Windows 7: Time lapse video software

I have a DV camera and want to make some time lapse videos without literally recording days worth of video.



I want to do some "time progressing" films which would require like shots that last for 3 days.

I'd be using my miniDV sony camera with ilink/ firewire

Using the normal raw miniDV format takes up a insane amount of space.

I have Sony HandyCam MiniDV Model No. DVR-HC21

What would be the best software for this without shooting 300 GB for a day worth of video.

Perhaps something that records for 3 minutes every 15 minutes.

A interval recording ability

You want a recording program that records a short time at set intervals right?

I will look around for you.

Greetings

One other thing to check is that the camera itself does not include this functionality - I have seen this option on some video cameras and at least one digital stills camera

Can you tell me what DV camera you have? brand? type?

Sure I have Sony HandyCam MiniDV Model No. DVR-HC21

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DCR-HC21-Handycam-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B0007M3PK8"]Amazon.com: Sony DCR-HC21 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom: Camera & Photo[/ame]

Hi Duckling.

I've been doing some searching and reading into the subject of timelaps video.

First the bad news:
Your camera doesn't have timelaps, and it can't be remotely operated by software.
In short, timelaps video is not possible with your camera.
Strangely the DCR-HC20 does have timelaps.

Second:
Most (semi) Professional time-laps video's are made with still cameras, not video cameras.
The image quality of still camera's is far superior to video camera's.
And you only need one still per set time (like one every minute),
so a video camera is not really suited for it.

This means if you are set on making timelaps video's, there are two scenario's.
1. If you only want to shoot in the room where the pc is, you can use a webcam, and schedule it to shoot stills at set intervals.

2. Or, if you want to shoot outdoors, you need to look out for a digital still camera that can take pictures at pre set intervals.

I will look into this, but you can also look around at "dpreview.com",
thé number one site on still camera's.

Now, about the timelapsing it self.

Suppose you set the interval to 1 image per minute. (60 frames per hour)
You let it run for 5 hours.
This will mount to 300 frames.

When you divide that by a good frame rate like 30fps,
you would end up with 10 seconds of time-lapsed video

The formula is:



So you have to think ahead.
a. Either how many minutes of footage do I need?

b. Or, how long will the whole process I want to record take,
and how many minutes of footage will this mount to.

Greetings

Hi Duckling (if you are still searching for a possibility)

sorry to bud in this topic but one defenatly and easely create a timelapse movie without spending hours of useless video with a DV camera (done it )
Be it I havent checked in on Win 7 but I used before with WINDV (free WinDV )and appropriate settings (capture every nth frame - it does exactly that :-) ) through firewire .

Put your camera in record mode and for those cameras that use a tape make sure there is NO tape in it else the cam will shutdown after a short period . Beats the option (if build in ) of the cameras timelapse function !

DJ