I’m new to all this, but I’m looking for a way to use the Dual Fisheye 9 bracket with an additional interval to capture a series of brackets. Is that something that can be done? Would be best to have it built into a plug in with a fixed interval or is it possible to have an external intervalometer to trigger the shutter each time?
thanks
The official mobile app from Ricoh can do this. Please check it out first, then post here about what you want to improve. The problem we’re solving here is largely workflow, trying to make it more natural to capture a quick set of intervals instead of asking the subjects to wait until you open up the mobile app. However, the mobile app may meet your requirements and it works now.
Please explain what you mean by a series of brackets? How are the settings different in each series
Thank you for the reply. I’m trying to make a real HDR (EXR format) time-lapse. I have tried the mobile app, but it doesn’t do what I want. I’m looking to use the dual fisheye plug in to get each series of brackets quickly since it bypasses the in-camera stitching. I’m currently using the Dual fisheye plug in on my Theta V to take a series of 9 bracketed images to create an HDRI in PTGui, but what I’d like to do is about 5-10 seconds after the last image of a bracket series is taken, it takes another series of 9 bracketed images, and have it keep going until I hit the shutter button to stop it. I can batch process a long series of dual fisheye brackets into whatever HDR format I need (.HDR or .EXR)
I found the mobile app wasn’t giving me the desired brackets quickly enough as it had to stitch each shot so there was about 45 seconds to a minute between each set of brackets. I needed to actively press the shutter in the app each time as well. The app only does interval or multi-bracket, not both. I can do this in another app, but the time between individual shots was still too long. Objects such as fast moving clouds could have some pretty noticeable ghosting, and I thought the the Time-lapse played back way too fast.
I’ve been using a Theta S for a few years and just recently got a V while I wait for the Z1 to get the support that I’m looking for.
How are you setting the exposure for each of the 9 settings? Do you have 9 preset speeds or are you adjusting it for the specific light of each scene? What are some example values for each of the 9 still images?
I’m on iOS for app control. And I’ve done tests with apps that use +/- EV and full manual control. My test are usually done outdoors in bright sunlight.
I’ve tried using the Theta app in multi bracket mode and set each exposure manually based on the environmental lighting and adjusted the shutter speed in usually 2-stop increments. It works but I need to trigger it manually.
I’ve also tested the app 360 HDR Bracket Tool which has an “endless” mode that will shoot bracket sequences one right after another, but no control over time between each individual sequence. I set it up in +/-9 EV but I need to increase the exposures to at least 11. It still takes time between each shot since it still stitches each image.
I’ve also used ThetaV-HDR to get more controlled brackets by manually setting the brackets, but the setup is kind of a pain. Plus it needs to be manually triggered each time
The dual Fish eye plug in is so fast and I’d love to have an intervalometer built into the plug in or a way to have an external one. I’ve been using the built in settings in the plug in to the version that’s on the plug in store.
Thank you for this great information.
I’m not an experienced photographer and have difficulty with some of terms, including the difference between interval and bracket as well as “stop” increment. My current understanding is that brackets are a series of pictures (in this case 9) with different exposure values. Intervals are a set of pictures at preset delays between pictures.
Kasper tried to explain “stop” jumps to me. I put my understanding below.
In the camera API, there is a table for shutterspeed and for ISO
The shutter speed table looks like this:
I think the ISO is going to be automatic and we can only set the shutter speed if we set the precise shutterspeed value.
For the exposure of the brackets, picture 1-9, would something like this work?
Time between each picture of the bracket is as low as possible, which is 1 second for dual-fisheye images.
Photographer will need to stitch the JPEG images in post-production using something like PTGui
I’m assuming that the exposure for the next interval “set” is the same.
I think there are people on this forum that are good programmers, but not expert photographers. To improve the plug-ins, the programmers need to get more information from the photographers that are facing real-world usage problems. I believe that input from people like you will push the plug-in development forward. Thanks.
Out of curiosity, what are you doing with the HDR timelapse? Are you making a video of a sunset or the clouds moving? Does your audience view it in a headset or online in a web browser? Or, maybe some other viewing experience?
