Compact Canon A470 and still focus - possible?

[Lazi]

Hi!


I try to make long term timelapse clip. My recorder is ordinary compact A470. I have problem with taking pictures with different focus which cause pulsation after put all pictures together into the movie. It's visible especially during sunrises and sunsets or when weather and light is changing. Here is my sample:



I suppose that my camera is too simple construction and I can't fix focus like in DSLR's or maybe I'm wrong?
If You have some ideas/advices/suggestions please share with me.

Greetings!
Lazi_pl

 

[analog.universe]

It's not actually the focus that's changing, but the exposure. You'll need to put your camera into manual mode so you can set the shutter, aperture, and ISO by hand. This is the only way to be assured they won't change automatically.

 

[enzodm]

I do not think is focus, but simply exposure. I do not see real pulsations, but more like variations, which are normal during the day. I would check whether you have set automatic white balance, which may give some extra variation when adapting to different light/weather conditions. However, if light changes, you will record it with changes.
Nice video.

 

[Lazi]

Thanks for quick answers.
@analog.universe
Hmm, I think I can't set fixed exposure because of changing light during whole day...Even If I do this, my dummy camera trying to catch sharpness. And then is effect like on pictures below.

@enzom
You can't see it maybe because my hard job (removing wrong frames step by step) ;-) Preblem is that in this movie was recorded only 3 months and new building will grow up during next 3 yeras
On below pictures You can see what I'm talking about (I don't know why but I can't put photos here directly):
http://tinyurl.com/good111
http://tinyurl.com/wrongg

Regards

 

[analog.universe]

Varying light throughout the day is a challenge doing time lapse with any camera. Usually the solution is to tether the camera to a PC so that you may automate exposure control and vary it over time as appropriate. I'm not sure if your camera supports this type of control however. Unfortunately allowing the camera to auto-expose will produce the wildly varying brightnesses you've seen, because it bases each shot on an average of the light across the whole scene (more or less).

Quickly browsing your camera's manual, it seems as if there is no way to manual focus. I think if you want to do this project at the quality you desire, you may need some different hardware.

 

[enzodm]

I had a Canon A520 that allowed for manual focus. Not sure about yours.
Anyway, I would also take a look at CHDK, which is an alternative firmware that offers many extra options (non destructive): A470 - CHDK Wiki

 

[Lazi]

I had a Canon A520 that allowed for manual focus.

I downloaded manual for A520, which topic is worth of attention? I will compare with my.
Anyway, as analog.universe said, I need better hardware...