Make your own time lapse videos in six super simple steps
Don’t you love time lapse photography that’s used in so many movies? Now you can be a master of time lapse video in less than a minute with the Brinno TLC-100 time-lapse camera. It’s literally as simple as:
1. Open box
2. Add batteries
3. Select time interval
4. Insert supplied USB flash drive
5. Aim at your subject
6. Press the big blue button
…and you are recording your own time lapse videos. Honestly it’s that simple. The TLC-100 comes in a weather resistant case so you can record indoors or out. The batteries will last 28,000 frames so you can literally make your recording last weeks or months. Brinno claims their power saving technology will last up to 200 days.
First thing to do is to decide how often you want your pictures taken. It comes with standard settings for every minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, four hours, 24 hours and custom. The custom setting lets you pick the number of seconds, minutes or hours you like – with 5 seconds being the most frequent. I like that setting for the most detail if you aren’t going to be recording for more than a day or so.
Each shot is a separate jpg image so you can capture individual frames easily and have a nice HD image of 1280x1040 pixels in size. You can print a decent 8x10 picture with an image that size.
The lense covers just under 50 degrees and will focus from 20” unto infinity. At 20” you get a nice macro effect with the subject in sharp focus and the background blurred out.
There’s even a setting to shoot in daylight hours only if desired. That would be great on a construction site for example, but be sure to uncheck that option if you want to record sunsets and sunrises.
The picture quality like most cameras is perfect on a sunny day, but I was impressed with its low light capabilities. Watch the attached video to see what I mean. Even on a rainy day and subsequently a foggy day, the video is still very clear and easy to watch.
The unit comes with a 2GB USB flash drive but you can use your own up to 8 GB in size. There is also software to allow easy playback of your videos. The program will allow you to playback anywhere from 2 to 30 frames per second.
Whether you want to record your tulip opening, the activity in your yard while you’re on vacation or the view from your cabin window…the Brinno TLC-100 is a simple yet elegant method of producing really great quality videos.
Check it out at the Brinno TLC-100 website. And watch the video on my website showing a storm brewing outside my window. One hour’s worth of weather in just 20 seconds.
Time lapse of a storm rolling in across a duck pond.
When it comes to editing your video, you’ll need some outside resources. The TLC-100 comes with a great viewer app to watch your videos, but there are no editing capabilities included. For starters, the AVI file created has a unique header that can’t be read by most media players. Using the free downloadable Freemake Video Convertor, you can change the file into MP4, WMV, or burn it to DVD. Once converted, you can start editing as needed in your favorite editor. Without converting it first, you’ll need either Corel VideoStudio or Windows MovieMaker, the only two programs that use the files as is.
One final hint, If you are going to be doing maximum number of frames (i.e. one every five seconds, I’d suggest getting the best batteries. In my tests, I wore out standard alkaline batteries after shooting about 1.4 GB of photos. Using Energizer’s newest Ultimate Lithium batteries, I was able to shoot the entire 2GB capacity of the enclosed USB stick and still shoot more after I downloaded the images. The Ultimate Lithium is actually designed specifically to last up to 9x longer than Energizer Max in digital cameras, according to the manufacturer. It was just my first test, but so far I’m loving them.
Doug Bardwell, based in Cleveland, OH, writes about interesting new travel technology topics, across the country and around the world at DougBardwell.com. Feel free to drop him a line at travel.dougbardwell@gmail.comwith suggestions for future products to be reviewed. If you've ever used one of the products he's reviewed, please leave your thoughts in the comment box below. To get his stories delivered to your inbox, click the RSS feed or the "Subscribe" button above or follow him on Twitter @photodb.. To read Doug’s disclosure notice, click here.
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