There’s something inherently magical about time-lapse photography. By stitching together a number of photos taken in the same place across a certain period of time, it can breathe a unique sense of pace into naturally slow-moving scenes like sunsets, clouds moving across the sky or, even better, meteor showers.
Time-lapse usually involves additional products and devices to get just the way that you want it, but our PlayMemories Time-lapse app makes the whole process completely stress-free. Here’s how to get started right away…
- Start off by opening the menu on your camera. Scroll along to the ‘Applications’ tab, and then press ‘Application List’.
- You should now see a selection of PlayMemories apps available for your camera. Scroll along to the ‘Time-lapse’ app and press the centre button. If you haven’t yet bought the app then head to the PlayMemories camera app store, where it will cost £7.99/€9.99.
- Once you’ve opened the app, you’ll be taken to the theme selection menu. You’ll see a number of presets designed for various scenarios, but for extra flexibility we recommend choosing the ‘Custom’ setting by scrolling to it and pressing the centre button.
- You’ll now see the main Time-lapse interface which will show you what the camera is currently seeing and your current settings, but before we start shooting we need to customise those settings. To do this, press ‘Menu’ on your camera and scroll to ‘Application Settings’.
- This menu is where you can change the file format (choose between video, stills or both), the time interval in between each photo, the number of photos you want to take and whether you want to use auto exposure lock (AEL) or tracking. Feel free to experiment with these settings to see what kind of look you prefer - the shorter the intervals the smoother the footage and the more shots taken the longer the footage will take. Press the centre button to confirm your settings and you’ll be taken back to the main interface.
- For extra customisation, you’re going to want to access the additional settings page by pressing the ‘Menu’ button again and scrolling through each tab. Here you can edit the self-timer, aspect ratio, image quality, focus, ISO and more.
- Once you’ve browsed through the additional settings, hit ‘Menu’ again to go back to the main interface. Now get your camera in place and be sure to set your focal length and shutter speed as well as aperture and ISO settings. To avoid your camera constantly focusing on different areas of your footage, we’d recommend setting the focus mode to manual.
- Once you’re ready, press the shutter button and sit back as your camera does all the hard work for you.
- Once the camera’s done capturing your time-lapse, press the ‘Menu’ button and choose ‘Exit application’. Now you can go and preview your time-lapse footage just like you would a regular photo or video. Easy!
