03Dec Canon Powershot G15 Compact Vacation Time-lapse Camera
Long exposure with ND Filters
One common question is ‘What’s the best pocketable camera to travel with?” Obviously, that will highly vary, but I have my own personal requirements for such a camera. If you’re looking for a fun pocketable travel camera, especially one that is capable of quality Time-lapse, this post might be of interest. If it’s something you don’t need, you can skip this article as it will probably bore you to death.
Time-Lapse Pier
So I recently took a little trip out of town and purposely left all the heavy DSLR cameras and big lenses behind. Instead I packed up the new Canon S110, Sony RX100, GoPro Hero3, and the Canon Powershot G15. If there was any action involved, of course the GoPro is the perfect camera. Outside of that, I kept coming back to the G15. Good for close up macro photography, a stabilized lens, decent zoom, flash hot shoe, and a shutter input for Time-lapse photos. The Sony RX100 takes amazing photos and videos, but if I had to vacation with only a single camera, I personally have found more features in the Powershot G15.
I brought along a very old cheap Aputure Timer Remote that i’ve had for years for the Time-Lapse photos. You can achieve much better quality from the G15, but I did not have the proper software to edit the new G15 RAW files, so I was stuck with JPEG. It was also bright enough outdoors to use the HDR mode in combination of the Time-Lapse remote.
Time-lapse with MagFilter + Tiffen CPL Polarizer
In HDR mode, the camera will take 3 different exposures and save it to a single JPEG file. With the Carry Speed MagFilter threaded adapter I was able to add ND filters to capture the motion blur of water, or Polarizing filters to correct glare. To keep the gear lightweight, I also traveled with a very small Calumet Tripod and Kamerar Friction arms. Here’s a list of the gear:
Canon Powershot G15 Compact Camera
Aputure Timer Time-Lapse Remote for Canon Rebel
Carry Speed MagFilter Threaded Filter Adapters
Kamerar 11″ Stainless Steel Friction Arm
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December 4th, 2012 at 8:22 am
“Amazing photos and videos” VS “time-lapse feature” ?
Well, if i was to buy a pocket shooter for traveling, the former feature would certainly trump the latter.
Unless of course, i’d already own an arsenal of pocketable cams like you obviously do!
December 4th, 2012 at 8:32 am
@Jan – The G15 is very capable of amazing videos and photos as well. The images in the time lapse came out great with lots of detail and dynamic range from a basic JPEG. This camera is also capable of doing RAW. Not to mention way cheaper than the RX100.
December 4th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
So here’s a question. Not for professional use as that’s why I have my MIII cameras, if I got the G15 for family use, and knowing that video at 1920×1080 is only at 24p, and all other family videos have been recorded at 30p, does this camera make sense in that respect? On the argument of both combining various formats on the same dvd at some point, but also fromt the aesthetic stand point, does 24p’s inherent stutter look okay for generally haphazard / fast movement (wife recording and kids running around!)
December 4th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
@TP – You can attempt to conform your 30p video down to 24, but not the other way around. The average person may not be able to tell, but some people can detect the difference in shutter speed and frame rates very easily.
December 5th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
We recently traveled with the RX100 and it’s pretty much replaced our 7D and all the lenses and additional gear we needed to bring along with it. While the timelapse feature really should have been included with it, we got a tripod mount for my iPhone and use that for time lapses. It was a pretty great experience.
December 9th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Hey does the camera allow you to set the iso in video mode? Or is video mode only in auto?
January 3rd, 2013 at 2:19 pm
Is it compatible with the 600EX-RTs in Group Mode?
January 16th, 2013 at 8:23 am
that isn’t an infinity symbol, it is a time exposure for people with bulb mode, HH:MM:SS, it might work that way on this camera but I use this for long frames on my DSLR all the time.
January 27th, 2013 at 3:07 pm
I just purchased the G 15 and now am going to purchase the Mag Filter CPL and I see that they now offer the CPL filter, do you know what size I will need and is their any issues with seeing the edges of the filter when using wide angle?
April 24th, 2013 at 9:12 pm
Hi!
I am really soon to buy the g15, and i want know if with a timer control o a shutter control remote its possible to do long exposition photos (more tha the 15″ that the camera let you). Do you know if it possible? and how?
Thanks!
(sorry, english is not my first language)
April 24th, 2013 at 10:13 pm
@Elena – If you want to have very long exposures, the camera should have a ‘bulb’ setting. This camera does not offer Bulb mode.