Changing Focus During Timelapse

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

1. Make sure your auto focus is off!
2. 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.
3. 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.