My understanding of shooting time lapse on a 5D Mk IV is that there are two options.
1. Photo Mode/Interval Timer - essentially shooting hundreds of individual pics and stitching them together later.
and..
2. Time Lapse
a. Any general advice on settings (frame rates etc.) for either of these?
b. If I opt for option 1., can I shoot RAW and convert later? If so, is there anything to be gained by doing so?
c. Any advice on issues such as powering the camera, battery life, etc.?
d. What are the relative advantages/disadvantages of 1. and 2.?
e. Anything else?
Thanks.
D.
I've just started dabbling in Time Lapse so I'm no expert. But I'm happy to share my experience so far.
My D610 has similar functionality to your 5D.
With the Interval Timer option, you can shoot raw and the experts generally recommend it. This means that you can potentially get the best out of your shots (for the same reasons as in still photography).If you have several hundred stills to process, then some form of automation helps considerably. I recently came across a piece of software called "LRTimelapse" which makes things easier. It works with LR or ACR and uses a keyframe concept to avoid editing every shot. The keyframes are set automatically based on significant exposure differences between adjacent shots (but can be also selected manually)
and only the keyframe shots need to be edited in LR or ACR. The program then adjusts the xmp data for every shot to give a smooth variation in exposure and other parameters across the entire range of shots. Once the shots are ready, the software can be used to render them in to a movie. Be warned, it has a bit of a learning curve!
The advantage of using the Time Lapse option in camera is that the processing and movie rendering is all done in camera. You don't have to download hundreds of shots and process them. The disadvantage is that you lose the ability to tailor the processing of the individual shots. You can however still edit the movie to improve its tonal qualities if you have a decent video editor. You are also limited to the video formats supported by the camera.
The main settings to consider are
Time interval between shots
Video frame rate (typically 25 or 30 fps)
Whether the video speed will be reduced (by using each shot to produce several identical video frames)
The combination of these three factors determines how many shots need to be taken to get a certain length video.
The time interval between shots is the most important consideration I think and the best value depends on the nature of the scene.
This reference contains some typical values for different situations.
I think a bit of trial and error is necessary to get to know how to judge the best time intervals. Good luck if you try it!
Dave