Sorry for the wall of text:
“Stops” confused me in the beginning too. There’s 3 different ways to increase or decrease a stop, each one does something different, and their broken down into (usually) 1/3 stop increments.
ISO should stay the same for any series of bracketed images for HDR photography, so should your aperture. You really don’t have to worry about Depth of Field on the Theta because at ~190° field of view, and a small sensor, DOF is going to be basically non existent.
so that leave shutter speed.
That’s a great article. I remember reading that one a few years back and it really helped me out.
I don’t think the shutter speeds you listed would work for HDRs. In bright sunlight, exposures 5 through 9 would be completely white and over exposed. When shooting Bracketed HDR, a good rule of thumb is to keep a max of 2 stops between each exposure. I’ve found that since the V only shoots JPEG that it’s’ probably better to stick with 1 stop between each shot of a bracketed series.
I did a test with the Theta App set to multi bracket. I’m not sure what has changed since the last time I did this experiment with my Theta S, but the V shoots multi bracket in this app just as fast as the Dual Fisheye plugin. It did crash a couple times in the very short test, and I had to trigger each series of brackets manually, but it did work.
ISO: 64, WB 5200K
1/2500 (base line exposure for the environment)
1/1250 (-1 stop from base exposure)
1/640 (-2 stops from base exposure)
1/320 (-3 stops from base exposure)
1/160 (-4 stops from base exposure)
1/80 (-5 stops from base exposure)
1/40 (-6 stops from base exposure)
1/5000 (+1 stop from base exposure)
1/10000 (+2 stops from base exposure)
1/20000 (+3 stops from base exposure)
1/25000 (+3 1/3 stops from base exposure) toped out at fastest exposure
While this example has more over exposed than under exposed shots bright sunlight will always cap out the Theta V and the whites will clip, it illustrates the more subtle transitions of 1 stop between exposures in the bracket.This scenario gives an EXR with smooth transitions between each exposure. If there’s too much of a jump between exposures, a lot of detail and information is lost. On a DSLR I’d shoot this at f16 or 22, but that’s not an option with the V as the aperture is fixed at f2. The Z1 can stop down to a f5.6 so that should be way better.
Kesper’s plug in HDR2EXR achieves this smooth transition between exposures, gives 11 shots, but also shoots 3 shots for each exposure to reduce the noise in the image. Very brilliant, but adds to the time. Also, for some reason I can’t get it to create an EXR, but that’s a different discussion.
I prefer to stitch in PTGui rather than the in camera stitching. The results are far better and I can fit it when there’s a problem. I set up a template that is based off of yours that you uploaded a while back. It’s specific to my camera and the minute differences that occur in the camera production process. The seam completely vanishes. I love PTGui, I’ve been using it for years. When I did the new tests using the V and the Theta app in multi bracket mode, I noticed shifting in the stitching around the top and bottom of the image. it was very strange because I haven’t seen this before. It’s not there when I stitch them in PTGui from the Dual fisheye plug in. something odd may be happening with the internal stitching.
Yes. I’d love to set have the first exposure of the first bracket set to auto to evaluate the scene, Base the rest of the brackets on +/- 1 or 2 stop increments like the ones I listed above, and then once that series of 9 are done, it repeats the same exposure settings as the first one. Having the settings locked in from the first exposure would give the subtle changes in lighting that occur over time with out the flickering that happens when auto settings are used. This method wouldn’t adapt to a changing lighting scenario like sunset, but that would require something like bulb ramping and there a reason why it’s called the Holy Grail of time-lapse; it’s really hard.
The Dual Fisheye plug in also has a VERY handy feature in that it renames the files to group them by file name and exposure number. this is extremely helpful.
I’m using the time-lapse in an experiment that I’ve been working on. sorry to be vague, but I can show an example when my testing is finished.
Hi thefosterhouse
Did you manage to find a way to do quick burst brackets at specified intervals ?
