This is the function that pro photographers have been seeking for some time.

Arsenal’s Holy Grail mode uses our auto-exposure model to adjust exposure settings within ranges and priorities you define. This is the best method to use for shooting sunrise and sunset timelapses. 

Holy Grail Mode allows you to control how you want settings to change over time using range sliders for Shutter, Aperture, and ISO. You can set a low and high range for each. Arsenal will do its best to keep the settings it chooses in that range. Be sure to set the range large enough to handle any lighting changes that might happen during your timelapse. You can tweak ranges while your timelapse is running and Arsenal will adjust settings after a few frames to maintain your requested ranges. Arsenal will move within the ranges top down as they appear in the app. 

Example: As it gets darker, Arsenal will slow the shutter speed until it reaches the limit you have set. Once it reaches this limit, it will start to open your Aperture to allow for the scene to stay exposed correctly. Once it has opened to the limit of your Aperture setting, it will then start to adjust your ISO higher to allow more light to come in and keep the exposure level correct. 

There are circumstances when you may want to adjust the settings in a different order. We have added a feature so you can “Prioritize” which settings are adjusted first while the timelapse is progressing. To arrange the settings in a different order, click “Prioritize” on the middle right of the app. 

Example: You are shooting a time lapse of water and want your shutter speed to remain at 1 second. You can drag ‘Aperture’ and ‘ISO’ up in the list of features and it will adjust these levels before changing your shutter speed. 

Note: Arsenal will try to use the darkest setting possible. It will select the shortest possible shutter, the smallest aperture number, and the lowest possible ISO. 

Advanced Options 

Keep mirror up between shots: Due to mechanical limitations of the camera, after the mirror has moved, the aperture doesn’t always return to the exact same diameter. This causes some flicker in timelapses. Keeping the mirror up during the timelapse prevents this flicker, but can use 2x to 3x more camera battery power. (DSLR’s use power when holding the mirror up). Flicker can be corrected in post production if you prefer not to use this option.

Shorten shutter to keep interval: When shutter speed, card write time, and photo processing time pass the selected interval, Arsenal can decrease the shutter speed in Holy Grail to keep the interval from taking longer than selected. 

Share or Save your timelapse

Your finished timelapse will be available in the Arsenal gallery. Click on the thumbnail in the lower right hand corner to access the gallery. Click on the image that shows a “clock movie icon” in the lower left corner to view and share your created timelapse. Click the share button to save or share your video to social media. 

Note: The videos themselves will be available on Arsenal while their original photos remain on your memory card (once the images are removed from the card or the card is removed, the cache is cleared and the video will no longer appear). 

Are you using a Slider to shoot your timelapse? Arsenal offers this for many of our supported cameras. You can learn more here: Getting Started with a Slider for Timelapse

Learn more

Check out additional timelapse articles at: 

Introduction to Timelapes

Getting Started with a SmartLapse

Getting Started with SmartLapse with Custom Intervals

Getting Started with Basic Timelapse

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