How To Take EPIC Hyperlapses With Your Drone - Full Tutorial

[@Philonic]

Take off close to where you want the hyperlapse to end. Set your first waypoint where the hyperlapse will end. Fly and set your second waypoint to where you want to start, and then reverse the waypoints. You save a ton of battery this way as you don’t have to fly back to your first point. I appreciate the opacity tip at the end. Thanks

[@billykyle]

Yeah great idea!

[@RanjanSharma2001]

That's great advice for shooting longer distance hyperlapse thus saving battery. Thanks!

[@lewinSiko]

Thanks for the tip !

[@SmartMeditationFilms]

Thank you!

[@dronetheworld4k67]

What is the optimum speed for hyperlapses say to capture city lights and cars ??....

[@madhumediafilms]

The opacity tip!!! Mind = blown!! Thanks a ton for sharing

[@InvincibleStormFilms]

Thanks for showing the masses how to do it in and out. I've tried BUT, hopefully this will give more insights. Finally, a Great walk through 🙏🏿

[@billykyle]

Thanks Anthony! Keep grinding, love your long exposure train shots.

[@marylanddroneguy]

Great video. The only thing that I was taught differently was in Final Cut Pro after importing the photos to change the duration of each photo to be 1 frame before making the compound clip. ( Select all photos, ^D, then set it to 1 frame)This makes each photo set to be 1 frame so it matches the same duration you set on the drone. Then you crate the compound clip to export. You’re doing it manually now after compounding the clip. Also, Thanks for the tip on doing the stabilization twice. I didn’t know that was a thing and it’s been frustrating the hell out of me not being able to get it smooth. I’m going to try it today on the Hyperlapse I took last night. 👊

[@billykyle]

Nice tip! Thank you!

[@shayrealestatephotography]

I didn't see anything about camera settings? Auto or manual WB? Auto or manual focus? Shutter speed and ND's used? Auto ISO or? Etc. Apart from that, nice vid.

[@IGATECK]

I'm currently going to Chicago with my mavic 3, this video is gold, Thanks brother 👍

[@digitalkiteaerial]

Great video. Super helpful pro tips at the end. I like to make the last waypoint close to home so I don’t have far too fly to get back home, when the battery is low at the end of the task.

[@cre8tivity06]

For super long hyper lapses like the 750 images that you mentioned, I’ve heard of people starting the hyperlapse at the end point so by the time it gets back to you, you wouldn’t have far to fly on a possibly dead battery.

[@billykyle]

Yup you can do that

[@_agapedaily]

This is THE ultimate tutorial for hyper-lapses 👏 Thank you!

[@billykyle]

You’re welcome 👏👏

[@dprincenj]

Tons of great tips in this, glad you mentioned the merge at the end. Works great on those day to nights

[@billykyle]

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback 🙏

[@cre8tivity06]

Pretty cool idea for the day to night light changes. Another way to do that is run a daylight mission with waypoints and make sure you save the waypoints and then go back to that location at night and fly that same saved flight route. When you edit the video you can select a point in the video to transition from day to night and it should look seamless.

[@billykyle]

Those are awesome to see 👏🏻

[@gmiles119]

Absolutely amazing job with this. So much information, it's like teaching hyperlapse, in hyperlapse mode. I thought that I had been getting amazing results, but now I see that I have barely scratched the surface of what can be done.

[@RonaldBrown59]

Great tutorial, you covered everything A to Z on getting better Hyperlapses with your drone. I'm going to save this one and rewatch it again. Thanks for sharing.

[@billykyle]

Thanks Ron! I appreciate you watching.

[@StinsFilms]

Great tips. Using davinci resolve would make your editing workflow SO much faster. You can drag the folder with your photos right in and it will automatically compound them into a video, and then in the color tab you are able to color grade it with the same flexibility as light room with no copy pasting! So instead of multiple programs and exports you could literally streamline everything down to a single timeline AND there is no wait for the settings to copy paste to the other photos. I put some pretty heavy adjustments on some of my hyperlapses and my MacBook can play it back in realtime.

[@horizonimages]

That’s what I do. Dngs straight into Davinci Resolve as a sequence, use the raw editing controls, then do additional adjustments and keyframing if necessary using the nodes. Also stabilising multiple times can be done using compound clips. All in, it’s the original dngs in, and a single video out. None of this multiple exporting that Billy is doing. Saves a ton of time and a ton of disk space!

