Time-Lapse Calculator
Find frame count, video length, and speed multiplier for any time-lapse setup.
This tool is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional financial, medical, legal, or engineering advice. See Terms of Service.
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- Enter the total shoot duration. This is how long you will leave your camera running. Select the unit (seconds, minutes, or hours) to match. A sunset typically takes 30-60 minutes to change significantly; a full day requires 8-12 hours.
- Set the interval between shots. This is the gap between each photo. For fast-moving clouds, use 2-5 seconds. For construction projects, use 5-30 minutes. For plant growth, use several hours.
- Choose your playback frame rate. 24 fps is the cinematic standard. 30 fps is common for video. Higher fps produces smoother motion but requires more frames.
- Read the results. The calculator shows total frames, final video duration, and how many times faster the video will appear than real life.
Make sure your storage card has enough space for the total frame count before you start shooting.
About Time-Lapse Photography
Time-lapse compresses hours or days of real time into seconds or minutes of video. The speed multiplier tells you how fast the world will appear: a 720x multiplier means every real-time minute will pass in 0.08 seconds of video. This is calculated as: real duration / video duration.
Common time-lapse intervals: sunsets and sunrises work well at 3-10 second intervals. Star trails and astrophotography use 15-30 second intervals. Flower blooming takes 30-minute to 2-hour intervals over days. Construction projects use 30-minute to 4-hour intervals over weeks or months.
For smooth motion, aim for at least 24 frames per second of finished video. An interval of 5 seconds over 60 minutes gives 720 frames, which at 24 fps is a 30-second video. If your video feels too choppy, reduce the interval to get more frames.
Frequently Asked Questions
What interval should I use for a sunset time-lapse?
For a sunset time-lapse, a 3-7 second interval works well. A 45-minute sunset at 5-second intervals gives 540 frames, which at 24 fps creates a 22-second video. The sky changes fast enough at 5 seconds to show fluid movement without the video feeling rushed. For slower cloud movement, increase to 10-15 seconds.
How many photos do I need for a 1-minute time-lapse video?
At 24 fps, a 1-minute time-lapse video requires 1,440 frames. At 30 fps, it requires 1,800 frames. If your shooting interval is 5 seconds, you would need to shoot for 120 minutes (2 hours) to get 1,440 frames. Use this calculator to find the exact combination of shoot duration and interval that produces your target video length.
What SD card size do I need for a time-lapse?
Calculate total frames first, then multiply by the file size per shot. A JPEG from a modern camera is roughly 5-15 MB; RAW files are 20-50 MB. A 1,000-frame time-lapse with 10 MB JPEGs uses about 10 GB. A 64 GB card handles around 6,400 JPEG frames at that size. For long shoots, use the largest card available and shoot in JPEG to maximize capacity.
How do I make a time-lapse less jerky?
Jerkiness usually means too few frames. Reduce the interval between shots to capture more frames. In post-production, most editing software can apply deflicker filters to smooth exposure changes, and some apps offer frame interpolation to generate in-between frames. A tripod is essential — any vibration between shots appears as jarring jumps in the final video.