Sunset Time lapse-Mavic 2 Pro not very stable

[Dale D]

Hey friends: Hope somebody out there there in corona land can help me. I am stuck here in my house, self quarantined. I decide to try to capture a sunset doing a timelapse. I put the Mavic 2 Pro up about 100 feet, set the camera on RAW, timed at 7 second intervals and adjusted the light/shutter settings. This resulted in about 180 individual exposures. I then took this folder of 180 RAW (DNG) images into LRTimelapse 5 (my go to time-lapse software) and developed it. The video was very shaky so I ran it through Adobe Warp Stabilization twice. It was still shaky. Does anyone have any comment or solution on how to get a more stabile sunset. The drone was in the air for approximately 25 minutes and once I started the shutter I never touched to sticks. I am also attaching a still image which was processed in Photoshop and Luminar. All comments welcomed.

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[Thomas B]

I just use the time lapse mode built into my M2P. Always stable and no post processing unless I want to change colors, but rarely do.
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[Dale D]

I just use the time lapse mode built into my M2P. Always stable and no post processing unless I want to change colors, but rarely do.
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Well, as I figure it, the timelapse mode will take care of the processing, but isn't there going to be lots of movement of the drone between the 5-7 second intervals?

 

[Lens]

Thomas B, was that shot with little or no wind? When I do a hover time lapse, I have the same issue as Dale even with the MP2 version. Dale I also post process RAW and use Resolve to stabilize. It helps but I don't like the result. I'll try doing calibrations before my next flight and see if that helps.

 

[Dale D]

Thomas B, was that shot with little or no wind? When I do a hover time lapse, I have the same issue as Dale even with the MP2 version. Dale I also post process RAW and use Resolve to stabilize. It helps but I don't like the result. I'll try doing calibrations before my next flight and see if that helps.

Don't even bother. Today (the morning after the sunset shot) I re-calibrated everything and it was already calibrated. My horizon was exact in the gimbal settings, and the other calibrations did not show any errors. The sunset timelapse was taken in absolutely no wind at only 100 feet above me. I am guessing that the drone just gets buffeted around up there, and even little movements can cause this shake. I was thinking of trying tripod mode on the same shot tonight since I'm quarantined anyway with nothing else to do at sunset. Tom (Arizona) says to just use the timelapse quick shot mode but as I mentioned, that will just save me the computer processing, but will it get a more stable 25 minute hover shot stable???

 

[Thomas B]

Well, as I figure it, the timelapse mode will take care of the processing, but isn't there going to be lots of movement of the drone between the 5-7 second intervals?

When I do these I focus on distant objects, like the horizon in the one I posted and shoot a 400-500 shot time lapse at 2-3 second intervals the drone actually does move a bit and often drifts 8-10 feet hovering during filming, but it’s not noticeable in those cases. I am often doing them in 10-20 mph wind.

 

[Dale D]

When I do these I focus on distant objects, like the horizon in the one I posted. The drone actually does move a bit and often drifts 8-10 feet hovering during filming, but it’s not noticeable in those cases. I am often doing them in 10-20 mph wind.

I'll give it a go tonight on the timelapse mode. As I understand it, I need to do my photo settings before entering the timelapse mode. I want to shoot RAW, 7 second intervals. Any tips, or suggestions always welcomed.

 

[Lens]

Thanks Thomas, I'll give that a try. I'll also experiment with tripod mode

 

[Thomas B]

I'll give it a go tonight on the timelapse mode. As I understand it, I need to do my photo settings before entering the timelapse mode. I want to shoot RAW, 7 second intervals. Any tips, or suggestions always welcomed.

Not sure, but I always fly to position set my video parameters othe than frequency in photo mode and then open the TK mode.
I usually shoot in jpeg+RAW to get a quickly usable pic when not in TL.

 

[Dale D]

I'll give it a go tonight on the timelapse mode. As I understand it, I need to do my photo settings before entering the timelapse mode. I want to shoot RAW, 7 second intervals. Any tips, or suggestions always welcomed.

I just re-read that posting- so at 2 second intervals and 25 minutes for the entire sunset, that equates to the following; 25 minutes x 30 frames per minute= 750 shots in RAW. At 5 second intervals it calculates to 25 minutes x 12 frames per minute= 300 frames. Now, at 300 frames. divided by 24 frames per second= 12.5 second of video.

 

[Thomas B]

I just re-read that posting- so at 2 second intervals and 25 minutes for the entire sunset, that equates to the following; 25 minutes x 30 frames per minute= 750 shots in RAW. At 5 second intervals it calculates to 25 minutes x 12 frames per minute= 300 frames. Now, at 300 frames. divided by 24 frames per second= 12.5 second of video.

Your math is good.... but I always allow, despite drone complaints, about 2-4 min for landing. So total shoot times have been 20-22 min giving me 400-500 images (frames).

 

[lilewis]

I'm not sure if the file size would be too big, but why not just run a video and then speed it up with editing software?