[@carbonflightMN]

Great video! I've always have done hyperlapses the generic way and I didn't understand why other people's Hyperlapses look SO good sometimes! I'll be doing this from now on and getting off auto focus settings and shooting in manual. With course lock, you can drap a square around sometime and have to drone just focus on that one point. So the drone will change direction and camera tilt on it's own! I just learned that last week. Thanks for video! 😁

[@obikedog]

Super cool. This opens up a whole new world. I've done some timelapses on my phone and gopros but this is a big leap. I have my work cut out for me now.

[@billykyle]

Good luck learning!

[@dronephotogeek]

Wow, you put a lot of time into perfecting this skillset and I understood it perfectly. Many who have less knowledge than myself may need to google and watch some videos on the editing side of things but you really nailed it on explaining the whole workflow. Very well done and thanks

[@hitgucvkj]

This is the most comprehensive guide on hyperlapse

[@billykyle]

That was the goal!

[@boatman19607]

Don’t often drive by boat house row but did recently. I was scanning the sky to see if you were flying lol. Thanks for the tips

[@bobfiore8]

Def saving this video in my library. Excellent tutorial Billy! Your hyper lapses are must watch videos. Thank you for sharing.

[@billykyle]

Happy it helps Bob 🙌🏼

[@bobfiore8]

@@billykyle our next meet up a tutorial walkthrough would be a nice help. lol

[@zickiea172]

If you use ON1 Photo RAW you can edit the RAW files and select "File" and then "Timelapse" all in the program and also does some frame tweening to figure out any camera motion between frames. You can choose a number of options there and then I import into DaVinci Resolve and use the Stabilize option there .. but would also apply to your workflow in FCP.

[@billykyle]

I’ll have to check that out.

[@ChrisKendrick]

Great job. I've saved this to my watchlist as I will be referring to your methods often. I tried to address the altitude issue you reference at 12:35 in a post below. Height issue is not a bug. Height is based on barometric pressure and therefore relative to launch point and weather. Regular aircraft and drones use barometric altimeters to determine height, unless you have a drone that can use LIDAR.....but even then you will have to calibrate the height for each flight i.e. M300 RTK.

[@wilroc82969]

Great tutorial Billy and thank you for making it easy to understand! Ive been practicing my Hyperlapse on my Mavic 3 and this video answered all my questions ! All of your content is Amazing and you are appreciated thanks again & StayBlessed 🙏

[@HoustonBrownPhotography]

When using way points for long shots, I will SAVE the waypoints, land, change battery, then recall those saved waypoints and fly it with a full battery.

[@billykyle]

I addressed this - the DJI Fly app has an issue with saving heights, therefore not allowing you to properly resort your actual flights.

[@timelapsebylkunl72]

Free mode can use with cruise control. You can do for example backward hyperlapse just put back and enable cruise control or even more complicate move. Thank for a great tutorial.

[@billykyle]

Thanks for the tip!

[@dronetheworld4k67]

What is the optimum speed for hyperlapses say to capture city lights and cars ??....

[@SmartMeditationFilms]

Thank you!

[@cre8tivity06]

I’ll probably make a video sometime soon showing my mobile workflow but I do ALL my editing on my iPad Pro. I use Lightroom Mobile to batch edit the RAW photos and I use Lumafusion to edit and stabilize the video.

[@billykyle]

I saw your story. I’d love to see how you do it!

[@theblade66]

Love that cloud movement

[@theblade66]

What a fantastic tutorial, I seriously need to check these settings out.

[@billykyle]

Happy you enjoyed it!

[@miltonspivack4534]

Great hyperlapse of the Schuylkill and Vine Street Expressway

[@billykyle]

Thanks!!

[@FlyinFlynnMedia]

Great overview Billy! Great to meet you at the S. Florida meetup.

[@billykyle]

Thank you! Awesome to meet you too!

[@MatthewPhilip_]

Amazing content! Do you always go for the lowest frames per second? I always thought the time it shows on Hyperlapse is how many minutes it will take to make the footage 😂 now I know it’s how many seconds the Hyperlapse will be

[@craiglawrey7518]

This is one hell of a great video instruction. Thank you very much!!

