How to Shoot a Time Lapse in S&Q Mode || Sony a7S III, a7 IV
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- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2024
- What's the quickest way to shoot a time lapse in your Sony mirrorless camera? While Sony's Alpha series cameras do have a few ways of accomplishing this - including interval shooting and the PlayMemories Time Lapse app - each of these poses some challenges to achieving a ready-to-go, full video of a time lapse in Sony's newest cameras, without any additional work.
Fortunately, Sony's Slow & Quick (also known as S&Q) mode allows you to capture a time lapse with just a few settings changes in your camera, and without any additional work to be done in post. I'll walk through the process of setting this up with my Sony a7S III, though this process can also be used for other newer Sony cameras like the FX3, a1, a7 IV, a7R V or any of Sony's cameras with S&Q mode like my a7 III, though the menu names and locations might change.
Last, I'll go over some final tips and tricks you may want to consider when shooting time lapses, while also mentioning one key thing to keep in mind with S&Q mode in general.
If you have anything else you'd like to see covered on Sony cameras like my a7S III, let me know in the comments below!
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0:00 - Intro, and other ways to shoot a time lapse (and their faults)
1:12 - S&Q mode, and why you'll want to use it
1:43 - How to shoot a time lapse with S&Q mode
3:33 - Tips and tricks when shooting time lapses
4:54 - One other important point about S&Q mode
5:08 - Conclusion
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![How To Do a Time Lapse with Sony Alpha Cameras [ a7S III, a7C, a6600, a7R IV ] Interval Shooting](/img/1.gif)
I know this vid been 2 years, but as always you deliver this topic in the most clear way. Thanks for this Andrew, you always save me a tone of time. Know that all my channels are subbed to yours!
Thanks so much! I really appreciate that, and plenty more videos on the way. 😀
@@andrewsaraceni bro the amount of good stuff u put out is a testament to why YT works. Thank again and u bet I will be watching!
Thank u very very much ♥.
I own an a7iv and it does great. Subscribed and u got a new follower on IG and Tiktok. All the best.
Thanks Neil, I appreciate that!!
Quick. To the point. Helpful. Loved the added tips. Thanks so much!
No problem Ryan, glad to hear it helped!
Great to find a straightforward and easy-to-understand video on this subject - just what I was looking for. Well done! Subscribed - I can see many of your others videos may come in handy as I'm considering some Sony gear. Cheers Joe
Thanks Joe, I appreciate that! Yes Sony camera, lens, etc. content is definitely a big part of the channel (and will be going forward).
Straight forward and to the point. Well done!
Thanks!
Can’t wait to try this out!! Thank you for this 🙏🏻
No problem, glad it helped!
best tutorial in youtube about this topic. short and precise.thank you.subscribed
No problem, thanks for the sub!
Great, straight to the point and concise info, thank you!
No problem, thanks Ben!
This was so helpful man, thank you.
I kind of just have ignored S&Q mode the last few years, but I'll definitely give this a try this year.
No problem, Calin! It's definitely useful for time lapses, in-camera slow motion, etc.
Thanks Andrew, super helpful
No problem, Ian!
Great video! Waiting for my FX3 to come in and I've been racking my brain around this S&Q mode. Coming from using Canon's to now Sony camera's feels like a huge jump, but it is what is is!
Thanks! Yeah it's definitely a change from Canon's timelapse movie mode, but it works if you're not doing interval shooting. Enjoy the FX3!
Great tutorial! You rock.
Thanks Jeremy!
You will do great in RUclips! Good stuff! Gonna sub to support the channel. Keep them coming!
Thanks, I appreciate it! (And more videos to come, for sure)
Thank you. that was really helpful and direct to the point 👍🏻
No problem Mustafa, glad it helped!
thank u, it really helped me . thank you once again
No problem Narik, glad to hear it helped you!
very good tips! Thanks!
No problem, glad it helped!
Very helpful, clear and concise. Cheers!
Thanks Pat!
Thank you very much for interesting information. Good work 🙌🏻
No problem Krishna, I appreciate that!
Awesome video! Thanks
No problem, David!
greatly appreciated, well explained, thank you
No problem!
Excellent help. Thank You.
No problem!
That was great, thank you!
No problem, I appreciate it!
Excellent video
Thanks Muhammad!
Thanks dude! 🤘
No problem, Teresa!
Super helpful! Thank you :)
No problem, glad it helped!
Incredible Work ✌️
Thanks!
Perfect. Thanks!
No problem!
Just got the s3 and this helped out a lot thanks so much
Also I subscribed!!
@@JoshuaFoxVandonselaar Thanks for the sub, and glad to hear this was helpful!