I’m interested in this capability also
Thanks
Not really. I ended up getting a Z1 and created a bracketed series in the Theta App and saved it to the MY SETTINGS on the camera so I can easily pull it up at any time. there isn’t a way to save multiple bracket series in the app, so I had to create one that can shoot in any lighting condition. This slows down everything because it’s taking more exposures than I really need, but better than having to recreate one every time. Each individual bracket needs to be edited manually for each setting. It’s really time consuming to change something as simple as color temperature, let alone evaluating the center exposure. The RAW from the Z1 gives me better latitude than the JPEGs, so I shoot that way and stitch in PTGui. I’m still fine tuning the bracket series, but until Ricoh allows for multiple bracket series to be saved and pushed to the camera at any time, this is how I have to do it.
P.S. if anyone knows of a better way to send a feature request to the Theta App development team, please let me know. This one feature would save me so much time.
Hi thefosterhouse
I ended up buying a theta V and recently my excitement was reignited about the potential for 360 timelapse after doing a basic test with the standard theta app in timelapse mode then bringing the footage into my 3d software. I made the footage my environment and made a sphere with reflections at 100% and it looked amazing. Then I had a look at how objects looked like with shadows and they looked pretty poor as you’d imagine. But a decent HDR would be another thing.
Fringing - I get ghosting on clouds with bracketing using theta V, now that you are using a theta Z1 do you still see these? I saw that the fisheye RAW plugin promises much faster speeds *75.
I’ve still plans to adapt a remote to automate bracketed interval timelapse but it would be amazing to add that feature to one of the fisheye apps.
Thanks
Ghosting in the clouds is something that I’ve been fighting too. The Z1 is much faster but I still see the ghosting. The time it takes to do one set of brackets means the clouds do move a bit causing a bit of ghosting. I haven’t had a chance to find a new bracket set that give the speed to reduce the ghosting but gets the dynamic range needed for good HDRIs.
As for the remote, does the new Bluetooth remote work? I haven’t tried it.
That’s a shame with the clouds, have you tried the updated Fisheye RAW plugin ?
I’m checking the bluetooth remote now it looks cheaper to hack than the Ricoh remote. Thanks
I haven’t updated the fisheye plugin yet. With the Z1 I want the RAW image so I don’t know if plug ins can take images using RAW and raw only Hopefully they’ve changed that since I last looking into it. I’ll need to do some experiments to see if I can use RAW and do quick brackets. Last time I checked the issue is that the Z1 had to take both RAW and JPEG and it was the jpegs that slowed everything down because they were stitched immediately after each exposure. If that can be changed, that’ll be awesome.
Edit- I like using RAW because it has more latitude in each image.
I think there’s some pipeline updates from what I’ve understood from this guy 4mins in
THETA Z1 After 2 YEARS : FASTER, STRONGER, more ACCESSIBLE and 2.0!!! - YouTube, firmware wise.
…. Well I’m gonna look into this when I get home.
Thanks!!
OK… WOW!! this totally blew me away! I have been looking for this exact thing for a VERY long time. the 2.0 Firmware + Dual Fisheye RAW Plug in is AMAZING. I need to test it outside in direct sunlight and in dark areas with strong single light source, but this could be a total game changer for me. if I can use this on-set in replacement for my manual bracketing set, that’s 1-2 minutes that I don’t have to stop the set to get an HDR. I’m wondering if I can get the brackets increased from 1 stop to 2 stops between exposures.
This sounds very exciting, so it can do quick burst bracketing-
quick enough to reduce ghosting ?
It’s really fast. literally a few seconds. I’m still doing a deeper evaluation of its capabilities, but so far, it’s remarkably fast. The testing that I’ve done so far has had exceptional results for the reduction of ghosting but I need to see results in super bright conditions and with higher winds so I can see moving trees and fast moving clouds. I’m also want to explore an uncontrolled environment like near a busy road to see how much delay there is between exposures and how it treats fast moving objects. I’m still trying to figure out how to increase the stops between exposures as it defaults to 1 stop increments with a max of 9 exposures.
