Time-lapse
A sequence of frames captured at long intervals and played at normal speed, compressing hours into seconds.
Formula / rule
Clip length = frames / playback fps
Measured in
seconds interval
In depth
The interval determines the compression: a two-second gap turns an hour into two and a half minutes of footage at 24 fps. Success depends on consistency — manual exposure, fixed white balance and a rigid tripod — because any variation between frames becomes a visible flicker in playback.
Examples in practice
Cloud movement shot at four-second intervals for three hours yields a 112-second clip at 24 fps.