[@acplanells]

Another awesome video. Great to see that I’ve tried many different ways and I’ve done many of these things you discussed so I’m on the right track

[@DOCTORFLIES]

Very nice. Appreciate the video. Do you think DJI will ever develop software that stabilizes the initial footage? Seems like a ton of work and massive files to get a good hyperlapse.

[@JustinTimeForAdventures]

My hyper lapses are always super stable. What kind of issue are you experiencing?

[@DOCTORFLIES]

@@JustinTimeForAdventures They're always a little shaky. It's not horrible but it isn't as good as post-stabilization. That's why Billy made this elaborate video on how to edit and stabilize the footage in post.

[@billykyle]

It does stabilize that clip it generates in post n

[@timelapsebylkunl72]

Clip form dji app alredy stabilize if tou choose “high” not “preview” but i still prefer tack stabilize in after effect.

[@BrianKushner]

Thanks for this video Billy. One question comes to mind. How much better is the edited clip vs what the camera spits out in the single file?

[@markkempton4579]

I gave this a shot tonight. Thank you for the tips! Great points about capturing the motion in frame! Sunset was a bust but I practiced a few runs. Unfortunately, the drone pointed itself the wrong way during my first waypoint run. I think I need to recalibrate everything. The horizon has been crooked for a year. LOL I also missed where you set saving the raw files. I thought it was the normal "RAW or JPG" option. Missed the dedicated hyperlapse option. I use DJI GO 4, so the interface in your video wasn't familiar. I made some poor assumptions. LOL Thank you again. This has me excited to switch from stills to video, since I'm still shooting stills in a way and I know how to edit them, unlike video.

[@billykyle]

Awesome to hear! Can't wait to see your results. It takes some getting used to, but you will gain an eye for good perspectives. Sorry to hear the sunset was a bust, it happens sometimes 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@markkempton4579]

@@billykyle that wasn't too bad. There was enough traffic on the main road to get the motion effect. The challenge was the drone turning away from my focus point. I may have screwed up the waypoint or not set a new focus point for the final waypoint. Every failure is a learning point.

[@kottik1]

I had this "the horizon has been crooked for a year" issue once, turned out my drone's compass needed to be demagnetized. I went to a repairman and he fixed it with his C-fixer.

[@mugz6882]

I learn something new everyday. Thanks

[@PetydeNecro]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge - really handy tips at the end! Keep the great content rolling! 😎

[@jimsdroneing]

with freestyle mavic 3 cruise control could be used great tutorial Billy

[@carolinaaerialvisuals]

Good stuff as always brother! Definitely learned some things.

[@billykyle]

Thank you! It’s a looong process.

[@floridadrones]

Whats up buddy was nice to meet you thanks for the tips at the South Florida Meet up

[@billykyle]

Yo! Happy to help! Can’t wait to see your hyperlapses.

[@brianbracherphotography]

Another great video Billy, thank you. I have made day to night Timelapse’s from a tripod but never from the drone so will definitely be giving this a try. Do you stick with a manually set exposure or do you use aperture priority?

[@billykyle]

Usually aperture priority so it can adjust with cloud cover.

[@brianbracherphotography]

@@billykyle thanks, appreciate you coming back - out this week to put it to the test 👍

[@jabirjibril1392]

Thanks for sharing sir, perhaps you could my tour guide if I visit Philly!

[@Brian-ss2dp]

Have you tried using a stabilization plugin? I started using FCPX Stabilizer 2.0 from Pixel Film Studios and it does the trick. You can either lock on to something or customize the settings and just smooth it out. It’s been a game changer for me.

[@juergen_ihle]

Tanks for this great tuturial Billy

[@billykyle]

You’re welcome!

[@cogotexx]

13:00 it is because you need to take off from the exact same spot every time you launch a certain waypoint mission. Drones don’t display the real altitude of the drone but related to the home point…each time (don’t know if anyone has mentioned this already)

[@ChrisKendrick]

Yes, it helps a lot to take off from the same spot, but there can still be a slight difference. Why? Because drones, like planes, use barometric pressure for height. If you can take off from the same point, the difference should be within 10 feet, from what I understand. But this is why there are differences in flight AGLs for waypoints. GPS is not the issue, (it doesn't have height, right?). But if you save waypoints with a high pressure system overhead, then fly the same waypoint launching from the same point but now a low pressure system is overhead, your heights will be different. Hope this helps. Maybe worthwhile to record the pressure on the day of the flight. Have no idea how to adjust, but maybe will help with planning if you can find the day where the pressures are similar. If you use AirData for log maintenance, the pressure is displayed per flight.

