Blog and latest News

Documentary: 10 Years of LRTimelapse – an idea that changed my life

Posted on 2020-12-06 by Gunther Wegner

LRTimelapse celebrates its 10th birthday! Time to look back on an exciting journey, which started with a small idea and then became something big for me.

Together with you I would like to review 10 years with many adventures, challenges and great experiences.

Most of you have accompanied me at least part of the way, so I would like to give you a big thank back you with this film – thank you for your support and loyalty over the years!

 

https://youtu.be/zVA6hpL2Xtg

 

Let me know how you like the film by subscribing to my youtube channel and leaving a comment and like! Also you can follow me on Instagram. I’d really appreciate that!

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LRTimelapse 5.5.6 available

Posted on 2020-12-03 by Gunther Wegner

Hey guys!

A quick announcement that I’ve just released an update to LRTimelapse with some fixes. Especially the video rendering could fail in some situations, so make sure to update soon!

  • Some exports that already came in 16:9 AR could make the video encoder fail, if additionally the “Force 16:9” option was set. Fixed.
  • Added Aspect ratio to crop info in render dialog.
  • When loading JPG intermediary sequences into the Render or Composition Dialog, the preview would not be color managed. Fixed.
  • Compositions from JPG intermediaries were not color managed correctly, fixed.
  • For import sequences with wider or equal AR than 16:9 the “Force1 16:9” option will now be disabled in the render dialog.
  • In some cases a custom color profile would have been reset to “Adobe Color” after reloading in Lightroom. Fixed.
  • Obviously Adobe has chosen a different way to save embedded metadata for jpg files with non default profile or look. This could lead to LRTimelapse not reloading the metadata correctly for those JPGs, which would break the workflow. I’ve implemented a workaround.
  • Minor: Deleting jpg images logged errors in the log file, although the operation completed successfully. Fixed.

As always this is a free update for all LRTimelapse 5 users. Just download the new version from the download page and install it. As always, make sure to have closed Lightroom before installing.

PS: The LRT PRO Timer 3 is now already available in some stores, more to come – and the LRT PRO Timer 2.5 is now available for a discounted price!

Have a great time and stay healthy,
Gunther

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Announcing the LRTimelapse Pro Timer 3

Posted on 2020-11-22 by Gunther Wegner

Hey guys, I’m more than happy to announce that a new iteration of the LRT Pro Timer will be coming soon!

From the feedback that I received regarding the LRT Pro Timer 2.5, the vast majority of all users were really happy with the Timer.

Finally an easy to use intervalometer aimed for the needs of pros and ambitious amateurs. No WiFi, no fiddling with a smartphone just a device that helps getting the job done the best, easiest and most flexible way possible. That was my primary goal.

In the last months I already implemented many user wishes into new firmware versions, which were available free of charge for all owners.

But there was especially one wish that I heard a couple of times, that required a change in hardware – it was the wish for a bigger display. Personally, I was always fine with the small display, since it provides the needed information. But I can also understand, that it might be hard to read for people with weaker eyes.

Left: LRT Pro Timer 2.5, Right: LRT Pro Timer 3. With version 3 there is more space to lay out the information on the display.

I listened and we worked on that during the last months and I’m now proud to present the new LRTimelapse Pro Timer 3, with a bigger OLED display which features twice the resolution and nearly 3 times the size – and of course, all the nice features that already are present in Version 2.5.

The bigger display also provides more space to lay out the information on the screen and make it even more comprehensive.

The slick aluminum-made knob is a bit heavier and feels better when operating the timer.

And there is more: the bigger display needed a better shielding from the environment. That’s why I decided to add a cover of optical precision glass on top of the display, which is scratch resistant and also shields the top of the unit better from moisture.

Also the LRT Pro Timer 3 features a slick Aluminum Knob, which is heavier and therefore feels better and more accurate when operating the Timer.

And while we had to change the housing, we added another user wish: tactile indicators for the port numbers. That means even in the dark, you will able to feel which is port one and which is port two.

Left: LRT Pro Timer 2.5, Right: LRT Pro Timer 3.0 with tactile indicators for the port numbers.

Another improvement in the hardware is the improved charging regulator, which significantly reduces battery draining when the Timer is switched off. Also it features better compatibility with different USB chargers.

But with all those great news, one thing is really important to me: the LRT Pro Timer 2.5 is not obsolete at all now – it is still available and being sold for a lower price.

It has the same functional features as the LRT Pro Timer 3 and it also will get the the same functional firmware updates in the future regarding new features.

Recommended retail prices for the LRT Pro Timer 3:

  • Germany: 189€
  • USA: 249 US$
  • Japan: 27,900 JPY

We plan to have the LRTimelapse Pro Timer 3 available in December 2020, it depends a bit on the international shipping times to our dealers. It will be sold via Amazon nearly worldwide. Additionally I’d like to announce special cooperations with local dealers, which you should support, if you are in their reach:

Please stay tuned, I’ll let you know about the availability.

