Making a 4K Timelapse with a NON 4K Camera.
I see lots of amazing videos in 4K, mostly timelapses where everything seems to be moving fast.
You can achieve that with any camera with at least 10Mpixel or even 8.5 Megapixel could work. You need to get pictures with a minimum resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels.
If you have that kind of camera you can do 4K video and for that you need:
- Remote Shutter release with time settings or intervalometer: This is a device that you connect to your camera to remotely control the shutter instead of pressing the camera button. You need one that is able to set the number of pictures you want to take and how often you want them to be taken. I have the one in the link, but any brand that works for your camera model is fine. Now some cameras such as the Sony a6000 come with apps ( you have to buy it ) that allows you to set up all you need to make a timelpase so you don't need any xternal shutter release but these apps don't work as good as the intervalometer.
- Another thing you need of course is a tripod, as stable as possible, so all your pictures are in the same position.
- This is not equipment but you need lots of patience too. You have to take lots of pictures in order to have a fluid video, so be ready for long waiting periods while the camera and the shutter release do the job. In order to have a nice video you need a minimum of 24fps which means 24 pictures every second, that is 240 pictures to get a 10 seconds video, but I recommend taking 300 so you can make a 25fps video too (PAL).
- This is not equipment but you need lots of patience too. You have to take lots of pictures in order to have a fluid video, so be ready for long waiting periods while the camera and the shutter release do the job. In order to have a nice video you need a minimum of 24fps which means 24 pictures every second, that is 240 pictures to get a 10 seconds video, but I recommend taking 300 so you can make a 25fps video too (PAL).
- Software: To make the timlapses I 'm using Adobe Lightroom to convert and retouch the files and then the LRTimlapse4. An amazing tool that works with Lightroom and is really easy and straight foward to use. There is a free and a premium version, I use the free one because I don't do timelapse so often, but if you are planning on doing lots of timelapse, consider buying the complete version. You also need Adobe After Effects or some similar app to put all the pictures together and render them into a video file. You can download the LRTimlapse app here:
It's very important to have the camera set to Manual to control the shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Once you set this 3 things they must remain the same for the whole time, unless the light changes dramatically such as in a sunset or sunrise timelapse where you have to re-adjust the exposure as the pictures gets much brighter or darker in order not to completely lose details. If you are shooting in the middle of the day, DO NOT touch the settings once it started. Another thing to remember is DO NOT USE automatic White Balance and Auto Dynamic Range, these 2 things will mess everything up as the camera calculates and changes things by itself. Set up a manual White Balance (5500K for daylight ) and turn off Auto D-R. You are ready to go!
FINAL RESULT
I shot this at the village where I live in Thailand. It was a nice clear day with fast moving clouds so I took 300 pictures for each clip, 1 every 5 seconds which took 25 minutes which gave me 10 seconds clips. If your subject is moving slow you might need to set up the interval every 10 seconds or longer in order to see it moving nicely and the same if it's moving fast, you might need to take 1 picture every second or every 2 seconds, depends on the subject speed. It goes without saying but ALWAYS shoot moving objects for a timlapse, still objects or subjects that just move a little ( grass, trees...) are not really interesting to watch. You import the RAW pictures into Lightroom first and convert them to DNG files to work on LRTimlapse4 ( This app doesn't work with RAW files ). You follow the instructions or find some tutorials on youtube. You'll end up with JPEG files to work on After Effects. Here you add the pictures and the video compositions is automatic, change the composition settings to 4K resolution (3840 x 2160 ) and adjust the size of your pictures to the 4K settings. If your tripod is not very stable, use the Warp Stabilizer effect to get the pictures nice and steady and render at original settings. You are now Done! You can change the video settings later again to 1080p or anything you need.
