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Why drive for what turned out to be almost 11 hours when the flight is just 90 minutes? Well I wanted to see the countryside, I prefer driving when I have lots of gear and I wanted to timelapse the journey. Good enough reasons for me but bloody hell was it tiring especially after just 3 hours of jet lagged sleep!
Shot using two 5DmkIIs and a GoPro HD 2. The Canons were running off of the car’s DC power with a DC to AC convertor and two Canon AC adaptors. I had a Fat Gecko mount for the side window camera and a clamp from film tools with a simple ball head screwed onto the headrest for the main camera.
The GoPro 2 was suckered on in different places but the nicest shot was on the side mirror. I did strap it down…just in case!
Lenses were 16-35 on the headrest camera at F2.8 in AV mode. Interval was 1 every 2 seconds in Las Vegas then I varied it depending on the scenery. Mostly around 1 every 7 seconds and all the Canons were in AV mode. The side mirror shot with the Canon was around every 5 of 6 seconds too…the cool thing at night time the exposures were long…around 7, 8, 9, or more seconds to give a beautifully streaky look. I then changed the interval to 1 second to compensate! ISO was 160 all the time and I shot medium Jpeg.
The gopro image is super saturated and sharp so took a little bit of grading to make them match.
These are the other things I went through on this journey….
4 Large Starbucks.
2 Large Caps from Wicked Coffee in Flagstaff (hence me detour in video…lovely coffee there!)
2 packs of Red Vines black liquorice for the sugar and few other bits of junk…
Thankfully the car was super comfortable. I know it is not environmentally friendly but I have a LOT of gear and I got a great deal on it…a Caddy Escalade. Got more long road trips ahead so it made sense. Little bit of info. I went to book the car on Tuesday morning before my flight as I just decided then and there to drive. Booked a Lincoln town gear (which would be a struggle with all gear) and requested quote for the Escalade out of curiosity. I fell off my seat. The Hertz website quoted for 12 days £5,500!! Bloody hell. So I stuck with town car! Then when I got to Hertz in Vegas they gave me an upgrade for next to nothing. Crazy!
Music is one of favourite classical pieces. The end of the 1812 overture by Tchaikovsky. I chose this as the end section was going to look like fireworks with long exposures and the music fitted perfectly for that. I also recently rewatched the brilliant V for Vendetta the other day and the music is used for perfectly in that! I actually chose the music whilst driving which made things easier!
Anyway…enjoy. it’s done just for fun! I haven’t done a timelapse piece in AGES so fancied doing it especially as I was on my way to the Timelapse film festival Chronos!!
28 comments
Tchaikovsky rocks!
nice TL, i like the nightshot and the sunset-shots!
and the go pro on the mirror. 😉
i should try this, too. hannover to berlin, 300km in 1min45sec perhaps…
Awesome timelapse!! The music was perfect for it!! Well done 🙂
No overheating camera?
The go pro footage looks great! I’ve been holding out buying one for the longest time but it can go just about anywhere…
Really loved the music btw. Great editing.I just watched it 3x straight! And am still amazed at the work you did to match the gopro with the canons!
The name and model of the clamp you use to mount the 5D to the seat of the car…?
Thank you
Wow, definitely inspired to try this using my t2i. No 5D….yet. Cheers Phil.
Vegas Baby!
The ending was like watching the fireworks on the 4th of July.
I thought I had a lot of equipment… how do you choose what to use? LoL..I would be going crazy. This was a cool video and nice photos.
Nothing more American than the good old road trip lol
Love it.
I hope you enjoyed Flagstaff, I am a Graduate from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is a Great Little Town that has Everything around it. It was always nice to have Vegas only 4 hours away for NAB. What kind of Car were you driving? Good Stuff!
Oops, I just watched the video and did not read the article, until just now. That’s Awesome getting a good deal on the Caddy! What was that blue light or blue glow that was near you while driving at night?
Fantastic!!!
I’m going to be doing a road trip in March/April – Atlanta – Las Vegas and back. This has given me lots of ideas! Thanks. Nice video!
Seem’s you had fun Philip.
If I ever won the “tutoring day” with you for Movember, I well beg you to teach me how to avoid all timelapse’s flickers !
Everything in AV with such a long distance and different lightning… The raw images should had a LOT of flick… ?
Like a futuristic time travel at night… Awesome!
Looks great mr. Bloom!
What if u’r shutter speed at night was like… 1 or 2 seconds wouldn’t it be a little bit nicer?? Not that I’m trying to correct u… it’s a question… 🙂
Thank you for suffering through that drive, I highly enjoyed the outcome.
Welcome back to the US. John Paul (age 12, won the Rode mic in Atl). Pretty Cool ! Hook that caddie up to one of those hot air balloons !
I noticed no one passed YOU! Now I know how you get so much done. 😉
-cp
How do you like driving the Caddy?
You sure you didn’t rent the Delorean Mr Bloom?
Awesome as always Mr. Bloom. Here is a question. When grading out an image sequence like the ones in the video, do you have to adjust for the varying changes in light throughout the day? Or you can grade the entire image sequence the same?
Hi Phil,
How much work did you do in post to match the footage of the gopro and the canons? and how do you find the quality of the gopro for matching it with dslrs? Is it easy? Do the gopros give you enough infomation?
Thanks
Jake
Even though it’s quite flashy it’s a pleasure to watch and the music fits perfectly. (and I need to learn more about classical music :P)
Phil-
What picture settings did you have on the gopro?
which settings do you mean? the field of view?
Awesome – did the same trip a few months ago. Memories.
On a side note… if you’re after a sensational espresso in AZ, hit up Ravenheart Coffee in Sedona – the town and surrounds are sensational and well worth the detour anyway, the coffee almost as much.