Timelapse

Gavb20

I’ve been wanting to have a play with timelapse photography, which I believe I can achieve with my canon 450D using the magic lantern firmware, but I’d like to have a bit of movement ( eg. Panning ) and have seen a lot of devices on amazon, eBay etc that offer this

Has anyone used any such device with an slr and do you have any recommendations ?

Thanks

AMc

A really cheap hack I've seen is to use a kitchen timer where the top rotates - not sure how heavy your 450D is but if you have one hanging around it might be worth a play?
You can always move on to something more sophisticated if you enjoy the project.

e.g.
ORDNING Timer Stainless steel  - IKEA

Gavb20

Thanks for the reply.  I ha tried removing the top casing from a kitchen timer from Tesco, but it struggled to turn with the weight of the 450D (not the heaviest dSLR, but I guess heavy enough).  Maybe I just need a better timer

wysinawyg

You can get an intervalometer off Amazon for a tenner (though maybe worth looking up some recommendations on that) so I'd go that route before Magic Lantern (assuming this is the only reason you're looking at ML).

Something like the Syrp Genie Mini would be the "proper" way - it will do the intervalometer bit (I'm pretty sure) and will stop the motion every time it takes a photo.  

Going with the constant turntable options is cheaper to try it out but you will need to keep the shutter speed fairly short to avoid blurring.

Gavb20

Thanks, I had ML on my 450D already (albeit it'll be a year or so out of date now) but it can be temperamental so a hardware alternative would be great, so will have a look at some intervalometers.

AMc

I've not heard of needing to remove the top casing before?  I thought you just plonked the camera on the flat top.
I guess balance is very important as it's only a very puny clockwork mechanism - if the weight of the camera is perfectly central then the effort to turn is minimal, but I guess there are limits to how well that can be achieved.
The times I've seen this work well have been primarily phones and compact system cameras.
I hope you come up with something!

Gavb20

The top of the egg timer was not flat, so removed it to expose a flat metal surface inside.

I've found a rotating time lapse mount for SLRs for under £15, it seems to do 1 full rotation in 1hr.  I shall give it a try and hope for the best

Ugg10

For my 550D I bought a cheap cable release that had an interval timer included.

Similar to this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shutter-Release-Control-PowerShot-Hasselblad/dp/B01IF3PT0Y/ref=sr_1_20_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1530618948&sr=8-20-spons&keywords=cable release canon 450D&psc=1

shotokan101

Share a link?  

AMc

I did a quick eBay search and came up with something similar from several vendors - they were mainly suggesting for GoPros with a max load of 500g.  I'm mildly suspicious that they do a full turn in an hour...

As above a link would be interesting