Get the discounted LRT Pro Timer 2.5 now while still available!

If you would like to take profit of the reduced price for the LRTimelapse Pro Timer 2.5, don’t hesitate. It will be sold as long as we have them in stock and of course be supported and get firmware updates in parallel to version 3. Check out the buy page.

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New LRTimelapse Video Tutorial series: the LRT Expert Tips!

Posted on 2020-11-08 by Gunther Wegner

Hey guys,

I’ve published the first two in a series of new video tutorials, where I explain some special editing techniques for users that already have some experience with LRTimelapse.

Those are techniques that I use on a daily basis but many of you might not know yet. I’m sure they will help you to make your timelapse work even better and more productive!

The first video is about different ways to reedit a sequence that you have already completed. Often I find myself wanting to use some older sequences and then nearly every time before reusing them I do some polishing – which means reediting. One reason might be that I have now an advanced view on the things, have improved my own editing skills or new Lightroom or LRTimelapse features allow for better results. Another reason is the new color management in LRT 5.5 which might lead to a better color rendition in the final output. And if need to reexport a sequence anyway, then I can also do some reediting.

Check out my first expert tip on how to do it!

The second video deals about animating Linear and Circular Gradient Filters in Lightroom with LRTimelapse. That’s a concept that might look straight forward on the first sight, but definitely has some aspects to consider. In the 2nd tutorial I’ll explain how to do it properly using 2 real world examples.

You can find all expert tips tutorials on the tutorials page. You will notice that I have reordered it a bit. There are now sub-pages for the different levels of tutorials for beginners, advanced users and the expert tips.

Now check out my new videos. I’m planning to do many more of them, therefore please subscribe to my LRTimelapse Youtube channel! This will give you a notification as soon as I publish a new video. Then I don’t need to write a newsletter every time and flood your inbox… 🙂

If you like the videos, please give them a thumbs up at Youtube and leave a comment – this helps me to grow my channel there. Thank you!

All the best
Gunther

 

 

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LRTimelapse 5.5.5 fixes an issue with 5.5.4, please update!

Posted on 2020-10-30 by Gunther Wegner

Hey guys,

sometimes things just go wrong… Just after I’ve sent my newsletter about the really nice improvements in the 5.5.4 update, some users in the forum reported an issue with Lightroom not being able to read the metadata of some files. Therefore I decided to remove the 5.5.4 update from the download page until I could fix the problem.

Now I’m happy to have a new build called 5.5.5 which works as expected. That means, you can now finally enjoy the improvements in the new LRTimelapse! It’s available on the download page.

Should you have edited a sequence in with LRT 5.5.4 and Lightroom shows black exclamation marks on some images, you can fix this as follows:

  1. Remove the sequence from Lightroom
  2. Load it into LRTimelapse 5.5.5
  3. Force saving by pressing Shift+Save.
  4. Then Drag to Lightroom to reimport it – as usually, with the Add-option.

Thank you for your patience and sorry again if that issue created any troubles for you.

When launching the new version you’ll see that we have something to celebrate! More about that soon in the next newsletter… 🙂

All the best and stay healthy in these crazy times,
Gunther

PS: Please subscribe the LRTimelapse Youtube Channel – I’m currently preparing some tutorials with special LRTimelapse expert tricks that you might not know yet! Also make sure to follow me on Instagram!

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LRTimelapse 5.5.4 free update – with huge performance improvements!

Posted on 2020-10-27 by Gunther Wegner

Hey guys, LRTimelapse 5.5.4 is a free update for all LRTimelapse 5 users and ready for download now.

Specifically I’ve been working on the performance which I could improve significantly in some areas like loading the sequence and traveling through the table. Also I’ve completed the support for Lightroom 10 now that it’s released.

Check out the details:

  • Huge performance improvement for “Checking and fixing Metadata”.
  • Performance improvement when going through the sequence with the cursor keys.
  • 40% Performance improvement when loading Metadata (Loading Directory).
  • Curves and overlays will only be shown in preview after loading the XMP data has been finished.
  • Fixes on XMP initializing of Range Masks.
  • Render Dialog cut at the bottom with UI scaling when running LRT unlicensed and with UI scaling factors >1.5. Fixed.
  • Compositions could not be created from intermediary sequences without embedded ICC profile. This works now, of course, color management for the compositions will then be deactivated. I recommend to create compositions from intermediary sequences exported via LRTExport.
  • Size of Log dialog will now relate to the size of the LRT main screen.
  • When using Metadata/Copy file dates to Exif-Dates the table was not properly updated, fixed.
  • Long term workflow: calculating hues and contrasts can now be aborted.
  • Long term workflow: Filter by Criteria from Menu wouldn’t bring up the long term workflow with the filter dialog, fixed.
  • Better handling when aborting the loading of a sequence.