[@petrub27]

Always try to move against your subject for a cool effect. If clouds are moving left to right, u circle right to left. Imo, ofc

[@AlSo-Fotografie]

thanks ill try that :)

[@pixsmart]

Thanks mate. I'm watching this video for the second time 🙂 Can you use shorter interval that 2 sec? I'm doing the same in Reykjavík Iceland, hyperlapse of cars on motorways/highways. I have mavic 2 pro and smart controller but was thinking of upgrading to 3 pro! To have more presice control of the interval is a major thing! Can't seem to get around that one...!

[@humbirdvisuals8173]

Thank you for sharing! I took my Mini 3 pro out to do some testing and I forgot to change the settings to RAW photos SMH

[@lindseyjohn4789]

I would like to do a Hpyer-Lapse around the Barak Obama Construction site. Need to study this video and come up with a plan.

[@AlexKovshovik]

Thank you Billy! Such great tips and tge while process breakdown!!!

[@billykyle]

You're welcome!

[@dronebuzz]

Nice work! ;-) Thank you Billy! T

[@billykyle]

You bet

[@brucehull2455]

Great video! Nicely done and well explained.

[@ORINJE]

I've got a mavic mini 2, can i do this? Love the tutorial

[@phillies99fan]

Can you do an update video with doing hyperlapses with the Air 3?

[@sconnie360]

Thanks for covering so much information in this video! I've watched different chapters a few times, but finally watched in it's entirety. Great stuff! I am left with one question, though. I can't get out to fly right now, so maybe you can answer for me. Is it possible to adjust exposure manually once a hyperlapse is started? Day to night (holy grail) transitions are my goal and I'd like to know how you make yours so smooth. Thanks!

[@YardLimit]

Thank you for doing this.

[@billykyle]

You’re welcome!

[@D8Droner-xj5tg]

Awesome very fascinating and great tutorial video❤

[@afonsosantos8364]

Try configure C2 for “cruise control” and then Hyperlapse-free becomes usable

[@SWVALandClearing]

Thanks! Well done. Super helpful and easy to follow.

[@FlyingKickSave]

Don't forget you can Pause a Hyperlaspe mid-flight and hit Play to continue. I do this for wind gusts and to find out why the ADS-B is chirping.

[@billykyle]

I wouldn’t do that 🫣 it would totally throw off the end result. If you need to stop, I’d fully restart.

[@eturn23]

Thanks for the great tutorial, I'm wondering if you had to get (special) permission to fly over the port at 2:45?

[@billykyle]

Nope. Port doesn’t own the airspace.

[@knownoversight]

Great tutorial, thanks, going to go give it a try.. :)

[@trabseyn8000]

Thanks for the two pass stabilization tip. Using Davinci stabilization can be quirky so I'll give it a go. Question about Waypoint mode. I'll often find that the Fly app is limiting my overall HL length to 4-5 seconds even with the battery in excess of 90% and interval at the minimum 2 seconds. That has been the biggest frustration with the drone (Air 2S) especially when missing a killer sunset. If you have any suggestions about what might be happening, workarounds, something to avoid (I'm keeping things simple with minimal rotation and altitude changes) it would be appreciated. Keep up the awesome work. Really loved the Gigafactory clip (drive by there daily).

[@billykyle]

That’s strange. I haven’t used the Air 2S much for hyperlapses. Have you tried setting a further distance between the waypoints?

[@trabseyn8000]

@@billykyle good catch as waypoints were mostly altitude changes without any horizontal motion to accelerate the sunset behind a ridge. Will test this. Thx.

[@rcytowski]

Great video !!!

[@RobertMacCready]

Great video. Thanks for all your effort explaining Hyperlapses. Sub'd and liked!

[@ericreifsnyder8655]

Billy, great video. Question, I shot a 250/10 second clip. When I compound it, then bring up real time controls, and shorten it, all I get is a few photos playing. Anything you can think I’m doing wrong

[@jamieandrei]

Billy.. what resolution photos does the MAvic 3 Pro take? Trying to confirm as the manual states 3x sizes (12mp, 20mp, 48mp). Finding it hard to reference, can't find it any where.. ta mate..