 

[Dale D]

I'm not sure if the file size would be too big, but why not just run a video and then speed it up with editing software?

As promised, I braved the dusk and sand fleas and spent 30 minutes repeating the sunset timelapse using the Mavic 2 Pro. I am sorry to report another failure in producing a shake free clip. I elected to film one frame every 7 seconds (frame rate) at suitable settings for the light. I did not color correct this clip or add music, but did put it through the warp stabilization of Adobe Premiere Pro. The 176 frame sequence of RAW files was developed and processed and rendered in LRTimelapse 5. This avoided the lesser quality timelapse process of JPG files produced by the drone.

Despite all of this, the clip is too shaky to be of any use whatsoever and I would like to know if anyone can suggest a better way to avoid a shaky sequence. I am beginning to doubt it.

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[Thomas B]

Have you tried with a 2-3 second interval for pics? It’s what I do most commonly and seems to significantly damp the drone/camera motion. You. Video will then have 350-450 frames.

 

[Dale D]

Have you tried with a 2-3 second interval for pics? It’s what I do most commonly and seems to significantly damp the drone/camera motion. You. Video will then have 350-450 frames.

Tom- I'll try anything at this point. So let me see.....2 second interval= 30 frames per minute. My "SOL" app says Sunset from 7:25 to 7:45 PM tonight=20 minutes. So 20 minutes x 30 frames per minute= 600 frames (images, photos). These will all be in RAW since I feel putting the processing through LRTimelapse with the ability to develop images in RAW (to bring out the details in the foreground dark shadow). Also LR Timelapse will eliminate flicker, and softwares better development of "Holy Grail" light to dark sequence. It's cloudy today in Miami so if conditions (sky) improves I'll give it a try tonight. If not, the first available window of sunset availability I'll give it a try. Right now, all I have is time.

 

[Thomas B]

Tom- I'll try anything at this point. So let me see.....2 second interval= 30 frames per minute. My "SOL" app says Sunset from 7:25 to 7:45 PM tonight=20 minutes. So 20 minutes x 30 frames per minute= 600 frames (images, photos). These will all be in RAW since I feel putting the processing through LRTimelapse with the ability to develop images in RAW (to bring out the details in the foreground dark shadow). Also LR Timelapse will eliminate flicker, and softwares better development of "Holy Grail" light to dark sequence. It's cloudy today in Miami so if conditions (sky) improves I'll give it a try tonight. If not, the first available window of sunset availability I'll give it a try. Right now, all I have is time.

Yep... time is a big commodity these days.
BTW, when I do a sunset I usually wait until the sun is just below the horizon before starting. With a 20-22 min flight time on take-off and landing with only 3-5 min flight time. I usually get 350-450 frames when I use 2sec interval.
BTW the best sunsets I’ve shot are on overcast days when there is a break in cloud cover just above the horizon.

 

[Dale D]

Yes- if you look at the past two videos I attached, they were of of the sun dipping into a cloud layer and then emerging below the clouds and above the horizon. I'd rather have more footage that I can select from in post, than miss the shot. When the sun is behind the clouds it is tricky for me- I really don't know exactly where to keep the lens aimed at. Then, the sun pops out just where I least expected it! I like the effect of the sun dropping into the horizon. Here is a shot with a 600mm lens/tripod taken at Duma Tau Safari Lodge in Botswana 2013.

 

[Thomas B]

Beautiful image you posted.
For video, since I don’t have reflective surfaces like in the still image you posted, I usually focus at infinity and put just the silhouette of the horizon at the very bottom of images.

 

[Dale D]

Yes- if you look at the past two videos I attached, they were of of the sun dipping into a cloud layer and then emerging below the clouds and above the horizon. I'd rather have more footage that I can select from in post, than miss the shot. When the sun is behind the clouds it is tricky for me- I really don't know exactly where to keep the lens aimed at. Then, the sun pops out just where I least expected it! I like the effect of the sun dropping into the horizon. Here is a shot with a 600mm lens/tripod taken at Duma Tau Safari Lodge in Botswana 2013.

Thanks. Africa has amazing sunsets. It has totally clouded over so probably not gonna practice tonight.

 

[W2EJ]

Yes- if you look at the past two videos I attached, they were of of the sun dipping into a cloud layer and then emerging below the clouds and above the horizon. I'd rather have more footage that I can select from in post, than miss the shot. When the sun is behind the clouds it is tricky for me- I really don't know exactly where to keep the lens aimed at. Then, the sun pops out just where I least expected it! I like the effect of the sun dropping into the horizon. Here is a shot with a 600mm lens/tripod taken at Duma Tau Safari Lodge in Botswana 2013.

Dale, that African sunset is an amazing image. As far as your shakiness problem, I don't know the answer, but something is wrong. It's not a matter of how many frames per second, etc. Changing things like that will alter the look of your video, and that includes speeding up a normal video. What you're getting is exactly what the gimbal is supposed to eliminate, like in @Thomas B video in post #2.