Thank you!
No problem!
Thanks for extra little settings at the end. Nice video. I'm doing a time-lapse of a portable ice maker making ice. It should look very cool!!
No problem, glad it helped! Definitely sounds like a "cool" video (pun intended). 😉
@@andrewsaraceni Exactly
Thank you so much
No problem!
Hey Andrew this was a great video. I have a Sony A7IV and I am trying to shoot time lapses of my sourdough starter rising. This typically takes 4-10 hours depending on what I feed it/innoculation. Would you still use this setup if you wanted to shoot a 4-5 hour timelapse?
Thanks Matthew! I think you certainly could; the only thing you'd have to think about is battery life given the length of time. Plugging it in via USB-C with a battery in the camera would probably last long enough. Interval shooting would work too, but it'd be a separate process in post to assemble the photos into a video.
@@andrewsaraceni Hey Andrew, thanks for the quick reply. Ideally I would shoot it and not have to do it in post im still learning how to edit! Ill try to do it with the USB-C thanks for the tip.
YES!!! WOOT WOOT it's working! Thank you so much. I always do time lapses with GoPros and I really want to get into Astro videography. I just feel like doing this time-lapse on my Sony A7Siii and have working is a MIRACLE and the start to something beautiful! Thank you!
No problem, Katrina! Glad to hear this helped you; a7S III will be great for astro photo/video.
@@andrewsaraceni omgosh I am just bouncing off wall with possibilities now for astro. I really didn't want to stitch stills together! Do you have any videos on astro videography?? I also want to learn star trails. I live in areas that are designated dark sky and nobody else does this in this area!😻
@@andrewsaraceni omgosh I am just bouncing off wall with possibilities now for astro. I really didn't want to stitch stills together! Do you have any videos on astro videography?? I also want to learn star trails. I live in areas that are designated dark sky and nobody else does this in this area!😻
@@katrinatoucke5443 No other specific videos on astro, but that's something I could think about for the future. You'll definitely have lots of possibilities with a setup like that, for sure. 🙂
@@andrewsaraceni sweet I subscribed and will watch I out for that. Watching a great video on a to z aiding Robbins. Great job.
can we slow shutter very slow to expose each frame longer? say for shooting night milky way galaxy where we might want to expose each frame for few seconds ?
S&Q mode will let you get as slow as 1 second, for anything else you might be better off doing interval shooting.
@@andrewsaraceni That definitely does sound like a crippling factor especially for astro or night timelapses where we need to go slower than 1 second! 😅
Great video. Just an information, which is the maximum resolution achievable in S&Q mode in 30 FPS and in 60 FPS final clip? Seems to be that 4K videos are not possible.
Thanks! S&Q mode on the a7 III (and many of Sony's older cameras) limits the record setting frame rate depending on the S&Q frame rate, and can only record up to 1080p. It will allow the record setting at 60p, but the S&Q frame rate must be below 120fps. However the a7S III is nearly unlimited up through 4K 120fps in setting this, so it really depends on the model/generation of the camera.
@@andrewsaraceni Thank you very much. I am interested in timelapse videos...4K 60p
Thank you for this video! You video was most helpful for time lapse recordings but while going over and over the video I was thinking how can I be missing something to not get what is so important, then, I realized just today before attempting to do S&Q I updated the firmware on my Sony A 7 S 3 to Version 3 via the Sony website. I could not find the settings for S&Q that you are covering until around 3:09 where you show the S&Q on the mode dial, once I dialed to S&Q settings are visible! So, maybe its just me fuddling around or maybe the update has changed the menu but I appreciate your video and intend on doing time lapse videos!
No problem, glad to hear this was helpful! Yeah the v3 firmware update definitely changed a few things around in the display/menu, but they should still all be there for S&Q.
Great video! Do you use an ND filter and how about the ISO? Do you keep Auto ISO too?
Thanks! I do use ND filters depending on the situation to cut down on light (e.g. I have the PMVND 2-5 and 6-9), though I didn't in this video's case. ISO is pretty much always manual for me; I wouldn't do auto ISO unless it were for something like vlogging.
@@andrewsaraceni got it thanks! have you done timelapses on sunrises? cause it starts super dark and then bright... I thought auto-iso could work in that situation (even with the filter on) or otherwise, you over expose and then underexpose a bit? curious to hear your thoughts on those scenarios, thanks again!
Yeah, if you know the light conditions and time of day you'll be doing it, try to adjust your exposure for a bit before the sunrise/sunset (i.e. what you're trying to capture), or somewhere "in the middle" of the time lapse duration you'll be capturing. I'd lean towards underexposing for sunrise since it gets light, and overexpose for sunset since it gets dark. Auto ISO would probably give you unpredictable results - and not usable ones in some cases - so I'd definitely test it out first.
thank you
No problem!
