A Detailed Tutorial on Making Driving Time-lapses

[@xRoughxGemx]

Nice video. The most important aspect is the shooting interval, however. That seems to be missing....but thanks for the vid!

[@FunThingsInJacksonville]

Taking some footage of you while driving was a great idea. I have seen many driving videos of forward looking shots but never back at the driver. Very cool. Thanks for the upload.

[@robnelsonfilms]

It really does look cool doesn't it. A little bit of a driving hazard driving with lights on inside the car though... :-)

[@Janggut40]

I wish to try this someday. Thank you

[@damianbazanmamic3793]

Puno ti hvala, Jonas! Which in croatian means: thank you very much, Jonas! really glad i have subscribed to your channel. You and Rob have an amazing way to simplify everything! cheers from Zagreb

[@robnelsonfilms]

Tack så mycket Damian! (means thank you very much Damian, in Swedish. :-) )Happy to hear you liked it! Would love to come and film in Zagreb at some point!

[@runheli]

Thumbs up for this elaborate work, just to give me (and all others) an other way to do timelapse. Thanks very mutch.

[@robnelsonfilms]

Thanks! :-)

[@WhiteThunderBBQ]

I was thinking of doing something like this this weekend....but this way is much better!

[@robnelsonfilms]

Sweet! Let us know how it works out and if you come up with any cool new ideas!

[@NJA2k8]

Very simple tutorials as it should be

[@robnelsonfilms]

Thank you!

[@NJA2k8]

+Rob & Jonas' Filmmaking Tips Wouldn't you recommend maybe wrapping a bag around the camera (minus the front of the lens) to "weatherproof" it?

[@robnelsonfilms]

Yes! I was thinking of doing this. I even had one of my shower caps ready in the bag but at the end I decided to give it a go without it. I had forgot the duct tape so I got worried it would just come off and become another unnecessary piece of plastic on the side of the road. :-)

[@HoldFastFilms]

One tip (i've learned this the hard way) is to frame the shot a bit wider than what you need because if you shoot photos in 4:3 and put then into 16:9 timeline, you will have to zoom in to fit the frame so if your images are framed tight, there will be some cutting off in the final sequence. Of course if you're doing video time-lapse, this doesn't matter much unless you want to pan/zoom in post.

[@robnelsonfilms]

For this I used a 15mm fisheye so the width of the frame that you see is the actual width of the pictures. I had to cut the top and bottom instead. :-)

[@ptondt]

You guys are doing great work, keep the content coming!!! Ive recently gotten into photography with our family dslr Nikon D300s, (Quite old I know but still gets me beautiful images) and your videos have helped me a lot so far.

[@robnelsonfilms]

Just happy we can help! Thank you!

[@yce4653]

can u shoot a timelapse by just speeding up the footage?

[@cocktailequipt8977]

These guys are really good

[@onetimelapseeveryday-ish8695]

Awesome! I did one driving timelapse from over the shoulder inside the car, but would like to do a few from different perspectives from outside the car. Also, the nightlapse driving stuff looks incredible. Cheers

[@robnelsonfilms]

Thanks! Yes I agree, the night driving ones are really cool! You should try it out! I also have a few new ideas on how to change it up that I might try later. :) Happy to hear you liked it!

[@TravelNomad]

haha awesome idea with the wooden pole :)

[@robnelsonfilms]

Thanks! :) It was kind of scary driving down the highway but worked out great!

[@floatingrabbit3556]

First video i have seen without a dislike, You're doing something right ma. Keep it up man the troll a aloof

[@robnelsonfilms]

haha. Thanks man!

[@robnelsonfilms]

Dammit. We got one now! Arrghhh... someone had to break a good record!

[@floatingrabbit3556]

Rob & Jonas' Filmmaking Tips Damn those heathens

[@ish27]

Hey guys. Thanks for all your tutorials. It really helps. But if you have any free time could you tell how to do a time lapse from 2 cameras? For the wide angle. Thanks.

[@robnelsonfilms]

Hi! Not exactly sure what you mean here... are you saying you want two camera running at the same time, side by side to cover a wider area and then somehow merging the images together to get a panoramic timelapse? Where and how are you planning to use the final video?

[@ish27]

Rob & Jonas' Filmmaking Tips yes. Exactly this. I saw few video backstage last of doing time lapse like that. And was wondering all the time: how they are suppose to do all postproduction works.

