Time-lapse photography of clouds and other phenomena in the sky

Martin Setvak
 

Gallery 2013 - Ricoh GX100 and Ricoh GXR A16 (24-85mm)
 

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My "timelapsing" gear consists of two older Ricoh GX100 cameras and one Ricoh GXR camera with its A16 (24-85mm) zoom unit.  Here is a side by side photo of both of these cameras, GXR A16 (left) and GX100 (right). Comments on why I use specifically these cameras can be found in the Introduction to time-lapse photography page, and my typical settings and additional comments on timelapsing with Ricoh cameras are hereAll the times given below are in UTC (GMT).

2013 - 01 - 01    16:58 - 17:13 UTC  (0h 15m)
Ricoh GX100,  interval 5 seconds, speed 50x

20130101_Praha.mp4  (26 MB, 1040x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130101_Praha.mpg  (25 MB, 1040x720, MPEG1)

New Year fireworks show at Praha. Captured from a bridge in front of the National theater in Praha, Czech Republic.
2013 - 03 - 16    18:10 - 18:28 UTC  (0h 18m) HD 720
Ricoh GXR A16,  interval 5 seconds, speed 150x

20130316_1810-1828utc_PanSTARRS_Okrouhlik.mp4   (9 MB, 1280x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130316_1810-1828utc_PanSTARRS_Okrouhlik.mov   (8 MB, 1280x720, H.264 / QuickTime)
20130316_1810-1828utc_PanSTARRS_Okrouhlik.mpg   (9 MB, 1280x720, MPEG1)

Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS  at dusk, setting into high cirrus clouds drifting from the west. Exposure of the individual source images 2s, ISO1250, F/4.8, f=50mm (equiv.), minor crop, processed from raw (DNG) files in Photoshop CS5. See also somewhat higher resolution (1920x1080) still images, taken at  18:16 a 18:21 UTC, and also the Meteosat-10 images from 18:15 UTC, showing the weather situation over Central Europe - standard black and white IR10.8 image and the "Night-microphysical RGB product" (for interpretation of colors in this RGB product see the EUMETSAT interpretation guide). Meteosat-10 images © 2013 EUMETSAT and CHMI. Comet images captured from Okrouhlík, south of Praha, central Bohemia, Czech Republic.

You can also check the appearance of this comet at much worse conditions, captured under bright, over-illuminated sky of Praha, one day before (2013-03-15) from Praha-Kačerov:  MP4, MOV or MPG format.
2013 - 03 - 20    06:45 - 08:35 UTC  (1h 50m)
Ricoh GX100,  interval 5 seconds, speed 150x

20130320_0645-0835utc_Libus.mp4  (47 MB, 1000x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130320_0645-0835utc_Libus.mov   (70 MB, 1000x720, H.264 / QuickTime)
20130320_0645-0835utc_Libus.mpg  (45 MB, 1000x720, MPEG1)

Large wave cloud with a horseshoe arch cloud.  The cloudiness which can be seen in this timelapse movie represents the northern edge of a large wave cloud, which formed just south of Praha - see the Meteosat-9 rapid scan loop ("24-hour microphysical sandwich" product), MOV or MP4. The red dot in the satellite loop indicates place and time from which and when the timelapse movie was taken. Meteosat-9 images © 2013 EUMETSAT and CHMI.  Captured from Observatoř Libuš, Praha, Czech Republic.

Besides the large-scale clouds themselves, notice also a nice horseshoe arch cloud (horseshoe vortex, ???), which formed almost at the end of the sequence, at its top left corner. The horseshoe cloud formation and evolution can be seen in detail here: MP4 (17 MB), MOV (7 MB) or MPG (21 MB). Interval between the individual images is the same as above, 5 seconds.
2013 - 05 - 09    08:16 - 08:50 UTC  (0h 34m)
Ricoh GX100,  interval 2 seconds, speed 60x

20130509_0816-0850utc_Jizerka.mp4  (37 MB, 960x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130509_0816-0850utc_Jizerka.mpg
  (35 MB, 960x720, MPEG1)

Shallow convection above Jizerka (district Jablonec nad Nisou), Jizerské Mts., north Bohemia (eastward view).
2013 - 05 - 09    17:00 - 17:42 UTC  (0h 42m)
Ricoh GX100,  interval 2.5 seconds, speed 75x

20130509_1700-1742utc_Jizerka.mp4  (39 MB, 1080x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130509_1700-1742utc_Jizerka.mpg  (36 MB, 1080x720, MPEG1)

Jizerka and weak thunderstorm above western part of Krkonoše, as captured from Jizerka (district Jablonec nad Nisou), Jizerské Mts., north Bohemia (eastward view).


2013 - 05 - 12     

11:07 - 12:22 UTC  (1h 15m), Ricoh GX100,  interval 5 seconds, speed 150x
     20130512_1107-1222utc_Lestkov.mp4  (34 MB, 1160x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
     20130512_1107-1222utc_Lestkov.mpg  (64 MB, 1160x720, MPEG1)

13:36 - 15:02 UTC (1h 26m),  Ricoh GXR A16,  interval 2 seconds, speed 60x
     20130512_1336-1502utc_Trosky.mp4  (90 MB, 1160x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
     20130512_1336-1502utc_Trosky.mpg  (85 MB, 1160x720, MPEG1)

Wind shear (in meteorology change of wind speed and/or direction on relatively short distance, in this case with height). While the higher clouds flow to the north (in the movies to the right), the lower clouds drift more slowly eastward. Captured from vicinity o Lestkov (Radostná pod Kozákovem, district Semily; first sequence), and from vicinity of Trosky (Újezd pod Troskami, district Jičín; second sequence), northeast Bohemia, Czech Republic, westward views.

