles99 said:


> I shoot Manual, @ f2.8 , in Raw.
> 
> Also to add: 30 second exposures, ISO 3200, White Balance 3400K. I don't think I mentioned those settings on here.





Harles99 said:


> When Im done shooting I import to Adobe Lightroom and make color corrections or noise reduction ( if necessary) then use Quicktime Pro 7 to make a .mov file, then its off to Final Cut.
> 
> 
> Thanks


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## !Xabbu (Apr 29, 2012)

dturano said:


> Really nice work, here is another great one,
> 
> Plains Milky Way - Watch in HD



Wow, amazing - how much pictures did you use for this and how long does it take you to post process until it looks so cool?


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