You can download the update from the download page. As always make sure to have Lightroom closed when upgrading. There is no need to uninstall the old version first.

I hope that you enjoy the better performance and other improvements in 5.5.4! Let me know your thoughts in the forum!

All the best
Gunther

PS: Make sure to follow my LRTimelapse Youtube Channel – I’m currently preparing some tutorials with special LRTimelapse tricks that you might not know yet!

PPS: I’m also on Instagram 😉

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LRTimelapse 5.5.3 Update

Posted on 2020-10-13 by Gunther Wegner

LRTimelapse 5.5.3 is ready for download. It’s a free update for all LRTimelapse 5 users and brings some new features and bug fixes. Please update as soon as possible.

This is what’s new:

  • Improved performance when scrubbing with the slider below the preview.
  • Windows: added taskbar progress indicator for visual preview generation.
  • Reload metadata will now detect deleted images and remove them from the sequence.
  • Fixed an issue with greyscale images and activated color management.
  • DNxHR often failed with resolutions >4K, that’s why it will now be restricted to resolutions up to 4K. If you need higher ones, use ProRes.
  • Don’t set the rendering gamut automatically upon the input color space to BT.2020, otherwise rendering multiple intermediaries in BT709 wouldn’t work.
  • In some cases columns would not be instantly updated when doing “Auto-Transition”, fixed.
  • Batch: Now you can do batch deflickering also for a single folder marked as finished.
  • Batch: Under some circumstances batch deflicker didn’t work right because of the sort order of the sequence, fixed.
  • UI: Flat progress bars
  • Choosing the White Balance treatment for some non standardized DNG files could fail, fixed.
  • Improved Render Dialog Layout for different scaling factors.
  • Mac: Restored single instance mode. When exporting via LRTExport now the existing LRTimelapse instance will be called instead of launching a new one.
  • Mac: Render Button in Dialog was too far right, fixed.

As always, you can find the new download on the Download page. Make sure that Lightroom is closed, then you can just install it. No need to remove the former version.

Enjoy and let me know in the forum, if you have any feedback!

All the best
Gunther

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LRTimelapse 5.5.2 Update

Posted on 2020-09-22 by Gunther Wegner

Hey guys,

LRTimelapse 5.5.2 is ready and fixes a couple of issues that users reported.

  • Readded support for older MacOS >= 10.13 (High Sierra and Mojave)
  • In some render scenarios rendering could fail, if the dimensions of the input files were not even. This happened also when rendering preview videos. Fixed.
  • Small UI fix in render dialog
  • Small improvement in resizing of the the rendered videos
  • On some systems writing compositions from 16 bit intermediaries failed, fixed.
  • Reloading sequences from some Sony cameras after having done changes in Lightroom to the Keyframes made the intervals vanish, fixed.

As always, if you had installed a beta before, uninstall it before installing the new version. On mac trash the application, clear trash before installing the new version.

Please update as soon as possible, you’ll find the download for 5.5.2 on the download page.

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LRTimelapse 5.5.1 update available for download

Posted on 2020-09-10 by Gunther Wegner

I’ve just released 5.5.1, a small update for LRTimelapse 5.5. This is new:

  • New button in Settings dialog Reset all settings.
    After clicking it, you will be asked for confirmation, then the LRTimelapse preferences will get reset to default values after a restart of the program.
  • Once again I’ve had to exchange the Mac launcher.
    Background: without any reason, Apple refused to notarize the old and proven launcher that served us well for many years until LRT 5.4 (and would still be working perfectly today). But obviously Apple is king and therefore I had to spend many days trying to find an alternative launcher, which would run on all Macs. While most solutions worked on my personal Mac that I use for testing, they kept showing anomalies for some users and beta testers, which is really weird since you would normally expect something working the same way on the same OS especially if they even have the same version. There seems to be kind of a nasty randomness on that OS which is hard to master and which I’ve never experienced on Windows. Anyway. Now I’ve developed a fresh launcher on my own, which so far worked for all testers.
  • Lookup of last selected folder on LRTimelapse startup is now asynchronous.
  • Fixed Tooltip on CM icon
  • Added more logging events and information

I’d like to thank to all beta testers that kept testing and coming back to me with feedback. I really appreciate that! I depend on you guys helping me testing, especially the beta versions on Mac. Any feedback is welcome!

Enjoy LRTimelapse 5.5.1 and let me know your feedback in the forum!

As usually, you’ll find the download on the download page.

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LRTimelapse 5.5 free update is ready for download!

