SL3 Time Lapse?

[Hedgehog1]

Hi: I am a new owner of the SL-3 camera. I especially enjoy shooting time lapse stuff. Is there a way that I can shoot a time lapse on the SL3 that will preserve the individual frames instead of merging them into an .mp4 movie file? This is often useful for deleting several frames in a time lapse, i.e., in a star trail session to delete frames containing an airplane with blinking lights flying through the frames. Hope this is clear! Thanks for any advice!

[Waddizzle]

Do not let the camera combine the images into a time lapse movie.  The camera will always use every image/frame that it captures.  You will have to do it yourself in post, selecting the frames and combining them using an app like Photoshop.

[FloridaDrafter]

Hello, Hegdehog1!

I'm pretty sure that the SL3 only has the time lapse mode that automatically combines your shots in camera. What you want to use is an intervalometer. Quite a few cameras have this feature built in. Since I am not familiar with the SL3, I did a quick search and didn't find any info on whether or not it has an intervalometer or not.

That is the feature you will need to preserve the individual shots that you will need to later combine, using software, to make your time lapse. I would look through your manual to see if it indeed does have an intervalometer. If not, you can pick one up, and, depending on the features you want, they are relatively inexpensive. Keep in mind that you will have to have software to combine your stills to make the time lapse, plus any special cabling to connect the intervalometer to the SL3. I have several for different camera models, and they are very easy to use.

*EDIT* I'll just add that the last one I bought is the MIOPS Smart+. It's rather expensive, but goes beyond time lapse or a basic trigger. I bought it because it can be triggered by lightning (which I haven't had a chance to test yet) and sound. It will also do exposure bracketing, and although I don't particularly like apps, I set it up on my phone, which was seamless, I mean, it just connected within seconds and I was using it's features to control my R5. Expensive... But nice.

Newton

[Hedgehog1 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the replies! I have been researching and it seems like my problem can be solved by a $15 intervalometer and a free program called StarStax! At least for star trails...Going to order the unit later today! Thanks for the help!