Digital Camera Timelapse

My first footage was shot with the TIV-300C triggering the release button on a Fuji FinePix 2600 ($159). The FinePix doesn't have a cable release socket, so a flash-bracket shaped mount was made to aim the shutter release cable onto the camera button.

At 640x480 camera resolution, the shortest interval possible was 2.3 seconds (it takes a few seconds for the image to be stored in the memory card).

Later footage was shot with a Canon Powershot A70 ($229) and a custom TIV. Unlike the FinePix, the A70 has a manual exposure mode and manual focusing. Like the Finepix, the shortest interval was 2.3 seconds.

On some Canon cameras, you can use the open-source CHDK firmware to shoot time-lapse. It adds a scripting to your camera, then with a little script, you can shoot time-lapse. Search for Canon CHDK or even better search YouTube CHDK Timelapse for more information. Here's a nice Zurich HD Timelapse using CHDK.

Here's the script I use:

  rem Fast Shooting
  @title Interval Shooting Non-stop 
  @param a Frames (Half-Seconds) 
  @default a 1 
  print "NCS Fast Intervalometer"
  print "1/15/2008 7AM"
  sleep 500 
  a=a*12
  print a, "Frames"
  for n=1 to a
    print "Shot number", n, "of", a
    shoot 
  next n

If the footage doesn't play, it's because you might need the DivX decoder. Go to http://www.divx.com/divx/ and download "DivX codec (no cost)". You have to scroll down to see it.

Scene	Size	Comments
Union Turnpike	500K	Shot with FinePix 2600. Boring Footage.
Clouds	520K	Also shot with FinePix 2600. Also boring.
Unisphere	600K	Shot with A70. Fancified in post. Heavy compression.
Unisphere Large	1.7M	Nicer version of above.
Bryant Park	2.6M	A decent shot. Look closely and you can see the interval changes. Watch the speed of the construction elevators in the upper left corner.
Brooklyn Bridge	870K	The night shot above. This was shot without intervalometer, just by holding the shutter button down. No tripod was used, which explains the shake.