[@Matyas974VFX]

Great tutorial ! However, on my mavic 3 classic, the minimum interval is 2 seconds, any ideas why?

[@jld3photography]

Same. Fearful it's a limitation of the Classic to differentiate from the more costly cine version, but unable to confirm. Billy, any idea why us classic owners aren't seeing the 1s interval option? Great tutorial video by the way, and I like your speak speed lol - saves me from needing to play back at 1.5x speed...

[@billykyle]

Cine is the only one that gets 1 second interval. My guess is that they are giving a “higher end” feature to the more expensive drone.

[@Koolkole27]

Shutter setting also ISO do you use? I am using a dji mini 3 pro mid day shots but also evening and night shots.

[@Lavaei]

So Great. Do you have any idea to create a circle waypoint or create circle hyperlapse when the drone heights change during the rotation ?

[@hawkeyemediallc8804]

It seems on the Mavic 3 (not cine) a 1/2 second shutter forces the minimum interval to change to 3 seconds. A 1/2.5 shutter or faster can have a 2 second interval. Does the Cine version do this as well?

[@billykyle]

No it doesn’t. I was using my Classic for a while while my Cine was getting repaired and that drove me crazy.

[@morrice]

Nice overview…Just what I needed as I’m trying to hone my hyperlapse skills lately. Your San Francisco hyperlapse was awesome. Looking forward to getting back there to reshoot mine. Trying to dial in the correct settings to get nice light trails from the cars at night. Any suggestions from anyone?

[@billykyle]

Thank you! Here are my night settings: NO ND filter ISO 100-400 F2.8 Approx 1 second shutter speed

[@morrice]

Much appreciated @@billykyle

[@petersutherland1451]

Hey Billy. Congrats on your channel and big thanks for sharing your knowledge. I have a Mini 3 Pro but am restricted from flying at night here in Sydney Aust unless I get a higher level of drone licence ($5k) , so I can only fly until 30 min after sunset. I have previously done a fair bit of the Holy Grail Time Lapse (LRTimelapse) method with my stills camera and was wondering if you had tried this technique with your m3P? More specifically, do you know if it's possible to ramp shutter speed in pro mode? I have tried in auto mode, but predictably, the algorithm didn't quite work it out.

[@AmericanMoviePodcast]

With way points can you control the pan while it’s shooting or do you do the pan you want while setting up all the points

[@RobertWildling]

Excellent tutorial! Thank you so much! - At around 13:10 you mention that the drone does not necessarily fly a waypoint mission 2x the same way, the height could be off. Isn't that du to the starting point of the drone? Shouldn't the drone fly pretty much at the exact same height when it is started from the same stop, e.g. a parking log (and there maybe a particular number)? (Gonna check that out...)

[@billykyle]

No, this is even when taking off from the same exact spot every time.

[@RobertWildling]

@@billykyle Hmm, interesting. But... that sucks! 😞 Shouldn't that be one of the key ideas of waypoints? ...

[@michaellujan9440]

Wow, great video!!

[@PaDrone-u8v]

Thanks, I need a beer!

[@FlyhighLittleDrone]

Cool! I understood some of that

[@djskillzz215]

Annnd YES I'm Subscribed to your channel 😎

[@billykyle]

🙌🏼

[@SlaughterHausD]

Billy, do you know if that "height change issue" with saved waypoint missions for hyperlapse flight has been corrected with any firmware updates since the time this post was released?

[@filippobacci2374]

Great video thanks! Very interesting tip the one to blend the sunset Timelapse in Final Cut. May I ask how do you set the camera for a day to night sunset hyperlapse? Do you shoot in auto mode or in Pro mode? If you use the pro mode, do you change the exposure manually when the light goes down? Many thanks!

[@Walk4r]

then add blur at top and bottom, and welcome to the world of tilt shift hyperlapses!

[@AppleShortss]

He a great guy I watch his channel all the time but yes he dose talk very fast. To help to better understand and retain the information I slow the video speed down in KZbin setting. To play back speed to 0.75x. It perfect now

[@Pasxos100d]

Thanks for the useful insight !!

[@billykyle]

You’re welcome!

