• Joined: December 26, 2008

Topic: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

The last time I made a brickfilm, I was shooting with a Canon Powershot A620. I shot using a little utility that came with it to capture stills remotely from your computer. It worked well for me, and it was easy to adjust settings for the camera via the computer utility. The powershot was nice, but it's old and has a lot of dead pixels. Also, I'd love to be able to use my own lenses on a DSLR.

I'm completely out of the loop on what the latest standards are, but I am planning to make some brickfilms in the near future, so I need to figure out something new as far as the capture software.

I own a Canon 50D, and from my understanding Canons are the most flexible as far as being able to capture via a computer. I also own a Sony NEX-5n and a Panasonic Gh4 but it appears neither of those support tethering, which is why I still own the 50D right now instead of selling it and not owning three cameras which is a bit silly considering how much essential equipment I am lacking in other areas.

I have the right USB cable to tether the 50D to a PC. What I'd like to be able to do is shoot stills to the computer in RAW format at full resolution. I don't care about the bells and whistles of fancy stop motion software, the important thing for me is being able to take the stills without touching the camera and have them saved to the hard drive. And RAW would be great, though I guess I can live without it.

What do you guys think would be the best solution for these needs? Bearing in mind I don't want to spend much money, so a free solution would be ideal. My list of film equipment I need to purchase is already too high and I am not really prepared to spend a lot on a stop motion program right now...

Sméagol

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  • Joined: December 27, 2008

Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

No bells and whistles, you'll need an AC adapter for your camera so that charging batteries aren't an issue, and the EOS Utility software for capturing. I personally don't recommend EOS Utility, I always had trouble with it due to crashes and stuff. You could go completely blind with your animation and just grab a remote shutter and then you're pretty much set. You'll probably want a Nikon lens with manual aperture + a Nikon-Canon adapter, but I've heard that if you set your aperture on a Canon lens in Live View and then tape the electrical connection down you won't get any flicker but I haven't tried that myself.

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Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

I would keep the Canon 50D. From my experience Canon DSLRs work best for stop motion. There are really only two solutions I know of for RAW capture with a DSLR. The first one is Dragonframe which I really like but it is kind of pricey. The second is to use the Canon EOS software that comes with the camera. It does RAW capturing remotely and I know Spider uses that. Since you have brickfilmed for a while I'm going to assume you are used to animating without the crutch of software. I think the second option would be great if you are trying to save money.

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Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

I did use the Canon EOS Utility long ago and you had the option of doing RAW captures or RAW + JEPG, I really with there was an option for RAW + small JEPG, but you can't have it all.

You should be able to find the EOS Utility here, it's nice that Canon offers there tethering software for free unlike Nikon who charges another huge chunk of money for people who need that functionality.

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  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

The EOS utility sounds like it would meet my needs, sounds very similar to what I've used in the past on the A620. Stability issues are concerning, though. I haven't used actual stop motion software since probably 2006, I've only used the Powershot capture utility. Shooting utterly blind isn't a good option to me, though, because I like to be able to preview what I've shot at full res on the computer.

The AC adapter is a good catch. I went without one on the A620, but it sure was annoying. I'm guessing the 50D would drain its battery more quickly than a Powershot camera. I can't find the correct Canon-brand adapter available online for my camera however given it is an older model (ACK-E2?) and when I bought a generic adapter for my A620 it didn't work with the utility. I guess I'll just play roulette with the options on Amazon.

I pretty much only use manual lenses anyway, so I should be set there. Looks like I'll be buying some more extension tubes to accommodate my 50D, though. Wanted some for the GH4 anyway as that is my primary live action camera.

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Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

Do you have any camera store options where you are at, I just went in and ask for what adapter was the right one and they made sure I got the right one.

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  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

I should be able to get the "right" one, it's just the Canon brand version isn't available anymore because the 50D is such an old camera. So I'll be buying an off-brand, and I hope it doesn't interfere with the performance of the EOS utility.

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Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

I bought a non-Canon brand adapter, and it hasn't posed an issue yet with using EOS Utility.

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Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

You should be fine using the EOS utility. I just shoot blind with remote shutter because I'd rather just skip the fiddling about with a computer and focus on the animation, as long as I remain without stop-motion program (something I hope to change soon). It works fine for me, but the EOS utility is free, as opposed to $40 for a quality remote shutter, so I'd just go with that.

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Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

I use DigiCamControl with my Nikon camera, but it also supports some Cannon cameras (Although the Cannon 50D is untested). It can control my camera and saves the photos to the computer, it also shows lets you see former frames, and has a new image sequencer so you can view the frames in sequence.

http://digicamcontrol.com/

Like I said, it may not work with Cannon cameras, because it was originally made for Nikon, but you can try it if you want.

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  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Best low-budget solution for Canon DSLR stop motion?

Ordered an AC adapter and some extension tubes for the 50D. Going to give the EOS utility a try. Looking forward to doing some brickfilming in the near future!

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