[@robnelsonfilms]

Not sure. The easiest thing I would do if I got asked to make a really wide timelapse would be to shoot it with a really wide lens, or fisheye, and then simply crop the top and bottom. The frame size of a high res RAW photo is still so much bigger than a video window that it would work. And there are simple ways to take out the "fisheye effect" of the photos so that it looks normal. If you have a link to what you have seen I would love to take a look. Thanks! - Jonas

[@Mike_in_Thailand]

The Nikon Keymission 170 apparently has a timelapse mode ..is 170 degrees wide enough ? I have n't seen any finished timelapse videos from one though, so no idea what it would look like.

[@robnelsonfilms]

You're right. Most of the action cameras actually have a timelapse mode built in. Works great but you will (as far as I know) only get a series of jpeg pictures. So not the RAW images with all the extra information that you can only get out of RAWs. Plus, with most of these camera you can't set the aperture or shutter speed, which is really useful with night photography. But I am sure you could get pretty awesome timelapses from the Nikon Keymission too. Especially daytime when light is not limited.

[@esgee3829]

very cool. I have been using the suction cup ram mount for similar with action cameras like gopros. Could be handy when building a roof rig is harder though of course quality isn't as good, particularly at night with higher iso necessary.

[@robnelsonfilms]

Yeah, the suction cup is sweet too. With this setup I tried I liked how I could swing the "arm" out a bit and shoot from bit of an angle back at the car.

[@IanCummingZA]

Very simple yet out of the box approach (that works like a charm). I would never have thought of strapping a 2x4 to my roof. Did you have to rectify any "bumps" or wobbles from your time-lapse?

[@robnelsonfilms]

Hey Ian! I seriously didn't do anything to stabilise the footage. What you see is how it came out of the camera. I was really surprised myself actually. Just for fun I tried to add a Warp Stabiliser in After Effects but all that really did was crop the image. Certain parts may have been a little bit smoother but not much at all. I used a 1s interval because that was the shortest my intervalometer allowed me to go so the speed is also "right out of the camera" played back at 30fps. :-)

[@aileogretmeni]

another cool timelapse as always :D

[@ndb466]

agreed :)

[@robnelsonfilms]

Thank you! We have more coming! ;-)

[@mateenmissaghi]

wow thom yorke can do everything

[@Bigboytravel]

I assume you set it to take photos every 2 seconds? didn't hear that in the video, just the shutter speed

[@robnelsonfilms]

One photo every second actually. Forgot to mention that. :-)

[@GLOBIK]

Question! Why not import your RAW image sequences directly in AE? I usually tweak my RAW prior to the import. I then change the xmp file's name for the name (number) of the first image of the sequence. AE gives me the opportunity to tweak the RAW again if I want to as I import the sequence, then the rest goes smooth as butter. I never need to export any jpg files. What's the advantages of doing this your way or am I doing something wrong?

[@robnelsonfilms]

If you have a workflow that you are happy with you should go with it! I feel I have a lot more control of the look of the images by first working with them in Lightroom. And all ways I can adjust the images and then sync with all of the files in the folder in Lightroom makes it perfect for this I think. Then by exporting to jpegs the file size is much more workable and it makes it easier for the computer to process them. Trying to put together a timelapse video with the RAW pictures makes no sense to me as these files are so much larger than they need to be. Takes too much computer power and the additional data that these files contain is not necessary for the final timelapse video. One could claim that jpegs are compresed and don't have the same quality as the RAW but that is mainly when capturing the photo. After having worked up the photo to the way you want it to look then an exported jpeg does the job just as well. So I am really happy with the workflow that we worked up even if it takes a little bit of waiting for the files to be converted to jpegs. Just my personal opinion. Good question and thanks for bringing it up! It is a good thing to discuss.

[@samsen201]

Nice and steps / outline, well described however in this age of advanced, super cheap "DashCams" with excellent Sony sensor and ultrawide angle lenses, excellent image stabilizer and well made low light capabilities, I guess it is much much much easier to go down that way and have in house timelapse recording that once journey is over, immediately, timelapse is also ready for display/upload, with mostly no need to do any post processing what so ever. Also should your camera, tools, software is significantly cheaper this way and I bet with all the 4K dashcams out there, you hardly can make a notice if this is made with a simple, small, light Dashcam or a full of trouble-inviting DSLR/mirrorless.

[@robnelsonfilms]

Maybe you're right. But I do like the possibilities that shooting RAW images gives when it comes to timelapses. For the longest time we used to just shoot jpegs for our timelapses but once we discovered how much more you could control the outcome by just spending a little bit more time processing the sequence of RAW pictures the switch to shooting RAW was an easy decision. People have also brought up GoPros and other action cameras that shoot timelapses directly but my reply is the same here. Thanks for the input though. I should really give your suggestion a try at some point before I say too much. :)

[@gerald5617]

We have the same seat for our daughter :D same color even :D very safe choice. also, great video!

