A complete Guide to Choosing Time-lapse Interval and Shutter Speed

This tutorial explains the choices for time-lapse interval and shutter speed to achieve the look you want. Examples show the differences between the choices.

[@RIQs_World]

Once my edible clears out I'm going to watch this again

[@tsbrownie]

Great overall explanation and some really excellent tidbits interspersed! Thank you.

[@poorpolarbear]

Mark, thanks for the video, straight to the point. 🤘

[@stefannijenhuis6688]

This video was really helpfull, thank you!

[@TomKaszuba]

Very helpful. Very informative. Thank you very much.

[@MarkAJaegerVideo]

Your avatar seems to show that you're doing video at a young age. Have fun with it but don't put your camera in the sand box.

[@verneschmal1300]

thanks Mark!

[@The_Server_ong]

Perrfect video

[@AnandBawa]

Hi Mark. Very informative video! One question about making timelapse of milky way or astro-photography. As your example if my shutter speed is 20 sec, what interval should be used to make a smooth timelapse as in your video?

[@MarkAJaegerVideo]

If you are using Red DSMC2 you cannot achieve a 20 second shutter speed. The longest shutter speed is 1 second BUT you can use frame summing to increase the 1 second to 2, 4, 8 or 16 seconds. With frame summing you will also be summing the noise so it is a balancing act between increasing brightness and increasing noise. With each choice of shutter speed the mathematics of interval vs. shutter speed come into play. What I am saying is that with a 1 second exposure, the fastest interval becomes 1 second. With 2 second exposure, the fastest interval is 2 seconds...with 16 second exposure, the fastest interval becomes 1 every 16 seconds (actually a little more than 16 seconds when recording time is included). With long exposure, the interval becomes long, time compression becomes large, and number of frames captured versus time becomes small. All of these considerations need to be balanced. I prefer to stay at intervals no longer than 4 seconds but this means getting enough light is a challenge.

[@steveloudon7491]

A couple of comments if I may. I'm trying to figure out how 1/60th SS fits the 180 degree rule for a 1/2 second interval. You mentioned this at 5:00. Also is a one half second interval even doable. Doesn't it take at least that much time to write to the card? Thanks

[@MarkAJaegerVideo]

To figure this out you need to think about what is being spoken about (choices of interval and shutter to affect the amount of motion blur in time-lapse). I was not speaking about motion blur in video where you could be employing the "180 degree guideline"; although the principles are the same. I say "180 degree guideline" because it is NOT a rule. There are many examples where the "rule" is not employed. // In motion video the frame rate (which sets the interval) and shutter speed control motion blur. // A 0.5 second exposure is simple in time-lapse. It is impractical in motion video but it can be done. It takes a long time to collect a sequence and there is massive time compression. // The writing time to memory is fast on modern cameras. Modern only take a very short time to write to memory. It is not a concern in time-lapse and most video cameras won't let you select a frame rate where it would be an issue.

[@noumanaliawan3928]

Why my shutter in time lapse is not going low from 1/30?

[@MarkAJaegerVideo]

Your question is too brief - I do not understand what the problem is? Please give more information.

[@MarkAJaegerVideo]

I thought about your question a little more. If you are shooting at 30 frames per second the camera will limit you to 1/30 second per frame. If you want to have a longer exposure, set the number of frames per second to be the bottom number (the divisor) of your shutter speed fraction and make that the number of frames per second. Thus, 1/20 shutter would need 20 frames per second.