[@Tescko94]

Very informative video, thanks!

[@billykyle]

You’re welcome!

[@mikepi660]

Thank YOU,,, learned much,,

[@NathanVanGundy]

Great video!

[@psi-ops1397]

okay, so 30 seconds is the max final video length that can be acquired, regardless of any other settings?

[@kevinfonseca2958]

Very informative, thanks; I have a Mavric 3. What should I shoot the hyper lapse in? Jpeg or Jpeg+raw?

[@ShapeGSX]

That waypoint altitude bug is so annoying! I actually wonder if it is just the the GPS chip’s accuracy that causes it, though. I’ve also noticed that the drone’s heading and overall position is also different, not just the altitude. I was trying to make a time lapse of Hyperlapses and I basically realized that it was impossible after recording like 10 of them over several months. :-(

[@billykyle]

Could be the issue, but I’m leaning towards software because it effects multiple drones.

[@londenard]

​@Billy Kyle OMG, I literally getting ready to type up a long answer but then realized you're sitting across the room from me! Hahaha!

[@RanjanSharma2001]

Great Tutorial for hyperlapse. I tried it today it gave me warning current battery is not enough which I understand that drone will come back when battery is less than 20% & it returned to home at 20% but after that it should have continue to complete the hyperlapse from where it returned but after replacing the battery it started shooting the same hyperlapse from beginning 0/720 shots (it had already completed 330 shots) so my question is how to use Multiple battery for doing a longer 30 sec timelpase? Is it that after replacing battery I should simply press the hyperlapse record button & it should continue from where it was last or should I open my saved waypoint then start recording hyperlapse?

[@billykyle]

Even if it went to continue from the same spot, everything would look different. Wouldn’t be good.

[@RanjanSharma2001]

@@billykyle in my case drone was just 60 m up & I was moving on with the drone on bicycle updating home point so time gap is hardly 1 min. Although I understand clouds moving can show a bit of jump due to time gap. Is there any instructions to shoot longer hyperlapse with multiple batteries? That's what I want to know.

[@MrEddieNunez]

Superb in-depth video. You completely lost me with that complex Final Cut Pro workflow.

[@billykyle]

Thanks Edwardo

[@eturn23]

One more question, is the Inspire 2 with X7 a good / viable drone for shooting hyperlapses? Or is the 25 minute flight time too limiting? Thanks...

[@billykyle]

Flight time might be an issue

[@psi-ops1397]

I find the setting confusing. Not for waypoints and movement, but for overall final video length. I know that DJI Fly shows the time that it will take to produce the shots, but what about how long your final video would be? Most of these videos center on how to make cinematic videos, but I can't seem to find one that explains the step by step of how the timelapse works.

[@cnc.moto_factory]

Is the Avata capable of Timelapse too?

[@billykyle]

Unfortunately, no

[@judylindo6874]

OMG, great information but you talk to fast!!! :) I'm exhausted listening to you. But really, very informative and helpful

[@vidsbfree4me]

Just go in your settings and slow the video down. It's an East Coast thing as opposed to the Southern way.

[@rewind2play]

He was talking in hyperlaspe😅

[@tramey1961]

My thoughts exactly, this dude needs to cut his caffeine intake

[@AREyouAFRAIDofTHEdark1]

Yea as @vidsbfree4me said… just go to settings and slow down the video.

[@AppleShortss]

Are you going to do a DJI Integra review

[@billykyle]

Yes working on it now

[@stauferaerial]

How are you able to fly the Mavic 3 over roads with moving vehicles? - I'm genuinely curious.

[@billykyle]

Which clip are you referring to?

[@stauferaerial]

@@billykyle Dallas at 0:59 - just in the beginning Roundabout at 1:08 is the main one that jumped out Others that may just be appearing that way due to cropping: 9:24 13:14 17:13 I (as a Part 107 pilot) did some similar things with transitions over moving vehicles during a hyperlapse and ran into trouble with the FAA. I misinterpreted their regulations and was positive I could make transitional flight. Thanks so much for your reply, I enjoy learning from you a whole lot!

[@billykyle]

I usually refer to the waypoints on my map and can confirm that none of them are directly over the roads. There is usually a body of water or parking lots underneath of my drone.

[@stauferaerial]

@@billykyle Makes sense! Keep up the good work!