Hello the community
I was testing out some options to set up a timelapse and when choosing my interval, I noticed there was an option called "flex interval". I have some idea of what it can do but unfortunately i wasnt able to find any information about it either on foolography website or on internet. And in addition, it seems that someting is not workinf as when I choose it, nothing happens when I click on the shutter button within my app to launch the timelapse
Thank you in advance for your help
What is Flex interval in timelapse mode ?
I found info (in german) about the flex value used in timelapse mode posted by Oliver here:
viewtopic.php?p=4964#p4964
viewtopic.php?p=4964#p4964
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skippy2008
- Posts: 30
- Joined: October 21st, 2023, 4:04 am
Thank you. I will try some Google translation on that
FLEX is also described on our Kickstarter campaign:
For example, you can set your Interval to 10 seconds, which is a great starting value for any timelapse during the day. Once the Shutterspeed approaches the value of the interval, we will simply extend the interval flexibly as needed. ie when the shutterspeed changes from 8s to 10s, the interval will automatically change from the set 10s, to something like 11s and even longer as the shutterspeed keeps getting longer. We will trigger the camera as soon as we're done with the holy grail adjustment operations for each shot, typically this is done in a second or less, but depending on your camera, file size, speed of Memory card, etc, it can also take longer.
I will admit, while we have tested this feature in the office under simulated light changes with a few cameras of each, we have not done extensive field testing with all brands, so if you encounter any issues, do let us know, and we can look into them. Holy grail timelapses with FLEX intervals is really the culmination of all the capabilities of the Unleashed, so there is a LOT of details that we had to take care of, and of course this adds to the potential for edge cases to cause an issue.
Flexible intervals
So you don’t miss any shots when exposure times get longer, the Unleashed can optionally start increasing the interval. This is perfect for day-to-night timelapses as it enables you to have a nice short interval during the day, but still allows ramping down to 30s exposures for starry nights.
For example, you can set your Interval to 10 seconds, which is a great starting value for any timelapse during the day. Once the Shutterspeed approaches the value of the interval, we will simply extend the interval flexibly as needed. ie when the shutterspeed changes from 8s to 10s, the interval will automatically change from the set 10s, to something like 11s and even longer as the shutterspeed keeps getting longer. We will trigger the camera as soon as we're done with the holy grail adjustment operations for each shot, typically this is done in a second or less, but depending on your camera, file size, speed of Memory card, etc, it can also take longer.
I will admit, while we have tested this feature in the office under simulated light changes with a few cameras of each, we have not done extensive field testing with all brands, so if you encounter any issues, do let us know, and we can look into them. Holy grail timelapses with FLEX intervals is really the culmination of all the capabilities of the Unleashed, so there is a LOT of details that we had to take care of, and of course this adds to the potential for edge cases to cause an issue.
Founder & CEO of Foolography, Hardware & Firmware developer.
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skippy2008
- Posts: 30
- Joined: October 21st, 2023, 4:04 am
Thank you very much Oliver. It's either very clear explanation and very good news as it's something I didnt kow the unleashed was already capable of and certainly a huge feature I was hoping for one day in the future. So it's very good news.
I regularly shoot day to night or "day to stars" timelapses so I will definitely test the device boundaries and will be able to give you feedback if needed
I must say I missed that on the kickstarter page. I should go back there to see if I missed anything else
By the way, if I had a suggestion to make, that would be to deliver some kind of "instructions manual" somewhere on your website. I must say even if the app is pretty easy to use without any tutorial, it certainly has more features than what we know of (the flex interval was the best example). Of course I followed all the video tutorials on your website too, but I think, in my opinion, that it would be a great idea to have some webpage or pdf file that goes a bit deeper in each feature and/or each setting that we can find in the app. Because all of them are not crystal clear right from the start. And I'm sure we all would be able to use this wonderful device at its full potential, which I'm not sure we all do (me included)
thanks again very much
I regularly shoot day to night or "day to stars" timelapses so I will definitely test the device boundaries and will be able to give you feedback if needed
I must say I missed that on the kickstarter page. I should go back there to see if I missed anything else
By the way, if I had a suggestion to make, that would be to deliver some kind of "instructions manual" somewhere on your website. I must say even if the app is pretty easy to use without any tutorial, it certainly has more features than what we know of (the flex interval was the best example). Of course I followed all the video tutorials on your website too, but I think, in my opinion, that it would be a great idea to have some webpage or pdf file that goes a bit deeper in each feature and/or each setting that we can find in the app. Because all of them are not crystal clear right from the start. And I'm sure we all would be able to use this wonderful device at its full potential, which I'm not sure we all do (me included)
thanks again very much
Yea, we know! 🤷♂️
We're working on a manual, probably not a PDF, but in the app/on the website.
We're also working on new Tutorials to cover all the new features, but waited with those until the Features were ready and we don't have to redo half of them a few weeks later.
