Editorial calculator · free in CineMath
Time Lapse Calculator
Set the intervalometer: shot interval, frame count and speed-up for any time-lapse.
Time Lapse works out the intervalometer setting. Enter how long the event lasts, how long the finished clip should run and the frame rate it will play at, and it gives the interval between shots first, because that is what you set on the camera, then the frames you need and how much faster than real time the clip plays.
Worked examples
| Real time | Clip | Frames | Interval | Speed-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 hours | 10 s at 24 fps | 240 | 30 s | 720× |
| 30 minutes | 15 s at 24 fps | 360 | 5 s | 120× |
| 1 hour | 10 s at 25 fps | 250 | 14.4 s | 360× |
| 4 hours | 5 s at 24 fps | 120 | 2 min | 2,880× |
| 5 minutes | 30 s at 60 fps | 1,800 | 167 ms | 10× |
What you enter
- Real duration in minutes, with presets from 5 to 240
- Playback length in seconds, with presets from 5 to 60
- Playback frame rate, with presets 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30 and 60 fps
What you get
- Interval between shots: in milliseconds under a second, seconds under a minute, minutes beyond
- Frames needed
- Speed-up ratio
- Warnings for an interval under a second and for plans over 10,000 frames
How CineMath works it out
- Frames = playback seconds × playback frame rate
- Interval = real seconds ÷ frames
- Speed-up = real duration ÷ playback length
- At 23.976 or 29.97 fps the frame count is shown to the nearest whole frame: 10 s at 23.976 is 239.76, shown as 240
Guides
More Editorial calculators
- Aspect RatioPixel dimensions for any aspect ratio, anamorphic desqueeze, and fit or fill to a delivery size.
- Speed ChangePlayback speed and running-time change when footage plays at a different frame rate.
- Target LengthThe exact retime percentage that fits a clip into a target duration.
- Timecode CalculatorAdd, subtract, multiply and divide timecode, and convert between timecode and frames.
- Film ↔ TimeConvert film footage to running time and back, for ten formats from Super 8 to 15-perf IMAX.