4K Milky Way time lapse with Nikon D4 (Other Nikon DSLRs can do this as well)

Harles99

Hello all,

Using my Nikon D4 and the full size stills I was able to create a short Milky Way time lapse video in 4K resolution. 4K (4096x2304) is four times the size of 1080p HD.

I love making time lapse videos and watching those that others made as well. So, I Thought I'd share my settings and workflow so others can create time lapse videos. Its not always easy finding settings for Astrophotography as many photographer like to keep theirs secret, but I don't mind.

My workflow is as follows:
Nikon D4 -> Adobe Camera Raw (adjust settings and get the look desired) -> Adobe After Effects (using the GoPro Cinefrom 4K Codec) -> Premiere Pro -> Export 4K (4096x2304) H.264 file for youtube. This can be done on Mac or Windows computers.

***It does take some processing power to work with 4K resolution.***

As for capturing the Milky Way my settings were:
Nikon D4 & Nikon 14-24mm @14mm, f2.8
30 second exposures, ISO 3200, WB 4000K.

Thanks for looking and if anyone has questions feel free to ask!

( for 4K resolution, click "Original" on the videos Youtube watch page)

DJBee49

Very beautiful. Thanks for sharing this.

Parke1953

Very nice. I go to dakotalapse sometimes. great stuff.

PB_PM

Stunning, very well done!

Golf007sd

Kick ass...well done!

Yetibuddha

Nice. Thanks for the settings and the processing hints. Have you tried LRTimelapse?

Correlli

That looks very cool. Nice work!

Harles99

Thanks for all the comments, I appreciate it!

Nice. Thanks for the settings and the processing hints. Have you tried LRTimelapse?

Yes I have, I've used the De-flickering in the past as well as their 4K templates. They're nice but I like the Cineform 4K workflow better. LRTimelapse De-flickering works wonders though.

ralpheburns

Harles,

To date I've only been a still photographer, but am interested in starting video with some starlight time-lapse. I have a D4 setup, and also just moved to the mountains and the house's rear deck faces the north star. The one time I experimented with time-lapse the D3s battery didn't last very long. Do you have a solution for external power?

Software to start? I have LR4 & PS CS6 now. LRTimelapse2? Adobe After Effects? Premiere Pro? I'm on Win7 with 16GB ram, SSD drive.

Ralph

shawnino

That's brilliant. Thank you for posting it.

adamz

nicely done!

Harles99

Harles,

To date I've only been a still photographer, but am interested in starting video with some starlight time-lapse. I have a D4 setup, and also just moved to the mountains and the house's rear deck faces the north star. The one time I experimented with time-lapse the D3s battery didn't last very long. Do you have a solution for external power?

Software to start? I have LR4 & PS CS6 now. LRTimelapse2? Adobe After Effects? Premiere Pro? I'm on Win7 with 16GB ram, SSD drive.

Ralph

I just use the D4 battery only. Back in the summer my D4 battery would last about 750-800 shots of taking 30 second exposures back to back to back, In the cold of winter it seems likes its dropped to around 650ish. Thats enough time to create a 5-6hrs of shooting and around 25-30 seconds of time lapse footage played back at 24fps.

I recommend After Effects (to compile TL together) and then make your edits in Premiere Pro. Seems to be the workflow a lot of astrophotographers are using now to make their videos.

google the timescapes fourms. There is ALOT of good info over there. its helped me a lot!

MikeGunter

Hi all,

@Harles99

Thanks a lot! Great stuff!

My best,

Mike

Rx4Photo

@ Harles99, that's amazing. It's something I'd like to do someday but can never sit long enough to learn how.
Thanks for posting it.

Ironheart

@ralpheburns almost all of the Nikon bodies have available what Nikon calls a "power supply adapter" which is a dummy battery with a cord. Then you have to buy an "AC adapter" which will convert the line voltage to a proper DC voltage to run the camera indefinitely.

I'm also looking at replacing the AC adapter part with a larger battery (12V from the car for instance) but I haven't had a chance to research the specs yet. For now I use a 12V DC to 120V AC inverter, then use the AC adapter to convert back to DC to run the camera. Clunky, but it works.

Postman

This is exactly what I really want to get into. I've never done anything like this before and have a trip to Iceland fast approaching. I'll be taking my D800 with battery grip for added juice, my 20mm f2.8 AF-D and a sturdy tripod at the very least, so shouldn't have too much problem actually setting up and leaving my camera taking shots somewhere for 3 or 4 hours - I hope to actually get some Aurora action too. I had an exposure time of no more than 20 seconds in my head to reduce the movement time-frame, setting the aperture to f2.8 and adjusting the ISO accordingly, but whether or not this will be achievable I don't know. The high ISO capability of the D800 will hopefully allow it.

Once I have the photos it's what to do after them which is potentially daunting, I've got LR4, PS CS6 and After Effects. My PC is however rather old now, AMD Phenom X4, 4GB RAM although it does have a decent graphics card and an SSD I'm not convinced I'll actually be able to do anything with it at all in terms of compiling a timelapse. In terms of capturing the raw ingredients, the images, I hope I'll be able to and worry about actually producing something with them once I have the hardware I need.

Does anyone have any experience with using the large resolution images from a DSLR in a timelapse to create the impression of camera movement, but what is actually just panning a crop frame within the full resolution frame out of camera? I haven't got any fancy gear to actually set my camera moving to do this, so wondered if it's achievable in post to get a similar effect using After Effects or Premier perhaps?

Yetibuddha

Postman,

I don't have after effects or premier, but this can be done in lightroom. If you google J Kost Lightroom tutorials, she has an excellent one on cropping and moving the crop in a video. Relatively simple to do. I have used LRTimelapse as well, which is free for under 400 images. you can also do quite a bit in Photoshop 6.

vitamin_s

How many photos did you click to make the video?

Shiv

Hi Harles,

Fantastic video and the music makes it even more better.

Would you mind sharing the technique used in rendering the star as streaks in a timelapse from 0:35 onwards ?

Did you changed your settings on camera to get streaks within single frame or was it done in post in AE ? Apologies if its been an ignorant question but very curious.

Shiv

Dredden85

@ Harles99
How many 30sec exposures was required to make 58sec of video when compiled? :-?

Absolutely beautiful timelapse! Great work!

subpar

What sensor did you use for this? FX, DX or 2.7?

tektrader

Another nice time lapse Harley, I look forward to the emails from YouTube when you upload something new.

Keep it up

Photobug

Great video. Very nicely done.
Also thanks for the settings.

HipShot

Wow!

obajoba

Hmm, never realized 4K is not 4k lines of horizontal resolution, rather it is only 2160. Guess I hadn't looked at it closely and just assumed that they were somehow quadrupling the lines of horizontal resolution.

Great work on the time lapses, they are definitely enjoyable to watch!