A great feature of the CamDo Blink time lapse controller is the ability to automatically switch camera shooting modes between different sets of schedules. I put this time lapse feature to the test in a backcountry ski touring trip to the Waddington Hut in the beautiful Lord of the Rings mountain range located just north of the Whistler/Blackcomb Ski resort in British Columbia, Canada.
The first step for this time lapse was to determine when to switch the shooting schedule from the regular photo mode to night photo mode which would increase the shutter exposure length to 30-seconds to capture the movement of stars across the night sky.
Checking the internet beforehand for the approximate time for sunrise (8:03am) and sunset (4:32pm), three schedules were used for the capture of the footage. I set an overlap of the of the regular photo and night photo schedule to allow me to select the exact time to switch between modes in post production to ensure I had the best transition between night and day. The shooting schedules were offset by 1-minute so that the camera would capture both a regular and night photo between the transition times.
Schedule 1: photo, 2-minute interval from 7:03am to 5:32pm
Schedule 2: night photo, 2-minute interval from 3:31pm to 11:59pm
Schedule 3: night photo, 2-minute interval from 12:00am to 8:02am
Sunset from Peregrine Peak, aka “Pippin” the hobbit
The CamDo Time Lapse Calculator determined that I would get a 48-second video at 30 frames-per-second by using a 2-minute interval for the duration of the two day trip. The Calculator also showed that if I were actually shooting under ideal conditions, I should be able to capture 2.5 days of footage using a single V15 batteryand the GoPro battery. Click here to view my actual calculator results.
Knowing that the low temperature and wind chill would significantly decrease the useful battery capacity I did not expect to capture the entire trip with batteries on hand. To get as much capacity out of the equipment that was packed in, the single V15 battery was protected from the elements by wrapping it in an insulation layer (spare clothing) and placed inside a waterproof windbreaker (compression sack).
Products Used:
- Blink Time Lapse Controller
- 15wh Battery
- GoPro HERO4 Black