Best Time Lapse Camera and How to Set It Up

Time-lapse videos are very popular these days. You can see them in movies, in commercials, in travel videos, in all kinds of internet posts, actually. You have most certainly seen amazing videos of cars flowing down the street, stunning sunrises or sunsets, or building construction. And everything happened in 10 to 20 seconds. These videos are eye-catching and attractive. But, are they difficult to make? Do you need very expensive and the best high-end time-lapse cameras to make these videos?

There are no simple answers to these questions. New technologies allow amateurs and enthusiasts to make videos and photos of decent quality. Budget and user-friendly cameras can do much more than they used to. So, you don’t need to have the most expensive and state-of-the-art equipment. However, professional gear improves quality as well as the number of possibilities. It comes down to your preferences and skill level.

“No story is the same to us after a lapse of time; or rather we who read it are no longer the same interpreters.” – George Eliot

What is a Time Lapse Video?

It looks like a fast-forwarded film or video. But, it isn’t. Every film is a sequence of still photos or frames. 24 frames per second is a standard film rate. A human eye can process up to 12 images per second in order to perceive them separately. Anything above 12 frames per second is perceived as a motion. In time-lapse video or time-lapse photography, to be more precise, a camera captures frames at intervals much longer than 1/24 sec, and then put them together. As a result, you get a video that plays faster than usual.

It is different from fast-forwarded film not only because of the different filming technique but for its quality. Fast forwarded video loses the quality rapidly as you speed it up. Time lapse video, on the other hand, can have excellent quality, allows longer exposures and a lot of possibilities in post-processing.

Best Settings For Time Lapse Photography

Focus

Both camera choice and set up are depending on your goals and desires. To get the result you have to follow certain rules. For time-lapse shooting manual mode is a must. First, you want to set up your focus, manually. If you leave the auto mode your camera will search for focus before each shot. You will run out of battery real soon, and your final video would look awful unless there are no changes whatsoever in the scene. But, then you don’t need, do you? So, find the accurate focus manually.

Exposure

It goes the same for exposure settings. Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO must be preset and constant throughout the shooting. However, changes from day to night require modifications in which case you can use aperture priority mode. This should do the trick unless there are quick changes of brightness and flashing lights. If so, you’ll have to adjust shutter speed and ISO manually, bit by bit.

RAW or JPEG

When it comes to using RAW or JPEG files, opinions differ. This one is up to you actually. JPEG files will save you space on your memory card, and the quality of your images will match most of the videos. However, your post production possibilities will be very limited. Shooting in RAW will provide better quality and a lot of control in the post-production process. So, shooting in RAW is better, but it requires more skill, more time, and more memory.

Interval

Choosing the right interval between the shots should not give you a headache. While the interval determines the speed of your final product, you don’t have to think how fast you want it. You just have to pay attention to the real-time movement of your object(s). The faster the movement of the object in the scene, the shorter the interval between the shots. For example, for people or cars moving in the street, the interval should be 1-2 seconds. But if you are capturing the movement of the sun or moon and stars, 30 seconds or more would suffice. If you shoot construction site or glacier melting, or growth of the grass, your interval can be a couple of hours.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed allows you to achieve smooth, natural blur effect. Using short shutter speed will cause flicker and even maybe stutter in your video. So, you should use long shutter speeds, just make sure that it doesn’t exceed your interval length. Neutral density filter will allow you to use slower shutter speeds when there’s too much light.

How to Choose the Best Camera?

You can shoot time lapse with many different cameras. Most of the people would use DSLR, mirrorless or action cameras. Before even thinking of a camera, you should decide why do you want the time lapse camera. Do you want to document your construction process or moments from your vacation, as easy as possible? If so, an action camera is the best solution. You won’t win a photography contest with these, but they will do the job. Mirrorless cameras will provide better quality, while you can use them for all kinds of photo shootings. They are more expensive than action cameras but they are more versatile. DSLR is the most expensive and can be used for professional shootings. Apart from price, they can be bulky and require extra equipment for different projects.

“With high-speed cameras, we can do the opposite of time lapse. We can shoot images that are thousands of times faster than our vision. And we can see how nature’s ingenious devices work, and perhaps we can even imitate them.” – Louie Schwartzberg

When it comes to extra equipment, you should always bear in mind what kind of projects you will do the most. For long term time lapse projects, make sure you have covered all the bases. You might need extra memory cards, extra power, weather protection equipment and so on. Let us look into the list of some of the best time lapse camera choices.