Timelapse Planner

Plan perfect timelapse shoots. Set clip length, playback FPS and interval to see how long you must shoot and how many frames you need for smooth motion.

Input

Mode
Accepts: HH:MM:SS, MM:SS, SS or digits-only (HHMMSS).
Playback FPS
16 24 fps 240
Interval rounding
Capture 1 frame every
2 frames 2 s 10 min
Input examples
12:34:56, 1:23:45, 12:34, 123456 → 12:34:56, 12345 → 01:23:45

Results

Interval —
Number of frames —
Speed-up factor —
Final duration —
Tip: Use rounding to land on real-world interval values (1s / 5s / 10s) that cameras and motion feel “natural” with.

Related Tools

How Timelapse Planning Works

Timelapse = Math + Taste

A timelapse is just a normal video where each frame was captured with a delay (interval) between shots. The shorter the interval, the smoother motion you get — but the longer you’ll have to shoot.

How This Tool Works

Frames needed = (Final clip seconds) × (Playback FPS)

Real shoot time = (Frames needed) × (Interval seconds)

The two modes just swap what you’re solving for: either you pick the clip length and find interval, or you pick the interval and see what clip length you’ll get.

Practical Interval Cheats

Street / people / traffic: 1–3s (fast motion, energetic).

Clouds / landscape light changes: 3–10s.

Sunset / blue hour: 5–15s (depends how quick light shifts).

Stars / night sky: 15–30s (or longer if you’re doing very slow movement).

Camera Tips (so it doesn’t flicker like a disco)

Lock exposure (manual). Auto exposure loves flicker.

Lock white balance. Auto WB = color pumping.

Manual focus + tape it if needed.

Avoid tiny apertures (diffraction). Also, aperture changes can cause flicker on some lenses.

Use ND for daytime to keep shutter reasonably long (motion blur looks more “cinematic”).