When creating a GoPro driving time-lapse or “Drive-Lapse” you have to decide on the interval speed. The interval speed is how often the GoPro will capture a single frame. A low interval will make your drive lapse appear smoother and allow the viewer to follow the motion easy. Higher intervals will make the drive lapse jump from frame to frame showing for greater travel distance. Unlike a traditional time-lapse were the GoPro is stationary, your vehicle will be moving so you have to choose your interval carefully.
What Interval Is Best For Driving Time-Lapse.
Personally, I find the lower the interval the better when filming a drive-lapse. When creating a sunset time-lapse I always shoot at a 5 sec interval, however, I find 5 seconds to high for drive-lapses as it makes it very jumpy. My preferences for shooting a GoPro driving time lapse is usually .5 to a 1-second interval.
In my experience, I find this allows the perfect amount of data to be captured. The finished drive-lapse is smooth and more enjoyable to watch. There are sometimes however where a higher interval is necessary. A good example is if you are headed on a long drive and you want to make a drive lapse video to document your travels. A low interval would make for a very long drive lapse. Your viewers would lose interest quickly. This is a good time to use a higher interval. Your footage will not be as smooth and the frames will jump quickly but will convey to the viewer the large distance you are traveling.
Not when it comes to the decision of whether to capture in video or photo mode. That is a personal preference and no matter which you choose, you will end up with a beautiful drive lapse.
My Settings When Creating GoPro Drive Lapses
Camera: GoPro Hero 5 Black
Mode: Timelapse Photo Mode
Interval: .5 to 1 Seconds
Megapixels: 12 MP / Wide
Protune: On
White Balance: Native
Colour: GoPro Colour
ISO MIN: 100
ISO MAX: 100
Sharpness: Medium
I like to shoot my GoPro drive lapses in photo mode as it gives me more choice later in post editing. You can watch our video that is posted above to get a feel how different intervals affect your final drive lapse video. It offers a side by side comparison of the various intervals you can choose and what the final drive lapse will look like.
