Need Help choosing an affordable Timelapse slider.

[Timelapse16x]

Hi, I have been shooting time lapse videos for a while and i want to upgrade to motion timelapse but i have no idea which Slider or control module i need. I have a horribly low budget so a DIY would be great but anything under 400 would be affordable. I like to photograph stars using long exposures so i would need a step system so no movement occurs in my 30 second exposures right? Any help would be welcomed! Thanks.

 

[Scatterbrained]

I'm not aware of anything under $400, but if you are handy you could likely build a rail and platform system then develop something using arduino. As a matter of fact I just Googled Arduino time lapse motion control and got a ton of hits.

 

[astroNikon]

I'm lost on a timelapse slider
But when you mentioned photograhing stars and long exposure this may help ==> Planning my first steps into a massive new world | Photography Forum

==> Beginning Astrophotography | Photography Forum

 

[jsecordphoto]

You really won't be able to do any motion control stuff with that kind of budget. You can definitely find sliders for pretty cheap, but the actual motor or motion control devices aren't. I picked up a Syrp Genie like two months ago now, and a cheap carbon fiber rail off amazon (basically a Chinese copy of the rhino slider), the Genie was $800, and the rail was like $150. You will definitely need a motion control unit that does true SMS movement (shoot, move, shoot) so there's no motion during your shots. With that budget I can't really think of anything. The good options are the Rhino slider+motion, dynamic perception gear, the Syrp genie, or the Rhino+emotimo bundle. Save up for a little longer

 

[Timelapse16x]

I'm not aware of anything under $400, but if you are handy you could likely build a rail and platform system then develop something using arduino. As a matter of fact I just Googled Arduino time lapse motion control and got a ton of hits.

Thank you! I am going to see if i can do it. Thank you for the help!

 

[Timelapse16x]

I'm lost on a timelapse slider
But when you mentioned photograhing stars and long exposure this may help ==> Planning my first steps into a massive new world | Photography Forum

==> Beginning Astrophotography | Photography Forum

Thank you!

 

[Timelapse16x]

You really won't be able to do any motion control stuff with that kind of budget. You can definitely find sliders for pretty cheap, but the actual motor or motion control devices aren't. I picked up a Syrp Genie like two months ago now, and a cheap carbon fiber rail off amazon (basically a Chinese copy of the rhino slider), the Genie was $800, and the rail was like $150. You will definitely need a motion control unit that does true SMS movement (shoot, move, shoot) so there's no motion during your shots. With that budget I can't really think of anything. The good options are the Rhino slider+motion, dynamic perception gear, the Syrp genie, or the Rhino+emotimo bundle. Save up for a little longer

Thank you for helping! i will definitely look into that!

 

[TCampbell]

I'm starting to notice more questions about astrophotography lately (maybe it's just me). Anyway... the slider isn't what you want for astrophotography, you want a tracking head.

I usually use a camera attached to a telescope. Here's a recent image I did (I've reprocessed this a few times but this is the version that I'm happiest with.) These sorts of images require very precise tracking (and usually also precise "guiding" using an auto-guider). This image happens to be "unguided" (I got lucky... it's normally not realistic to expect to shoot 8 minute exposures and not have a least some tracking error even on a well-aligned mount.) This is a combination of 8 normal exposures which are each 8 minutes long (64 minutes of exposure time) plus several other types of exposures including "dark frames" and "bias frames". BTW, it REALLY helps to shoot from dark sky locations and on moonless nights.


Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and Companions (M32 & M101)

I recently purchased a Losmandy StarLapse system for an upcoming trip to Hawaii. Bring the telescope is just not practical (there's no way I'd trust checking it on an airline.) Using a tracking head on a photographic tripod is much more practical.

I don't have any sample images taken using the StarLapse yet ... I only _just_ go the system within the past few weeks, had time to do a basic functional test to make sure it's all working and then took it over to a local shop that cuts custom-foam inserts for Pelican cases. That means I have not yet had time to get away from the urban light pollution to test long exposure tracking from a dark sky site (if I take an image from home the camera is overwhelmed by light pollution after what I think of as a fairly short exposure time (seconds... not minutes.))

The StarLapse is a rather robust tracking head, supports lots of speeds, can handle a lot of weight, allows the camera to be mounted in a neutrally balanced orientation, etc. etc. But it's also one of the more expensive tracking heads. The threads that astroNikon linked above mention some of the other tracking heads.

 

[jsecordphoto]

A slider IS what they are looking for, because they are looking to do motion control timelapses. With how popular landscape astrophotography is these days, most people just refer to it as astrophotography, instead of differentiating between the two. The slider+motor moves the camera slightly in between exposures, so when you render the final lapse later there is movement. The slider I have now is only 2.5 feet, so if I take 400 photos (about 12 seconds of video), my camera is moved maybe a 1/4 inch between each exposure.

Here's an example of a timelapse clip I made this fall using my Syrp Genie with a slider

 

[NancyMoranG]

TCampbell, that is a beautiful photo!! As always, you are full of info.
Jsecord, nice video.
Thanks for posting this question as I have been wondering about sliders for a while...