GoPro hack – create a cheap pan-lapse rig

Posted by on Feb 5, 2016 in Tutorial | No Comments
GoPro hack – create a cheap pan-lapse rig

Here’s a quick hack I put together which allows me to take time lapse footage with my GoPro which slowly pans around throughout the sequence.

This type of effect is often used in wildlife documentaries to capture plants or weather over an extended period in a dynamic shot. You can spend thousands on pro kit, but this hack costs almost nothing.

The base is made out of a standard kitchen timer (actually, I used a Christmas kitchen timer!). Remove the top and use zip ties to strap a standard GoPro mound on to the top of it.

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I then used a spare bracket to mount the timer on to a standard tripod camera mount.

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Here’s my first attempt at some pan-lapse footage. This was created over a period of about half an hour with 5 second frame rate.

 

 

It’s a little jittery, but I’m going to experiment with higher frame rates and sturdier mounting. Not bad for a quick morning build though.

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