acalculator

How long will my time lapse be?

Type how long the event lasts, the time between photos and the frame rate of your video to see how many photos you take and how long the clip will be. Or type the clip length you want, and the calculator gives the interval to set on your camera.

Your numbers

Units
Work out
Answer
A 48 s clip

A 48 s clip: 1,440 photos played at 30 fps.

Photos
1,440
Clip length
48 s
Interval
5 s
Speed-up×
150

Answer: A 48 s clip. A 48 s clip: 1,440 photos played at 30 fps.

How to calculate

Works out how many photos a time-lapse takes and how long the clip will be from the event length, shooting interval and frame rate, or the interval to use for a clip length you want.

Example with the default inputs (Work out Clip length, Event length 2 h, Interval 5 s, Frame rate (fps) 30): A 48 s clip: 1,440 photos played at 30 fps.

Method: Photos = ⌊event length ÷ interval⌋; clip length = photos ÷ fps. For a clip length: photos = ⌈clip length × fps⌉; interval = event length ÷ photos.

  • Photos are counted in whole intervals over the event; a part of an interval at the end takes no photo.
  • Every photo becomes one frame of the video.
  • 1 GB = 1,000 MB, as storage cards are sold.

Machine-readable copies: Markdown, JSON.

Worked examples

Each example is checked against the calculator on every build.

  1. Work out Clip length, Event length 24 h, Interval 30 s, Frame rate (fps) 24 gives Photos 2,880, Clip length 120 s, Answer A 2 min 0 s clip, Speed-up 720.Source: Time-lapse photography, Wikipedia (one frame every 30 seconds for 24 hours gives 2,880 frames, about 2 minutes at 24 frames per second), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse_photography (retrieved 2026-10-03)
  2. Work out Interval, Event length 4 h, Clip length 45 s, Frame rate (fps) 24 gives Photos 1,080, Interval 13.33 s, Answer Shoot every 13.33 s.Source: Time-lapse photography, Wikipedia (one frame every 30 seconds for 24 hours gives 2,880 frames, about 2 minutes at 24 frames per second), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse_photography (retrieved 2026-10-03)
  3. Work out Clip length, Event length 2 h, Interval 7 s, Frame rate (fps) 30, Photo size (MB) 25 gives Photos 1,028, Clip length 34.27 s, Storage 25.7.Source: Time-lapse photography, Wikipedia (one frame every 30 seconds for 24 hours gives 2,880 frames, about 2 minutes at 24 frames per second), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse_photography (retrieved 2026-10-03)

How it works

Clip length from an interval:

  • photos = ⌊event length ÷ interval⌋, the whole intervals in the event (a part of an interval at the end takes no photo).
  • clip length = photos ÷ fps.

Interval for a clip length:

  • photos = ⌈clip length × fps⌉, enough frames for the clip.
  • interval = event length ÷ photos.

In both:

  • speed-up = interval × fps, the seconds of real time in one second of video.
  • storage = photos × photo size ÷ 1,000, in GB (optional).

The answer shows the clip length or the interval in hours, minutes and seconds, the seconds to 2 decimals with halves rounded up from the exact value.

Rules

  • The event is 1 s to 365 days, typed in hours, minutes or seconds; the interval 0.01 s to 1 day; the clip 0.1 s to 1 day; the frame rate 1 to 1,000; the photo size 0.001 MB to 10,000 MB.
  • Times are used as the exact decimals typed, so 2 h at 5 s gives exactly 1,440 photos.
  • An interval longer than the event gives no answer.

Worked examples by hand

24 h at 30 s, 24 fps. 86,400 ÷ 30 = 2,880 photos; 2,880 ÷ 24 = 120 s (2 min 0 s). Speed-up 30 × 24 = 720×.

4 h event, 45 s clip at 24 fps. 45 × 24 = 1,080 photos; 14,400 ÷ 1,080 = 13.33 s between photos.

2 h at 7 s, 30 fps, 25 MB photos. 7,200 ÷ 7 = 1,028.57, so 1,028 photos; 1,028 ÷ 30 = 34.27 s; 1,028 × 25 = 25,700 MB = 25.7 GB.

Other questions people ask

How do I calculate a time-lapse?

Divide the event length by the interval to get the number of photos, then divide the photos by the frame rate to get the clip length. 2 hours (7,200 s) at one photo every 5 s is 1,440 photos; at 30 fps that is a 48 s clip.

What interval should I use for a time-lapse?

Multiply the clip length you want by the frame rate to get the photos you need, then divide the event length by that number. For a 45 s clip at 24 fps from a 4-hour event: 45 × 24 = 1,080 photos, and 14,400 s ÷ 1,080 = 13.3 s between photos.

What intervals suit common subjects?

Fast clouds and traffic look smooth at 1 s to 3 s, slow clouds and sunsets at 3 s to 10 s, stars at 15 s to 30 s, and plants or building work at minutes to hours. Shorter intervals give smoother but slower motion.

How much faster than real time does a time-lapse play?

The interval times the frame rate. At one photo every 5 s played at 30 fps, every second of video shows 150 s of real time.

Which frame rate should I pick?

24 fps gives a film look, 25 fps is used for PAL video, and 30 fps for most online video. A higher frame rate needs more photos for the same clip length.

How much storage will a time-lapse need?

Multiply the number of photos by the size of one photo. 1,028 RAW photos of 25 MB each need about 25.7 GB.