I want a time lapse of this flower

[Roy Morales]

Taken a few days ago . My hand is about 3 1/2 inches wide .
I have these flowers in white , double white , 4 different shades / sizes / types of yellow . 5 different shades / sizes / types of pink and frosted pink and a double orange .
Waiting for a bud to form and then I will set up and hope .
The 1st number is distance to flower - 2nd is the lens - the 180 macro is to big [ FL ] and the DOF sucks .
Thanks for looking and any advice .

 

[Hamish Gill]

Hi Roy ... Can you expand a little on what advice you are looking for?

 

[Roy Morales]

This will be my 1st time lapse .
Bouncing around different lenses , lighting and camera modes .
Turn on light [ s ] for days or use day night .
Some places say AV - others say everything Manual .

 

[Roy Morales]

update - right now I am waiting for flower bud to form on a short plant in pot .

Right now -6-14-12
Camera 7 d with the DC coupler - Bogen tripod – may have to use gimbal head from Benro tripod , Daylight florescence bulbs - one maybe 2 check for shadows
Camera at 3 feet from plant
Lens = 17-55 – set around 18 mm for DOF at 3 feet away - tripod to flower bud . After a few test shots it looks like 14 mm is way to small . I used the 10-22 , 17-55 and the 180 macro . The 180 was too large at 6 feet . The 17-55 – maybe – will take a few shots with the 28-135 and the 70-200 - the 28-135 and 70-200 - forget them
An F 4 OR 5.6 do test shots for DOF - F 8 can cause flickering
Looks like a speed of 1/30 , one shot every hour
May need an ND filter to compensate for sun during day – do a few test shots
Shoot large JPEG - and RAW - I have a 16 GB , and 32 GB - should be big enough - [ raw = May want one or 2 single shots later - just take longer to batch ] cropping probably needed .
Since I want to do an angels trumpet [ brugmansia ] and flower hangs down - the light should be under camera - pointed up – shadows and either straight ahead or above - again shoot a test shot and check for shadows
At this point , the bud on larger plant is growing from 1/4 to 1/2 inch a day . Probably going to have to switch cards at least twice - from 32 gb to 16 gb - download 32 gb , then put back the 32 gb a day or 2 later .
If something seems wrong , let me know. The more I read , the more things change - this is the 6 or 7th right now - I save each one for reference .

 

[Roy Morales]

Right now -7-29-12 - about 100 shots in .
Camera in manual on Bogen tripod –
Camera at about 3 feet to / from plant
100 watt daylight fl bulb at about 4 feet .
Lens = 17-55– set around 30 mm for DOF
An F 6.3 - F 8 can cause flickering
1/20 , one shot every hour
Shoot large JPEG - and RAW - I have a 16 GB , and 32 gb - should be big enough - [ raw = May want one or 2 single shots later - just take longer to batch ] cropping probably needed with the 17-55 @ 30 mm
Since I want to do an angels trumpet [ brugmansia ] and flower hangs down - the light is under camera - pointed up –
I blew it on 1st set up - the intravalometer time out at 1 hour and rook about 400 shots before I caught it .
Not sure when batteries died but this morning they were dead in camera . I cannot find my DC coupler .
It took me this long - had to wait for visitors to leave and smaller plant to form a bud .
I also had camera set up for AEB [ auto bracketing - looking in book to turn off bracketing ]
Any advice , questions

 

[Hamish Gill]

How long is it going to run for?
Looking forward to seeing the result!

 

[Roy Morales]

I lost about a 2 weeks . Between finding and waiting for people to leave - then getting someone to carry the pot / plant upstairs to bedroom - then another visitor --
The flower bud grows about 1/4 inch a day and is about 3 - 3 1/2 inches long . I think probably at least 2 more weeks - maybe a month . Not sure of this ones blooming time / size . The frosted pink and the Charles Gramaldi both took about a month from bud to wilted flower . The name of this one is swingtime .
I found the DC coupler this afternoon . Will maybe try removing the grip tomorrow and putting in the coupler .
Still have not got it to stop doing the bracketing thing .
I did find that when the intravalometer is plugged in the menu does not work .

 

[Roy Morales]

7-30-12
update - I could not turn off bracketing because bracketing does not work in manual
I had the camera set up for hi-speed continuous instead of single shot [ page 92 digital field guide ]
AEB does not work in manual .
I never really checked but since I had bracketing and hi-speed continuous both one - which one works in AV and TV ?
So far a few things I learned about Time lapse -
When a intervalometer is plug in - no menu .
Turn off hi-speed continuous
a grip with 2 charge batteries is good for about 200 shots to be safe - but camera was in hi-speed continuous , manual , lens was in --manual focus with IS off .
I will make a list of things at end of project of what I have found out . So far I have not seen one with the problems I have had .
I have not removed the grip yet - may be later today .