DSLR Intervalometer with 1/10 sec intervals

Hi EdgeofReason, that makes sense. You're on the right track in terms of wanting to keep the downtime of non-shooting to the lowest percentage possible to prevent gaps between the cars.

However to the original point, a downtime of less than a second (such as 1/10th of a second), I would suggest would be unnecessary.

Just as in Vader's lightning bolt example, if there are a lot of cars (or lightning bolts), a shorter, regular interval such as 5 second long exposures might work without creating gaps in the traffic.

But if there are only a few cars, say one or two cars every 10 seconds, then try a 10 second long exposure per frame with a lapse time of 11 seconds. Then there would always be at least one car streaking across every frame, without the use of fractions. Vary the length of the long exposure to suit the amount of traffic. Don't worry about that 1-second of downtime. If you're getting gaps in the car traffic, increase the length of long-exposure per frame.

I never shoot night-time traffic at less than 10 second long exposures, because I like the really long trails the car lights leave when using a wide angle lens. Something around 15 seconds should capture the motion of the cars as long, smooth trails of lights.

This shot was a 10 second long exposure per frame with an 11 second interval. (1-second of downtime per frame). There were lots of gaps in the traffic, but you don't see them because of the long exposure.

Thanks Time_Lapse...
Here's a recent clip of 5 sec exposures at 6 sec intervals and then time-stretched down a bit for slower motion in (AE).



I am seeing how the fractional intervals could be slightly unnecessary, but I guess I'm a control freak like that.. : ) I still want one.

Thanks for the responses and sharing!

Very nice job, I love that shot! And that's a special location as it captures both the overhead view of the cars as well as the street level view all in one image.

My earlier post defined the speed of motion and the smoothness of motion. The reason being when I used to shoot motion picture film my intervalometers had fractional lapse times down to 1/10th of a second. Experimenting with these, I really couldn't see much difference. The fractional lapse time didn't affect the speed or the smoothness, except in the case of crowds of people.

Here is a clip where a fractional lapse time on my DSLR might have helped, because the people moved in the one second of downtime between frames and the circular motion isn't as smooth as what I would have liked.



But shooting long exposures would also have provided a smooth motion. What I would do with your automobile shot is shoot the location with at least a 10 second long exposure. The gaps between the cars would largely disappear and the lanes of traffic would be transformed into ribbons of electricity. Long exposures of 15 to 20 seconds would enhance the effect even more.

But that's just my opinion. There are no rules. It's all subjective. Just depends on what you want to express as an artist. My advice is not to let the engineering principles rule the art. Have fun. Express some emotion with your work. Be different. Don't conform. The audience will sense this in the work and they will have fun too.

Thanks Time_lapse! I agree - there are no rules. If there were, I would break them anyway.