[@robnelsonfilms]

Hah! Nice! yes, we like it too. :-) Thank you!

[@simon_patterson]

Very cool! What was your duration between shots, please?

[@robnelsonfilms]

Interval was 1s. Basically as low as my intervalometer allows me to go. Also, it is kind of hard for the camera to process RAW images that quick so even if I had an intervalometer that would have allowed me to set a shorter interval I don't think the camera would have been able to handle it. RAW files are simply too heavy.

[@robnelsonfilms]

...also, the speed you see is the speed it came out when played back at 30fps. I haven't changed the speed at all.

[@simon_patterson]

Rob & Jonas' Filmmaking Tips thank you. It is an interesting point you make about the camera keeping up with saving raw files so frequently to the SD card. If I can find a way to shoot more frequently than every 1 second, I'll be interested to determine the limit for different speed SD cards.

[@TheOnlyGuess]

Great work. I have some questions How long did the time lapse last? I think with one shot in each second will be a lot to get longer videos

[@robnelsonfilms]

Hey! Not exactly sure what you mean but I'll try to answer here. One shot per sec was first of all the fastest I could do with the intervalometer I have. Considering I am driving on a pretty fast road I wouldn't want to increase that interval unless I want to make a super fast movement. I was trying to get it as smooth as possible thus kept the interval between shots as short as possible. For these kind of shots I also wouldn't be looking for a very long sequence in the video, usually my timelapses are shorter segments to be a break in the "normal video". Depending on how long you want your final timelapse video clip to be you can just do a simple calculation. You need 30 frames (shots) for 1 second of timelapse video. So when driving and set to an interval of 1 frame per second, you end up with 60 shots per minute of driving. That means 2 seconds of final timelapse video. So if you drive for 10 minutes you end up with 600 shots. 600 / 30 fps equals 20s of final timelapse video. That is usually more than enough. I tend to aim for having a final timelapse clip that is 10seconds long. I hope this helps a little )and makes sense). Thanks for commenting! - Jonas

[@GaryStockton]

Very cool!

[@robnelsonfilms]

Thanks Gary!

[@shelekhov]

Longer shutters remove vibrations instead.

[@zeitraffer851]

nice....thx you for the hint :)

[@robnelsonfilms]

Anytime! :-)

[@JakobSFilms]

Great tutorial! :)

[@robnelsonfilms]

Thank you!

[@darkshippo]

Nice tutorials. You are in Stockholm right?

[@robnelsonfilms]

Hey! I just moved to Stockholm last weekend. Part of the reason I haven't been able to post as many videos as Rob lately. I'm north of the city though.

[@PhilFeedback]

Good info, Thanks for posting this video. I've got some Driving Time-lapse video on my channel. Check them out when you get a chance to. Thanks

[@living.my.life.]

should the baby seat back be facing the airbag?

[@robnelsonfilms]

Nope. Airbag is disconnected because of the baby seat. An airbag hitting a baby would be like hitting the kid at full speed with a yoga-ball... I have seen kids run and do that on KZbin. Wow, not a good thing...

[@UntamedScience]

Oddly, in the US, this setup is illegal. But, in Sweden it's perfectly acceptable. Seemed odd to me too. - Rob

[@ThankYouPageMagic]

I'm glad you said something because I was shocked to see the baby seat in the front! Certainly illegal in the US.

[@completepreservation]

Class :)

[@crazynotme7606]

Will a polarizing filter get rid of the reflection of the 2x4?

[@robnelsonfilms]

hmm.. good question. Not sure but I should give it a go. Let me know if you test it out. Thanks!

[@FerintoshFarmsPhotography]

That looks a lot like the rig I thought about using lol, i'm still worried though cause i'm poor and only have one camera still really.

[@robnelsonfilms]

haha. Yes, I was a bit nervous driving on the highway... I double checked all the straps and stuff before and hoped for the best. :-)

[@FerintoshFarmsPhotography]

I'll have to practice around the lake a bit first i think lol, maybe attach a rig to my lawn tractor lol; oh, now i can't wait for summer.

[@robnelsonfilms]

For night timelapses like this it is good to drive on a smooth road. Helps a lot. Big bumps are going to get picked up if your shutter speed is long. Have fun with it! :-)

[@SamBassComedy]

How would I do this on a motorcycle?