It's a huge undertaking though, and as you have noticed, we're still busy with bug fixing, shipping and emails. We know we could have saved us (and you all) some of that trouble, if we had finished the manual and tutorials before shipping, but that would have caused additional delays, and also there are only so many hours in a day...
We're working on a manual, probably not a PDF, but in the app/on the website.
We're also working on new Tutorials to cover all the new features, but waited with those until the Features were ready and we don't have to redo half of them a few weeks later.
It's a huge undertaking though, and as you have noticed, we're still busy with bug fixing, shipping and emails. We know we could have saved us (and you all) some of that trouble, if we had finished the manual and tutorials before shipping, but that would have caused additional delays, and also there are only so many hours in a day...
Founder & CEO of Foolography, Hardware & Firmware developer.
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skippy2008
- Posts: 30
- Joined: October 21st, 2023, 4:04 am
I totally get it and it was just a quick thought just in order to optimize the use of the unleashed and unlock all of its potential.
Keep on with this very good job ! 👏🏻👏🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
Keep on with this very good job ! 👏🏻👏🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
Greetings to all.
I must say that I have been struggling with my Holy Grail attempts. I use a Canon 90D.
Sometimes I get error messages on my camera a couple of hours into the holygrail and it stops.
Sometimes I think I struggle to graps the ramping dynamics, even though it appears to be very straight forward. Therefore updated Youtube videos or a thorough PDF disecting everything with examples is really necessary.
Two days ago I tried a Sunrise Holygrail. I used the Sunrise Modified mode. I set my night values, set my daytime values and for FLEX I used 17+ since my longest interval for the night was 15s. I also needed buffer time. As the day emerged I was still with a 17s interval and I wanted it to be much shorter to capture the sunrise, smth around 3s. My day settings were ISO 100, AV 11 and 1/4000.
Where did I go wrong? My FLEX shoud have been smth like 2+? It would not interfere with my nightime interval?
Help is appreciated.
Regards
Leonardo
I must say that I have been struggling with my Holy Grail attempts. I use a Canon 90D.
Sometimes I get error messages on my camera a couple of hours into the holygrail and it stops.
Sometimes I think I struggle to graps the ramping dynamics, even though it appears to be very straight forward. Therefore updated Youtube videos or a thorough PDF disecting everything with examples is really necessary.
Two days ago I tried a Sunrise Holygrail. I used the Sunrise Modified mode. I set my night values, set my daytime values and for FLEX I used 17+ since my longest interval for the night was 15s. I also needed buffer time. As the day emerged I was still with a 17s interval and I wanted it to be much shorter to capture the sunrise, smth around 3s. My day settings were ISO 100, AV 11 and 1/4000.
Where did I go wrong? My FLEX shoud have been smth like 2+? It would not interfere with my nightime interval?
Help is appreciated.
Regards
Leonardo
Hey mate
So if you were running a normal interval yes you’d want it set to 17seconds if your longest night shutter was 15seconds - 2sec buffer.
But with flex you want to start lower than that as with it set to 17+ your telling the unleashed to have a 17second minimum interval and increase from there if needed.
If you had selected 5+ seconds then the unleashed would start at a 5second interval then ramp up with your shutter speed to match slightly past it at every stage up till your night settings.
Another tip for future.
One key thing is with the algorithm settings, you used the sunrise modified which is perfect for a DSLR, but it’s only one direction so to speak. You can’t hold that all day and into the night as it will ramp weirdly.
When performing sunrise or sunset holy grails basically stick to the sunrise/sunset ramping profiles, the 24hr one while fine for during the day and sort of sunrise ish and sunset/dusk will inevitably go haywire on a DSLR as the light meter is seperate from the actual camera sensor so it interprets what it perceives as the actual light value differently than what’s actually happening, had many battles when I was using a D750 with trial and error.
Any other questions just ask, happy to help.
So if you were running a normal interval yes you’d want it set to 17seconds if your longest night shutter was 15seconds - 2sec buffer.
But with flex you want to start lower than that as with it set to 17+ your telling the unleashed to have a 17second minimum interval and increase from there if needed.
If you had selected 5+ seconds then the unleashed would start at a 5second interval then ramp up with your shutter speed to match slightly past it at every stage up till your night settings.
Another tip for future.
One key thing is with the algorithm settings, you used the sunrise modified which is perfect for a DSLR, but it’s only one direction so to speak. You can’t hold that all day and into the night as it will ramp weirdly.
When performing sunrise or sunset holy grails basically stick to the sunrise/sunset ramping profiles, the 24hr one while fine for during the day and sort of sunrise ish and sunset/dusk will inevitably go haywire on a DSLR as the light meter is seperate from the actual camera sensor so it interprets what it perceives as the actual light value differently than what’s actually happening, had many battles when I was using a D750 with trial and error.
Any other questions just ask, happy to help.