DSLR vs Mirrorless for timelapse.

[renlok]

Hi guys,

I want to shoot more timelapse movies and wanting to get some advise on getting a new body.

I usually take a series of photos and combine them in post to make a short clip.

With DSLRs you have the mirror that flips up and down for every photo and is rated for a particular amount of photos.

So I was thinking of picking up a EOS-M or wait for the update(heres hoping ) as it wont have this issue.

What do you guys think?

[paul13walnut5]

Hi

The M doesn't have a socket for a timer / intervalometer, and Magic Lantern isn't rated to run on FW2 yet (and you will want FW2 for the better AF)

I would recommend buying the cheapest new body you can with the appropriate sensor size, make sure it has a remote socket and hammer it as your timelapse body.

Depending on your needs then even a 10MP body would be enough to allow linear downsampling and / or ken burns effect on your timelapse.

If you don't need video on the body then a T3 would be perfectly adequate.  A T3i would add pretty great video specs to the mix (for the cash)

[BruinBear]

If I'm not mistaken, the rated life is for the camera's shutter and not the mirror box, so you would have the same durability concerns with a mirrorless.

Also, if you want to reduce vibrations from mirror movement you could always use liveview and mirror lockup. 

[ahab1372]

I agree with BruinBear. If you are worried about shutter wear, I think a shutter replacement is not too expensive (a quick google search points to the USD200-300 range).

[renlok]

Thanks for the advise guys, might check out rebals.

I agree with BruinBear. If you are worried about shutter wear, I think a shutter replacement is not too expensive (a quick google search points to the USD200-300 range).

I live in Perth, Australia where everything is stupidly expensive. I had this done a couple years ago on a 40D that set me back $500...

maybe the rebals are the way to go

[emag]

If you are only doing daylight timelapses, there are quite a few cameras (including non-Canon) to choose from.  For example, I have a Pentax W90 that has a timelapse function built in, is waterproof and light enough to fly with a kite and Picavet rig.  Image quality is of course nowhere near DSLR but in truth not too shabby.  I've strapped it to my motorcycle for several hours of riding, it just keeps on shooting until the battery dies or the card is full.  My old Canon G2, although quite long in the tooth, is timelapse capable with a GentLed IR trigger.  Only 4MP, but for timelapse movies the individual frames really don't need to be huge.  For astro timelapses I use my 60D and modified 40D.  I'll consider shutter replacement when it becomes an issue, but until then, I bought these cameras to use them.  Like my knees, they won't last forever.

[emag]

Some examples, I've posted modified links instead of embedding, just change (dot) to   .     and they should work fine.

with G2 and GentLED.......   youtube(dot)com/watch?v=ahaQVk0iv20&list=TLitG5fo8Po8c
with modified 40D.........   youtube(dot)com/watch?v=sHRqxuHc1XU&list=TLQkYow0aU2Pk
with 60D.....daylight........youtube(dot)com/watch?v=4tqw1SX4NK8&list=TLQkYow0aU2Pk
60D astro timelapse..........youtube(dot)com/watch?v=WBwNGcLGH1g
40D timelapse of 60d taking a timelapse....youtube(dot)com/watch?v=KHzBE5y08DQ
Pentax W90 on motorcycle.....youtube(dot)com/watch?v=tY5QRwiRMGo
..and on my scooter for the work commute.....youtube(dot)com/watch?v=7-vbMcI6Kmg

[CarlTN]

When shooting time lapse shots, does anyone use reduced resolution, like sRAW?  Seems like that would be best, since even 4K video is only around 12 to 14 MP...

[Drizzt321]

When shooting time lapse shots, does anyone use reduced resolution, like sRAW?  Seems like that would be best, since even 4K video is only around 12 to 14 MP...

If you're not going to run out of memory card space, or have severely limited computing power available to you, why? In general, the algorithms and CPU power that you can throw at better down-scaling algorithms is vastly more on your computer than what the camera CPU can do.

[Komodor]

These days eos m price is going deeper. İf you living in use eos m price is almost 350 us dollars i think its great  opportunity.
Other hand is Eos 1100D this camera is relly cheap. And gives you great images same as 600-550-650-60D series...
I will try to buy 1100d and battery life is better than the eos m....

[Drizzt321]

These days eos m price is going deeper. İf you living in use eos m price is almost 350 us dollars i think its great  opportunity.
Other hand is Eos 1100D this camera is relly cheap. And gives you great images same as 600-550-650-60D series...
I will try to buy 1100d and battery life is better than the eos m....

The challenge is right now there's no port for an intervalometer on the EOS-M, so you either need a phone/tablet/laptop to connect via USB to control it, or wait for Magic Lantern to be ported up to the v2.0.2 firmware. That seems like it'll happen in a couple of weeks, ans 1% (looks like the primary port guy) has gotten real busy and will pick back up work on it when he returns.