[xanda]

Hi all I have been trying out some time-lapse photography today using the 'Nikon Camera Control Pro' software that came with my camera to take a picture of the clouds going past outside my window every 60 seconds.
After taking about 20 or so of these pictures i realised that i don't actually know how to convert them into a movie of somesort like you see on the tv of flowers opening etc.

I have tried adobe photoshop animation but that seems v. time consuming adding each jpeg onto a different layer.
I have also tried using a gif animator...but again this means converting every image into gif format.

Does anyone know an easy way of doing this or any free software that i can get hold of?

Thanks

[Dabhand16]

Not tried to do this myself, but maybe some slideshow software with a fast turnover time, or some video editing software might do the job?

Not sure if slideshow apps can produce a 'movie' effect, thouigh.

If you are using XP, SP2, there are a couple of free progs bundled. Photo Story 3 is a stills presentation app, and Movie Maker is a video editor. You can add sound with them too.

Another alternative is to use a video camera!

[nic]

Just registered, mainly as I'm looking for info on time lapse stuff, from a camera setting point of view.

I assume you are not using the quicktime movie option but capturing actual photos via software, which is the best way as you are not limited by movie resolution.

Converting Jpeg's into a movie is easy and painless, you can convert it into an AVI using VirtualDub which is freeware and works with both avi and image sequences.

See Working with image sequences - virtualdub.org
but essentially you open the first image within the program and save as avi.

If you've not used the application before or done much with video files, you'll also need to read the guides on
- compression (i.e. to create an xvid or divx video rather than uncompressed)
- filters. You simply add these via a dialogue, but a Resize filter may be useful to change the resolution. Additionally you may want to add free 3rd party filters like MCS Deflicker that will reduce lighting changes.

I have a Canon A80 and decided to trial time lapse (so I can record time travelling on my boat along canals, rather than my current one of snapping stuff that's interesting).

To explain how easy it is here's my first test:

YouTube Video

It was simply shot out of my window (hence the reflections as no filters etc) using the software that came with the camera when I originally got it.

As I already use virtualdub for other stuff I had it set up. So I simply found and installed the deflicker filter (simply copy into the plugin directory).
- opened the first image jpeg
- set compression to xvid, 1-pass, quality 4
- added the deflicker & resize filters via the menu
- clicked "save as" to save as an avi and went for a coffee

It took under 5 mins and produced a 2MB video

[Dabhand16]

Thanks for that, Nic, it is very helpful.