Time-lapse sequences, automatic exposure time

[16thEarl]

G'day – just uploading this in case anyone finds it interesting…

 

Using my X-T2, I did a timelapse sequence of sunrise the other morning (it’s the first 20 seconds of this video: https://youtu.be/aHztl6DsNTU). I’ve been experimenting with sometimes using fully manual settings, and other times leaving the camera to automatically choose a shutter speed. It was on auto shutter for this sequence.

 

I’ve graphed the resulting brightness levels from the 580 images taken. While waiting 37 minutes for the image analysis to complete, my son and I were arguing about whether the graph would show a line or a curve. It ended up being something neither of us expected. (See attached image…)

 

I was a bit surprised by the distinct shifts in brightness at the points where the camera decided to adjust shutter speed, for example from 1/20 to 1/27 at frame 56, or from 1/20 to 1/17 at frame 303.

 

Looking at the EXIF metadata made me wonder: Does anyone know the difference between "Exposure Time" and "Shutter Speed Value". These tend to be different for the same image; for example, exposure 1/27, shutter 1/28.

 

Are others using Fujifilm X-T2/X-T20 cameras for time-lapse? What sort of settings do you find give the best results?

 

Cheers, Warwick

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Edited June 18, 2017 by 16thEarl

[mostlyphotos]

I'm not very experienced with timelapse but I recently heard a podcast where they discussed 'Arsenal'

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2092430307/arsenal-the-intelligent-camera-assistant-0

 

This tool has many features that support timelapse. During the podcast they mentioned not to set the camera to auto during timelapse due to the camera fluctuations in exposure (e.g. as sun goes behind a cloud)