Common intervals for timelapse shots and movies

In this post, I’ll give an overview of the most common intervals for creating different timelapse scenarios. With the mentioned intervals you can create good 30p timelapse videos later.

1-second interval

  • Fast moving clouds
  • Driving cars and road traffic
  • Time lapse from the car (so called drivelapse)
  • Time lapse from the airplane cockpit (is it called “flylapse” now?)

1-to-3 second intervals

  • Slow cloud formations
  • Sunrises and sunsets
  • Moon and sun on the horizon
  • Gatherings, crowds, concerts
  • Melting ice and snow in the sun

15-to-30 second intervals

Other and longer intervals

  • Fast growing vegetation and plants and blossoms (60 to 120 seconds)
  • Site progress with site cameras for short construction projects (tree house, garden shed) 5 minutes
  • Construction site progress with site cameras for medium construction projects (single-family house) 10 minutes
  • Construction site progress with construction site cameras for long construction projects (company headquarters) 15 minutes

My photo equipment:

Nikon Z6 II full frame mirrorless camera: https://geni.us/vF5K4Nk *
Nikon D500 DX format SLR: https://geni.us/QpwK *
Wide angle for astrophotography: https://geni.us/PIPEGEB *
Wide angle for astrophotgraphy on DX camera: https://geni.us/rnztt4N *
Travel tripod: https://geni.us/fVJfG *
Large tripod: https://geni.us/lXGgv *
Always-on lens: https://geni.us/XIbn *
SD Memory Cards: https://geni.us/YWhyWuG *
CFExpress Memory Cards: https://geni.us/QNYEy4J *
Remote shutter release with interval timer: https://geni.us/eRSAm *

* All aforementioned links are Amazon affiliate links