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Response to Time Lapse on Xl1 - HOW?

from Ben Edwards (ben-edwards@worldnet.att.net)
Ah yes, a time lapse question. There isn't a good way to do time lapse in camera, you just can't slow down the frame rate and the tape speed. (There is photo mode, which records one frame for six seconds, but the tape still runs at normal speed, so it's limited to an hour.)

However, I'm buying an XL1 just for doing time lapse. I have come up with two possible solutions, neither of which may work for your needs. My first solution is to record in real-time in frame movie mode (30 fps), then when dumping into my NLE (Premiere) capture every Nth frame. The DPS Spark Plus 2.0 drivers can do this, they say. This still limits you to an hour or so of consecutive recording, though.

My second solution (and not thoroughly researched) would work for nearly endless recordings, but adds to cost. The idea is to connect the XL1 to a laptop PC with IEEE 1394 capabilities, then run a program to capture frames to hard disk using the TWAIN API. (The capture program may have to be custom, but I've written this sort of thing before). Alternatively, there may be an NLE capable of capturing one frame every so many seconds.

Since I haven't yet tested these solutions, I can't promise they will work. But I'm convinced enough to go ahead and order an XL1 and cope with any technical problems as they arrise.

(posted 8987 days ago)

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