If you set the time lapse interval at 30 seconds and shoot for two hours, you’ll end up with 240 frames, or an eight-second video.Ī common beginner’s mistake is to set the interval too high, resulting in a time lapse video that’s too short. Using this information, you can calculate how long the time lapse will be. That means you’ll need 30 photos for one second of video. GoPro time-lapses use a 30 fps frame rate. The longer the interval is, the faster time will appear to go by, and the shorter your resulting video will be. However, you can change the interval, or how often the camera will take a photo. By default, GoPro will snap a photo every half second and turn those photos into a video. Under the mode, choose the interval option. Tap the icon to go back to the main menu. Use it if the camera is tripod mounted and won’t be moving during the time lapse. The time-lapse mode is the traditional time-lapse that’s also found on earlier models. Use this mode whenever you are recording a time lapse with limited lighting. Night Lapse is a time-lapse mode designed for night photography. Use this option if the camera will be moving at all during the recording. A TimeWarp is a time-lapse that uses the camera’s stabilization system. On the HERO8, you’ll see more options than time-lapse. Tap the mode option and select the time lapse video.
Once in video mode, access the video settings using the set-up button on the side or on the touchscreen (on the HERO8). (The mode button is the one on the front for older models, but is located on the side of the HERO8.) 2. Press the mode button until the video mode shows on the front screen. Using the mode button on the front of the camera, select the video option.
If you get stuck, consult the user manual for your specific model. We’ve outlined the general steps for setting up a GoPro time lapse. While similar, each GoPro model may have a slightly different process for setting up a time lapse video. You should have a fully charged battery and a microSD card with plenty of space left. Time-lapses will tie up the GoPro for a few hours. Some models also need waterproof housing if the camera will be getting wet. A BacPac will help record longer time lapses on the HERO 4. A tripod set-up is ideal for things like shooting a sunset time lapse.īesides a mount, other accessories are optional but can be helpful. If you don’t want the camera moving with the action, or you’re not recording action at all, you should use a tripod. It is an action camera, of course, but it should remain from the same point of view, such as a helmet or chest mount. The GoPro doesn’t have to stay completely still. You’ll also need something to keep the camera in one place. It’s probably not going to be a huge difference, but it can’t hurt.GoPro introduced the time lapse mode with the HERO4 cameras, so you’ll need a HERO4 or newer GoPro. Done well, and it’s possible the end result will look even sharper than had the image been recorded at that resolution originally. While scaling up is difficult, since you’re creating pixels (something out of “nothing” if you will), scaling down is comparatively easy. Any video editing app, most social media apps, or at the very least, the viewer’s phone/tablet/TV, is going to scale the image down to fit. Lastly, there’s one final way the extra resolution is a useful even if you don’t crop the image, or lose any pixels to stabilization. You need a lot of pixels to do this well, and without sacrificing too much detail. If you lop off the corners you can focus on just the part that’s still correctly horizontal, so the viewer doesn’t even know the camera is tilted.
Now, if you’re picturing this in your head, you’d rightly trying to imagine this sort of “square peg in a round hole” or I guess, rectangle in different rectangle, problem. But with image stabilization (well, in theory), the camera or app could rotate the image back to horizontal. Normally the video would also now be at a 45-degree angle. You go around a corner and lean way over, so now the camera is at a 45-degree angle. Say you’ve got the camera mounted on a bike and it’s parallel to the ground. This is sort of like “cropping with a purpose.” Let’s take an extreme example. Doing so electronically requires sacrificing some pixels.
There are a number of ways to stabilize an image.