Nice and quick guide. What is the longest shutter speed you can choose in S&Q mode when you shoot Timelapses?
Thanks! For shutter speed it's the same as in regular Movie mode, i.e. 1 second. You just have to be mindful about how much motion blur you'd want in your time lapse footage, vs. traditional shutter speed and motion blur (1/50), but just less frames captured.
Does S&Q have the option to automatically change the shutter? For example, if I want to do day to night
Depending on the camera model, I think you could still choose Auto, A, P, etc. modes where shutter speed gets adjusted automatically while in S&Q. Though you may not want to change that necessarily.
Thanks
No problem, Belal!
i recorded interview bite in sony m4 on S&Q mode by mistake, can recover sound of that clip plz tell me
Unfortunately if you recorded something in S&Q mode, there's no sound information available, so you can't recover any audio from it.
Does S&Q works if you have to open shutter speed for 30sec for milky way time lapses ? ?
I think the max shutter speed it will allow is 1 second, so that might be something you'd have to do instead with Interval Shooting.
Hello. I would like to ask if its normal for my camera screen to stutter or become really slow (in shoot mode, not in menu) if i set the s&q for timelapse. Thank you
You may see that effect given the shutter speed you're shooting at, e.g. particularly if you're below the 180 degree rule (e.g. 1/50 in 24 fps). So I would say yes.
@@andrewsaraceni much appreciated!
Thanks.
No problem!
1. Can you set any Sony A7 series cameras to .5 second interval shooting mode?
2. Can you set it to fire burst between intervals?
The lowest shooting interval you can choose is 1 second, but compensating with the right slower shutter speed (e.g. at .5 seconds) might help. Shooting regular images during the interval will effectively end it, so I don't think you can.
Is the s&q timelapse limited to 1/4 shutter speed? Because i tried it and it won't allow me beyond that
Pretty sure it'll let you go as low as 1 second (1"), but that might depend on the specific camera model.
What kinda memory card are you using? The camera is saying I need a beefier one I'm kinda surprised just for this. Tried changing from 4k to hd didn't help. Appreciate any tips !
Good question, I use the ProGrade V90 SD cards in all of my Sony's as of this point. Covers all of the resolutions, frame rates, codecs, etc. amzn.to/35zH3Qg
@@andrewsaraceni thanks man!
My Sony alpha 7 m 4 started cropping even in full HD mode with apsc mode as off. I'm using Sony GM 35MM F1.4 & GM85MM 1.4
Not sure what might be going on there, I'd double-check your settings, including the zoom options (e.g. clear image zoom, optical zoom).
Thanks bud
No problem! 👍
I have a quick question, when I set the S&Q mode, I cannot set it to manual mode. I was trying to shoot the milky way and I want more control on shutter speed, meant to set 25 secs, with 18/F, but my Camera doesn't allow me to set lower that 1 second. Do you know why?
One limitation is that the S&Q frame rate doesn't go below 1fps. So to shoot something with a shutter speed that slow, you'd have to do pictures with interval shooting instead, and stitch them together later.
@@andrewsaraceni Thank you! I just figured it out the same. It says 1 frame per second, and the long exposure photo takes more than a second so it won't work. Thanks again:) Cheers
For Sunsets, do you recommend Auto ISO?
That could work, or if it's short enough, pick an ISO value that exposes the shot midway between the sunset.
@@andrewsaraceni Thank you!
4:14 Do you vary your shutter speed in S&Q mode based on what you’re shooting (ex. cars, people, clouds, etc.)? Thank you for the helpful video to make S&Q less intimidating!
No problem! Typically I just keep shutter speed relative to what record frame rate I'm shooting in, but you could experiment with different ones for different looks.
@@andrewsaraceni Thank you! I'm sorry I realized I made a grammatical error in my last comment. Your videos do help to make the Sony cameras easier to understand!
@@andrewsaraceni Hi Andrew, I just watched your guide on slow motion in S&Q mode, and wanted to revisit the timelapse video now that I know what I'm trying to ask.
Based on the 180* rule, then for a timelapse on 24p and 1fps, I should have a shutter speed of 0.5", right?
Do you ever break this rule depending on the slow motion you want to achieve (for example, clouds vs people)?
@@Alakazam2047 I think a shutter speed that slow would introduce too much motion blur, and the minimum shutter speed in most Sony's (for video) I think is 1/4. That said, it all depends on your preference.