Posted on 2020-08-31 by Gunther Wegner

LRTimelapse 5.5 features many improvements. Especially I’ve completely redone the color management – not only for rendering but also in the user interface, where the previews can now be displayed using the appropriate monitor color profile.

Here is a video where I explain the most important news:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs92U54h8z4

Also in German: das Video steht auf gwegner.de auch auf Deutsch zur Verfügung!

 

What’s new in detail:

Color Management

  • Improved color management and conversion when rendering
    Export from LRTExport will now happen in Rec.2020 color space by default, leaving the maximum room for further processing. This eliminates the conversion from AdobeRGB to Rec.2020 used to take place in former versions.You’ll need to reexport your sequences from Lightroom with the new LRTExport to have the intermediary sequences created in Rec.2020 color space! Older intermediary sequences (LRT 5.4 and older) cannot be rendered in Rec.2020, only in Rec.709.The new Rec.2020 export enables you to export and render your video in Rec.2020 without any color conversion, which will allow the maximum quality when working with Video Editing programs, that support Rec.2020 like Davinci Resolve.For direct playback or if you experience any color issues (most likely because your editor or player cannot deal with the extended color ranges) you can and should render in Rec.709 in LRTimelapse. You will then only have one single conversion from Rec.2020 to Rec.709 when rendering.Although there is a legacy option in the LRTExport Lightroom plugin to export in Rec.709, I do not recommend this. You’ll get the best results, if you always export in Rec.2020 and decide about the final color space when rendering in LRTimelapse.
  • Added color Management to the User Interface
    Visual Previews and the Previews in Render and Composition dialogs will now be color managed if you configure the right monitor profile in the settings.
    This will produce color accurate previews in LRTimelapse.You need to activate the color management under Settings / Preview Settings and select your monitor profile there in order to get the right color management. This only makes sense, if you have a calibrated monitor and your OS has the monitor profile assigned. Normally this happens, if you calibrate with a calibration device like DataColor’s Spyder.
  • Check out how to configure and activate Color Management in LRTimelapse 5.5 in this faq.

Rendering

  • DNxHR has been introduced as new video codec. This means, you have now 4 codecs available for rendering:
    • H.264 and H.265 are “consumer codecs”, best used for direct playback.
    • ProRes and DNxHR are “pro codecs”, best used for further processing in a video editor (NLE).
  • Also I’ve added the option to select the color range. In the video world, Legal / TV Range is the common choice. In the photo-world it’s full range.
    Timelapse is somehow inbetween…As a rule of thumb:

    • If you are going to export for further processing, you can use full range, if you NLE supports this.
    • If you are rendering for direct watching or your client demands for it, use Legal Range.
  • Added the option to render in DNxHR codec, which is a very good codec, if you want to further process your footage in a video editing program and don’t want to use ProRes.
  • Removed MJPG codec (I guess not many were using it)
  • Improved Render Speed
  • New warnings in the Render Dialog, which you should consider… 🙂
  • + many fixes.

GUI

  • Increased Contrast for Color-Scheme in the tree and Improved readability of the menus.
  • Redesigned Scrollbars
  • (Windows) Removed Status Icons and Memory indicator from right of the Menu bar (on mac they weren’t present either due to the native menubar)
  • Sliders will now show their values as tooltips.

Compositions

  • Added color Management to Composition feature. ‘
    Compositions will now be created with the same colorspace than the intermediary sequences and the ICC profile will be embedded.
  • Composition Preview generation can now be aborted.

General

  • Improved performance for loading and preview playback
  • Added support for “.jpeg” (additionally to .jpg) extensions for intermediary sequences exported with the new Adobe Bridge.
  • You can now drag/drop a folder from Explorer/Finder LRTimelapse and that folder will then be loaded (Emerics Request ;-)).
  • Sony ARW files with certain timestamps didn’t show intervals. Fixed.

Mac

  • Changed location for addons to /usr/local/LRTimelapse (instead of /usr/local/bin) in oder to avoid them being overwritten by other software
  • Uninstall LRTimelapse
    The uninstall script will now be located in /usr/local/LRTimelapse/uninstall.sh after LRTimelapse 5.5 has been installed.
    You can uninstall LRTimelapse completely at any time by opening a terminal and invoking /usr/local/LRTimelapse/uninstall.sh
    Older versions can still be uninstalled with the uninstall script provided in their DMG archive.

Import

  • Added detection of unsupported folder names when renaming folders and when creating a folder in the import dialog.

LRTExport Lightroom Plugin

  • Default Export Colorspace is now Rec.2020, but of course you can still render in Rec.709 in LRTimelapse later.
  • Removed the old instructions panel in LRTExport and added buttons to the help resources on LRTimelapse.com
  • When long output paths were stored in the history list, the user interface could break, fixed.

The new version is a free update for all LRTimelapse 5 users.

You can download it from the download page.

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