What is Time-Lapse?

Time-lapse is a technique used in photography to create a video that condenses time. It involves taking photos at set intervals and editing them to show the changes during the capture period. Time-lapse is mainly used to present the whole process in a short video, monitor and archive construction projects, nature projects, significant events, and organizations, and deliver the entire process with a short video.

It allows us to see the world in a new way by condensing time and providing a unique perspective on the world around us.

The most crucial issue in the time-lapse technique is photo quality. Ultra HD and 4K resolutions are becoming more popular in the video/TV industry and on the internet. However, the final output to be obtained must meet the expectations. Time-lapse videos made with low-resolution IP cameras, security cameras, or amateur products in HD, FullHD resolution give results far from the expected quality.

In addition, it is vital for the person who manages the time-lapse project to determine the correct location for the photo, the camera position to always stay in the desired place, the choice of camera and lens, and the right setting of the camera’s parameters.

What are the time-lapse project types?

Short term Time-lapse : The sunrise, daily traffic of a port, the establishment of an expo area, and the interior design process of a building are suitable projects for short-term time-lapse video applications.

Long term time-lapse :

• Photographing a construction project regularly for 2-3 years, from the first day to the last day,
• Photographing every moment of a ship’s construction process,
• Photographing a mining area over the years, are examples of long term time lapse project.

How do long-term time-lapse videos add value to your projects?

A perfect presentation: Presenting the entire manufacturing process within 2-3 minute accelerated video will increase the prestige and trust of your company.

Project Tracking: Natilon’s user-friendly interface allows project managers to see the current situation on the field with high-quality images. It provides the opportunity to detect and prevent a faulty manufacturer or application. It reduces field visits. It’s accessible from iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux devices.

Inspection: For municipalities and public institutions, Monitoring the production stages in the projects is possible. It saves time by decreasing field visits. Allows photos to be used in reports. Its high-resolution zoom capability enables it to examine the details of the construction.

Creating the Visual Archive of the Project: Özellikle deprem riski içeren ülkemizde, yapıların inşaa süreçlerinin yüksek kaliteli fotoğraflarla kayıt altına alınması çok önemli bir konu haline gelmiştir. Bu görsel arşiv, binayla ilgili ileride ortaya çıkabilecek problemlerde, yıllar sonra bile faydalanılabilecek önemli bir kaynaktır.

What are the challenges in long time lapse projects?

Harsh Field Conditions:

You cannot operate a regular camera on a construction site for two years. You need to protect it from dust, rain, and snow, and it should be mounted firmly so that the position will never change unless you want it.

Natilon time-lapse systems come with IP67 housing. Rain, dust, heat, or cold is not an issue for Natilon. Thanks to its unique mounting equipment, it continues to shoot in the same position for years. Hundreds of our systems operate in different climate zones like the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. They have been serving for years under difficult field conditions.

Energy Problems:

It is challenging to find a stable power line in a long-term construction project or nature project. Unstable power and outages will interrupt your time-lapse project and damage your equipment. In addition, batteries are not a viable solution as they will run out quickly.

Natilon time-lapse systems are designed to work %100 off-grid. We generate the energy from the solar panel and store it in lithium batteries. It continues to shoot on rainy days and even at night.

Remote access:

The problems experienced in time-lapse projects are irreversible. You cannot stop or rebuild an ongoing construction. It is not a good idea to leave a regular photo camera in the construction yard because memory runs out, the memory card can be corrupted, the lens focus may be lost, and energy problems can occur. You can’t visit the field frequently to check the camera or replace a full memory card. You will lose photos if your camera is stolen or damaged in the area.

Natilon Time-lapse systems are designed to operate independently for years. You can access it over the Internet and control all the system’s features. You can handle many projects in different locations and manage all your cameras on the same screen. Many problems, such as loss of focus and parameter changes, can be fixed over the internet remotely. In case of malfunction, health notifications help us to solve the problems. Natilon is very fast for technical assistance and spare part support.

High Storage and Internet Quota Requirements:

High-quality photos require large storage. Saving the pictures locally on the system for 2-3 years is almost impossible due to the risk of photo loss and insufficient storage.

Natilon instantly transfers the captured photos to the cloud server. Thus, every photo taken is kept on professional cloud servers away from the field. With its special compression algorithm, %50 smaller file size is transferred compared to its competitors without sacrificing quality. As a result, it uses less internet quota and less storage. Uploaded photos are removed from Natilon’s local memory.

Possible Technical Problems:

In a long-term construction project, you should set the focus, change the time-lapse interval, and the camera parameters. It can be painful to climb a 20-30m pole each time, affecting your project’s success.

Natilon provides:

• Health report,
• Early warning notifications against the adverse condition,
• Controlling all functions over the internet.

In case of malfunction, our team is ready to support you by phone or remote internet connection. In addition, we train our clients, and we supply spare parts.

We will be happy to answer your questions about your project.

Natilon Team