See also the MSG loop (5-minute rapid scan imagery), where the red dots indicate place and time of the two sequences shown above. Satellite data © 2013 CHMI and EUMETSAT.
2013 - 06 - 14    01:20 - 01:40 UTC  (0h 20m) HD 720
Ricoh GXR A16,  interval 5 seconds, speed 150x

20130614_0120-0140utc_Radostovice.mp4  (11 MB, 1280x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130614_0120-0140utc_Radostovice.mpg  (10 MB, 1280x720, MPEG1)

Cirrus clouds at dawn at northeast sky. Top right constellation of Andromeda, left Perseus. Exposure of the individual source images 2s, ISO400, F/3.5, f=24mm (equiv.), minor crop, processed from raw (DNG) files in Photoshop CS5. Captured above former CHMI resort at Radostovice, district Tábor, south Bohemia, Czech Rep.
2013 - 06 - 20    22:22 - 22:42 UTC  (0h 20m)
Ricoh GXR A16,  interval 4 seconds, speed 80x

20130620_2222-2242utc_Kacerov.mp4  (18 MB, 1080x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130620_2222-2242utc_Kacerov.mpg  (17 MB, 1080x720, MPEG1)

Storm above Praha.  Nothing exceptional, just plenty of intracloud flashes. Some of them nice, e.g. this one. Exposure of the individual source images 2s, ISO400, F/3.5, f=24mm (equiv.). Captured from Kačerov, Praha, Czech Republic, northward view.
2013 - 06 - 27    20:23 - 20:40 UTC  (0h 17m) HD 720
Ricoh GXR A16,  interval 5 seconds, speed 125x

20130627_2023-2040utc_NLC-Praha.mp4  (12 MB, 1280x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130627_2023-2040utc_NLC-Praha.mpg  (11 MB, 1280x720, MPEG1)

Noctilucent clouds (NLC) above Praha. Exposure of the individual source images 2s, ISO200, F/4, f=35mm (equiv.). See also this still photo taken at the time of best visibility of this event. Captured from Kačerov, Praha, Czech Republic, northwest view.
2013 - 08 - 19    12:10 - 12:29 UTC  (0h 19m)
Ricoh GX100,  interval 2.5 seconds, speed 75x

20130819_1210-1229utc_Libus.mp4  (19 MB, 1080x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20130819_1210-1229utc_Libus.mpg  (18 MB, 1080x720, MPEG1)

Weak shelf cloud from Praha-Libuš.  Captured from CHMI Observatory Praha-Libuš, Czech Republic (south-west view).
2013-10-01  -  2013-11-06   (37 days)
Ricoh GX100,  interval 10 minutes

20131001-20131106_Libus_full.mp4  (81 MB, 1040x760, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20131001-20131106_Libus_short.mp4  (15 MB, 1040x760, H.264 / MPEG-4)

Autumn colors.  For many years I have been charmed by color changes of the trees right in front of my CHMI office, changes which take a place every fall. This year I tried to capture these with my older Ricoh GX100, set to 10-minute interval, recording the scene for 37 days. From the final ("full") sequence I removed most of the night shots, and about one half of the days (when the weather was rather bad). The scene was captured from inside of my office window (see this photo), with the camera powered by external power adapter (AC-4c) from UPS. During the sequence I had to download several times the images from the camera to my laptop (via USB cable). The "short" version is a temporal, daytime only subset of the "full" version. Captured from Observatoř Libuš, Praha, Czech Republic, westward view. 
2013 - 10 - 31    07:00 - 07:40 UTC  (0h 40m)
Ricoh GXR A16,  interval 5 seconds, speed 150x

20131031_0700-0740utc_Libus.mp4  (20 MB, 1160x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20131031_0700-0740utc_Libus.mpg  (18 MB, 1160x720, MPEG1)

Morning fog above Observatoř Libuš. Captured from former CHMI radar tower at Praha Libuš, Czech Republic (south-east view).
2013 - 11 - 06    07:15 - 08:00 UTC  (0h 45m) HD 720
Ricoh GX100,  interval 5 seconds, speed 150x

20131106_0715-0800utc_Libus-Turbulence.mp4  (20 MB, 1280x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20131106_0715-0800utc_Libus-Turbulence.mpg  (20 MB, 1280x720, MPEG1)

Morning clouds above Praha.  Low and mid-level clouds, captured shortly after sunrise from the former radar tower of CHMI Observatory Praha-Libuš, Czech Republic (north-east view).
2013 - 12 - 04    11:55 - 13:02 UTC  (1h 07m) HD 720
Ricoh GX100,  interval 2 seconds, speed 60x

20131204_1155-1302utc_Pretoria.mp4  (71 MB, 1280x720, H.264 / MPEG-4)
20131204_1155-1302utc_Pretoria.mpg  (68 MB, 1280x720, MPEG1)

Convective clouds above Pretoria.  Low to mid-level convective clouds, captured from SAWS (South African Weather Service) in Pretoria, South Africa, south-east view.

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