How to Make a Time Lapse Video - Get Started & Get Results

We Make Time Lapse Easy, Reliable and Affordable

4K quality time lapse does not need to be complicated. We make time lapse solutions for the professional AND the first-timer. If you’re the professional, you may know most of what’s on this page already, but be sure to check out our time lapse calculator. If you’re the first-timer, don’t worry, you’ll be surprised at how easy this is!

The first step before worrying about your equipment setup (we'll get to that in a moment), is to run through some calculations to check the items listed below. Don't worry, we have built an easy time lapse calculator to work it all out - but it's important to start here and understand your project constraints. Successful planning will mean a successful project.

The purpose of this page is to show you how easy it is to create a 4K time lapse for less. You are likely to find that the only thing to do is check the time lapse calculator, however, we’ve provided more information to help. This page is broken down into these sections:

Time Lapse Calculator
Time Lapse Infographic
Definitive Guide to Construction Time Lapse and Remote Monitoring
Your workflow for image retrieval
Resources and Support Material
Coming soon - Post-Production Video service

Time Lapse Calculator

The time lapse calculator will run you through the following:

How long is the project - hours, days, months or even years?
Length of the time lapse movie you want to create at the end?
What is the interval between shots?
How many frames are taken / needed to achieve this?
How much memory do I need to store all those frames?
How much power will I need to achieve the above?

What Equipment Do I Need?

Now that you know a bit more about your shoot, we can now look at the equipment. CamDo has a simple yet powerful solution based on the GoPro series of cameras, because they provide amazing 4K time lapse video quality at a fraction of the cost of DSLR options.

Our core time lapse controller(UpBlink) is the brains, connecting to the GoPro and allowing you to set the time lapse schedule you need. The time lapse calculator above will easily inform the schedule you'll need. You may have noticed that our time lapse calculator made a product recommendation at the bottom based on your project needs.

The graphic below outlines the components in the CamDo SolarUp Pack. We have a couple of simple options for the solar setup and also a non-solar setup using our PowerUp Pack if solar is not required.

What sort of footage can I create? Check out our collection of customer footage created using CamDo equipment right here.

There are many equipment suppliers in the time lapse market, and choosing a solution can be overwhelming. Here’s a simple graphic showing CamDo and the rest of the market.

CamDo and the rest of the market

You might also hear a lot about different resolutions, which can get confusing at times. Here is a simple graphic outlining the most common formats. You can see how the resolution of our GoPro solutions stack up against the lower resolution competition, and match that of the DSLR solutions.

image resolutions

Infographic

If you are a visual learner, check out our Time Lapse Infographic here. It will walk you through the principles of time lapse.

Detailed tips and tricks

If you are a details person, check out our Tips and Tricks page for an in-depth review on how to time lapse.

Your workflow for image retrieval

As you may have seen in your time lapse calculation, it is often the case the SD card capacity is adequate for very long shoots at long intervals. If on the other hand, you want to retrieve your images, we have several options to help you consider your workflow. Check out our image retrieval options page here.

Support and Resources

We’re always here to support you and can be reached at support@cam-do.com. If you need a video, quick start guide or detailed manual, you’ll find it on this page.

Post-production video creation

So you’ve finished capturing your time lapse… now what?

Look no further. Our new CloudX platform can automatically make time lapse videos for you!

If you want to complete post production yourself, we have some handy resources:

How to download footage using UpBlink or BlinkX
How to create a time lapse video using GoPro Studio

Don’t forget to send us your footage… that’s what it’s all about!

Purchasing Equipment and More Information

You can review the components and purchase our time lapse system via the following pages.

We also have some great resources on our site if you would like to learn more about the nuances of time lapse and the various considerations, including in-depth information covering all the basics and advanced topics that you can review if you are interested in the detail.