Timelapse Calculator
Calculate timelapse photo count, clip length, and storage needs from interval, shoot duration, and playback FPS.
Timelapse Planning
Timelapse photography captures frames at set intervals, then plays them back at standard video frame rates to compress time.
Total Photos = Shoot Duration (sec) / Interval (sec)
Clip Length = Total Photos / Playback FPS
Storage = Total Photos × File Size per Photo
Common intervals by subject:
- Clouds/weather: 3–10 seconds
- Sunrise/sunset: 5–15 seconds
- City traffic: 1–3 seconds
- Stars/Milky Way: 15–30 seconds
- Construction/plants: 1–30 minutes
- Crowds/people: 1–5 seconds
Playback frame rates:
- 24 fps: Cinematic look
- 25 fps: PAL broadcast standard
- 30 fps: NTSC broadcast standard
- 60 fps: Smooth motion
Typical file sizes per photo:
- JPEG (high quality): 5–15 MB
- RAW (crop sensor): 20–30 MB
- RAW (full frame): 40–60 MB
Rule of thumb: For a 10-second clip at 24fps, you need 240 photos. At a 5-second interval, that takes 20 minutes of real time.