Today on The Slanted Lens I’m showing you how to change focus during a timelapse with the help of the Syrp Magic Carpet Slider! Check it out!
Basic Principles of Timelapse
- Make sure your auto focus is off!
- Know exactly where the end and beginning point of your focus is- you can mark it on your lens so you know where you should start and where you should stop.
- Know the distance you plan to use on your slider so that you know where on the slider you begin to change your focus- this will help you space out where you want to take your shots. I don’t normally want to change my focus faster than every third frame because I want the change to be smooth and gradual, so I mark my slider so I know when I need to start changing that focus from foreground to background.
The Syrp Magic Carpet CF Slider
For this lesson, I’m using a new slider system from Syrp that I just love! It is called the Magic Carpet Slider and it makes shooting timelapse much easier! I think what I love most about this slider is the fact that it comes in completely separate pieces, which makes it very compact and easy to take with you- no matter where you are.
Helpful Hints
One huge part of making this successful is the type of lens you use. I don’t use 24mm or wider lenses, I tend to stick with 50-70mm lenses in order to make sure that I can focus on the foreground first, and then change the focus to the background. It usually takes about 12-24 frames to change that focus, so I usually time the focus change taking 1/2-1 second.
Make sure to post any of your timelapse videos to our Facebook group!
Keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!
-Jay P.
Hi, enjoyed your clip.
When i do this, I use a section of one of those FREE paper measuring strips from IKEA temporarily taped on the focus barrel of the lens .
I mark up a start and end of the focus-pull on the paper tape and use the the lens’s datum line as a reference line while using the ‘in-between’ mm or inch markings on the paper tape to work out the exact frame by frame focus pull – in co-ordination with the beginning and end focus marks on the dolly track.
Every time I go to IKEA I grab a few of those measuring strips!
That’s a really neat trick. Thanks for sharing!