About Time Lapse / Timelapse

Time-lapse refers to shooting motion-picture film very very slowly. Instead of exposing 24 frames per second (the standard in the US), film is exposed frame-by-frame, with a delay between frames of a few seconds to a few minutes.

When the film is projected at the normal rate, time is dramatically speeded up. See below for sample footage. We have some digital time lapse online as well.

Click the arrow to play! This is a shot from the Flushing Marina, towards LaGuardia airport. Those streaks of lights are planes taking off and landing. It was shot with some out-of-date Fuji stock so the colors are washed-out. 1-second shutter speed, with 1-second interval between shots (effective interval 2 seconds). 12.5mm lens, f4.0, 64 ASA.

(If the footage below doesn't play, it's most likely because you 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. If you still can't see anything, please let us know! Use the email link on the bottom of the page.)

If it doesn't play, right-click and download, then play the file locally. That seems to work.

Arri II, 5245. 5 seconds, 1.1M

Bolex, 7245. 5 seconds, 1.6M

Arri II, 5245. 8mm Peleng lens.
20 seconds, 5.1M

Bolex 0.6M

More Onsite Footage

Subject	Camera/Stock	RealVideo	AVI	MOV	Large MOV
Las Vegas	K-3/Negative	15k rm	220K avi	220K mov	1.6M mov
Unisphere	K-3/7239	171k rm	720K avi	720K mov	1.8M mov
Liberty	Bolex/7239	138k rm	------	------	------
FastDrive	Bolex/7239	205k rm	------	------	2.6M mov
B&W Clouds	K-3/B&W	------	------	533K mov	1.4M mov
B&W Old Man	K-3/8mm lens	------	------	------	2M mov
Construct	Bolex/7240	152k rm	2.4M avi	------	5.8M mov
Dusk	Bolex/7245	------	2.0M avi	------	------
DH-All	Bolex/7245	------	12.0M avi	------	------
Tunnel	Bolex/7239	------	290K avi	900K mov	------

Footage Notes:

"DH-All" is some professional footage supplied by David Huntley.  Shot with Bolex/TIV-300B.  It's 13M long, don't try viewing without a cable modem, or at least DSL.  "Dusk" is a subset of that footage.  

"Tunnel" is a trip through the Midtown Tunnel at night.  The video transfer didn't do such a good job with the inside the tunnel shot, very bright inside. 16-May-2001

"Las Vegas" was shot by Brian Lockwood Productions.  We assume the stock was 7245 negative. Thanks Brian!

"The Unisphere" is located in Flushing Meadows New York, on the grounds of the 1964 World's Fair.  It was shot with a  K-3 and stock zoom lens (at 17mm).  The interval was 8 seconds.  The Unisphere RealVideo footage is somewhat longer then the other formats.  It also shows the two towers (shot first with a 1 second interval, then a 3 second interval).

"Liberty" is from the Statue of Liberty Island.  The Statue was shot with a 25mm lens and 1 second interval. The skyline was shot with a 25mm lens and 2 second interval, then switched to an 8.5mm (TV camera) lens and 1 second interval.  The final skyline shot used the 25mm lens with a 1 second interval.  Those "blips" that appear in the frame are seagulls.  Someone stood slightly upwind of the camera and threw bread to the seagulls, which were captured in the frame.

"FastDrive" was shot with the 8.5mm TV lens on a sunroof mount.  The interval was 1 second, f-stop was 2.  The RealVideo clip of it looks horrible.  The large MOV file is somewhat better.

"B&W Clouds" was shot with a K-3 and the stock 17-69mm lens (set to 17mm). 

"B&W Old Man" was shot with a K-3 and the 8mm Peleng lens.  One of the yellow filters was used to increase cloud contrast.  Reversal stock.  The initial interval was 1 second and then was changed to 2 seconds. If you watch closely you can see the clouds accelerate at the slower interval.

"Construct" is some professional footage of a construction site.  Large, but worth it.  Shot with a Bolex and TIV-300 on reversal stock.  Compliments of "Crazy Duck Productions" of New Jersey.  Thanks!