My usual rule of thumb for S&Q time lapses is to base shutter speed off of the Rec Frame Rate (i.e. 24fps, in the video example), so still 1/50. But you can play around with different shutter speeds and see what works best for your case.
@@andrewsaraceni Thank you, Andrew. I see I got the Recording Frame Rate mixed up with the Frame Rate!
so the slowest you can shoot is 1 frame per second in s&q?
Yeah, anything slower than that and you'd need to do interval shooting.
Hi is this applicable in sony a7sii ?
No, unfortunately the a7S II doesn't have S&Q mode.
I tried to edit a time lapse from S&Q and I am not sure how to get it into Lightroom or any video software. Do you have any videos on how to edit time lapse from beginning to end? Or any other videos on RUclips?
It wouldn't work for Lightroom (since it's a video clip), but you should be able to bring it into any video editing software like any other clip. Nothing specifically for time lapses, but I have a bunch of Final Cut Pro tutorials on my channel that may help.
@@andrewsaraceni thing is I tried to bring it in to a video software and I am not seeing any videos that make it clear, I setup my Sony A7-4 to shoot 24p @ 1fps on the S&Q (slow and quick) but it didn't recognize it as a video. I so wish I knew someone who knows something.
@@paul-webster It might depend on the software, though most should be able to handle the a7 IV video clips fine. I do offer private consults over Zoom for things like that. Feel free to reach out if that's something you're interested in.
@@andrewsaraceni what's the pricing?
@@paul-webster Feel free to email me (About > Details on RUclips) or DM me on Instagram and we can chat.
Do you need a controller for time lapse
No you shouldn't need it, the record button on-camera is fine for S&Q, or you can set up interval shooting to take pictures every X seconds.
does s&q mode support 4K
It depends on the Sony camera model, but on most of their newer Alpha bodies, yes.
Should I keep ISO on Auto?
I usually wouldn't unless you're attempting to capture something like a sunrise or sunset, but even then I'd test it out to make sure it doesn't vary to wildly.
I’ve heard S&Q mode will not work for Astro, moving stars videos. Is that true????
I'm not sure why it wouldn't - it all just depends on the settings you're using, how long you're recording for, exposure, etc.
So is no real time-lapse in which you can choose your interval from 1 sec up to 99minutes ( like all panasonic modells) and number of shots up to 4 digits?
For that, you would use Interval Shooting in the camera, which allows for what you're asking. But you'd have to assemble the time lapse video from the pictures in post.
OK, so there is one as part of the firmware and menu system, because my a7r2 still relies on the time-lapse app, which is useless many times. What is the maximum interval setting in this interval Shooting mode? Thanks.
@@sijou4441 Yeah Sony discontinued the time lapse app right after the a7R II and a6500 I think. Interval settings might depend on the camera, but 60 seconds is usually the max.
S&Q doesnt seem like It would work to shoot an "all night" timelapse. I'm going camping in few minutes and I'd like to set this up to run all night recording the area around me and my fire and some of the sky to show the passage of time. I think I may run out of battery doing this, and I think i need to shoot in interval shooting and do like 1 picture every 10 seconds or so. Not 1 every second. I just have one shot at doing this and dont want to botch it.
Yeah, you'd definitely need an external battery solution to last you throughout the night, at a minimum. Interval shooting would work and get you better battery (might still not be enough...), you'll just have to do more work in post to assemble it as a video later.
@@andrewsaraceni i've got a 26,000mh external battery, however the camera thinks its external storage and not power....
@@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy You should be able to change the USB-C port to accept/force it into power delivery. Some of my camera settings videos for the a7 IV, a7R V cover this
seems you just really miss out on the higher quality motion blur from long exposures since 1fps is the slowest you can go. Maybe slower shutter speed can fake it a bit, but probably not as well.
Yeah, interval shooting really does give you a lot more control if you want it (and are willing to put it together in post). That's definitely one of the compromises to S&Q's "quickness".
@@andrewsaraceni you know what though, after watching your video I experimented with a 1sec to 1” fps/shutter and in s&q it looks great! So never mind what I said, it’s just a slightly different math 🦾🖤
No S&Q available on a Sony A7rII
Yeah, your best bet for the a7R II might be the PlayMemories app - I don't think it has interval shooting unfortunately, or S&Q mode.
Hi, I am an Italian user who is trying to understand the secrets of the a7iv, I must say that your videos also with automatic translation are very complete, congratulations
Thanks Massimo, glad to know that they help!
it nicer if there's a sample of a time-lapse
Sure, I included a sample time lapse in S&Q mode I captured around the 3:10 mark
@@andrewsaraceni thanks for this! real BIG help!
@@boredproductionsofficial No problem! Glad it helped.