[@robnelsonfilms]

Hmm... Good question. I think your best bet now would be to use one of the newer 360 cameras (like GoPro Max or Insta360 One X 2) and mount it on a lightweight pole. You will likely not be able to get a sequence of RAW images but I think the option of shooting nighttime timelapses could work. Curious to see the results if you test it out! :)

[@arantesFilms]

Pretty cool technique. Just a question: Could that be achieved with a goPro, or final quality would be bad?

[@esgee3829]

yes, there is a suction cup ram mount, very similar to the one used here, for use with gopro that i've used. the mount itself is very robust as long as you clean the surface on which you put the suction cup first. quality is definitely not as good as what you'd get with a ff dslr like the 5dmii, particularly if you want a low-noise timelapse (high iso) with motion blur (will need ND filter during daytime for gopro since aperture is fixed).

[@robnelsonfilms]

Just like Es Gee said, there are definitely ways to do cool driving timelapses with a gopro but only the Hero5 will shoot RAW pictures. (not sure if you can shoot RAW in timelapse mode though...) The suction cup for gopro works great! And they also have a "nightlapse" setting that works pretty well. I do recommend that you shoot in Protune and set a ceiling for how high the ISO can go though. The default for GoPros when you get them is that if light is limited it will automatically bump up the ISO to its highest, with the result that your pictures will be serisously grainy. You can tell the camera to not go beyond a certain ISO number (I think you have three options), which will help get nicer pictures but then you might not be able to shoot when it is completely dark at night. In a city with plenty of city lights should work though!

[@MrJcalais]

You wouldn't get away with this set up in Australia that plank of wood would have to be flagged on it's end... Did you have any trouble with the law with this set up?

[@robnelsonfilms]

:-) A flag on the end would be needed if it was sticking out far but this setup was honestly fairly short. It didn't get close to reach the front or back of the car. It was even less than when I put my sea kayak on the roof. The angle out to the side was not too bad either actually. I wasn't sticking out past the mirrors. I used a fisheye lens to get the whole window in the frame. So yes and no, if it had been any longer or the angle out to the side had been greater I probably would have put a red flag or something on the end but I didn't feel like it was necessary with the way I made it here. Thanks for pointing this out though! Important point to make.

[@mladenmedunic5542]

what's the point of the remote? can't you just set the camera to time lapse?

[@HoldFastFilms]

What if you are on the road where you don't want to take timelapse and you don't have a place to pull over to start/stop the camera? Or if you start in a place where you don't want to start the timelapse and the road you want is 2 hours away? I wouldn't say it's a must but in certain situations it would be.

[@robnelsonfilms]

No, not this camera. Some DSLRs have a timelapse function. Or you can install Magic Lantern on a Canon camera and "open up" that ability. But otherwise with the full frame Canon DSLRs you need an external remote (intervalometer). They are pretty good though and really useful when taking pictures where you don't want to touch the camera (risking shaking the camera when pressing the camera button).

[@robnelsonfilms]

Yes that would be trickier with this camera. Then I would recommend a camera with a wifi signal. GoPro would work for example as well as many of the more recent DSLRs. Batteries would drain quicker but you would be able to for example sit inside the car and operate the camera. Is that what you meant?

[@WildBikerBill]

One of the things that did occur to me is with many newer cameras you can run an Intervalometer App on your phone/tablet and control the camera via Wifi. No wires required!

[@wolfgangb8500]

beautiful , I love your vidéo, I have a TIMELAPSE chanel you can look 😉

[@EnnTomi1]

or just use a go pro with sucktio mount...

[@robnelsonfilms]

I have that too but for this I wanted RAW images and I wanted the car out of the shot as much as possible. I also wanted to manually set my Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO. I prefer to have them set and "locked down" especially when shooting at night like this. So even if a GoPro would work in many instances, especially daytime in good light, I don't think it would have worked the same here.

[@vanomaden]

use a GoPro with ND filters ... saves having to mount that hideous construction

[@robnelsonfilms]

That could possibly work with the new GoPros (that have come out after this video was uploaded). There is a LOT you can do with those small cameras today. But with that said, there is also value in being able to shoot a sequence of RAW photos in high resolution, and be able to control and lock shutter speed and aperture. Just a question of what you are after. So even if the construction looks hideous it does have some pretty good advantages in certain cases. But I agree that the setup is definitely more time demanding than using a GoPro. But even if you were to use a GoPro and wanted a similar angle of the camera (ie. shooting from a higher angle slightly down on the car and not attached to the hood of the car shooting "up") then you would still have to build a construction at least similar to this. But I have to admit, it is not often we set this up, it takes a special project for it to be worth it. Thank for commenting. Best, Jonas