iPhone time lapse

Because I have this ongoing obsession with time lapse, I'm always looking for more obscure ways to create time lapse video. This weeks challenge includes a little stitching (which I outlined in an earlier post), a home made iPhone stand, and an incense candle that my girlfriend likes to burn.

First I'd like to start with a quick review of the application that I used on the iPhone to capture the images appropriately named "TimeLapse". It has a standard, and fair price of .99 cents and works as advertised. It's made up of two pages that allow you to set the speed at which pictures are taken, frame your shot, and shoot your pictures. Below is a picture of the first screen you see after launching the app:



On this screen you can set the rate at which your pictures are taken, how many pictures you want to take, and what quality you want to shoot at.



I really liked everything about this app, and can really only say the one thing I didn't like was that, although you have the choice to try and take pictures every second, you can actually take pictures at about 10 second intervals. This is something the developer states upfront however, so it's hard to knock the app on that. I'm sure this is a hardware limitation anyway, so what can you do?

Now, before we get into the quick rundown on how to make the video, here is what I came up with. It's short and sweet and was really just a proof of concept.





Ok, here's what you need to do to make time lapse videos with your iPhone:

1. Install the TimeLapse application on your iPhone
   
2. Buy/create a tripod for your phone. I had an arm laying around from an old satellite radio, and here is what I came up with:
   
   
   
3. After securing your iPhone to the tripod (I did this in portrait mode, but I'd do it in landscape next time), put your phone in airplane mode so you don't get a call that messes up your shot.
   
4. Get plenty of lighting in place, set your timing to something reasonable (you may have to try a few times to get it just right), and then start the app
   
5. After letting the app run for the desired amount of time, stop and take the phone off the tripod and head to the computer
   
6. All you need to do now is plug the phone into the computer, and then access the pictures like any digital camera. On Windows, you can go to my computer, and you'll see the iPhone listed under cameras. On the Mac, you should be prompted to download them, and on Ubuntu, you'll be prompted as well.
   
7. Now all you need to do is stitch the pictures together using some software like ffmpeg. You can learn how to do that here
   

Anyway, if you're ever out and about and want to make a quick time lapse, fire up your iPhone and let it run...

iBrick

I have a 1st gen iPhone and have been waiting for 3rd party apps for ever now (I had it hacked for while, but I just hate that I can't get firmware updates without jumping through hoops). Today (July 11) everything was suppose to launch. And thus started my iBricking experience:

~ 5 p.m July 10th - Manually downloaded iTunes 7.7
~ 6 p.m July 10th - Started browsing apps
~ 7 p.m July 10th - After looking through all apps...found only 4 or 5 I want
~ 7:15 p.m Got all apps downloaded
8 a.m July 11th - Opened iTunes, plugged phone in and tried to update
8:01 - Tried to upgrade again
8:02 - Tried again
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9 a.m - iTunes says there is an update...Yipeeee!!!
9:01 a.m - Started upgrade process
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9:30 a.m - Everything got backed up, new firmware in place, all it has to do now is authenticate
9:35 a.m - Uh oh





I've been trying to get my phone back for about an hour and a half now and it seems I'm not the only one having problems: Digg

If I find a solution for this, I'll post it.

Update: It's now 11:12 a.m and I'm still without a phone.
Update # 2: 12:52 p.m - Still can't use my phone. I'm calling support listed at Apple.com

Update # 3: Still on hold, but I did find some info about it on the CNET Crave Blog

Below is what a user posted from his experience with Apple tech support:

Dear ,

Due to network congestion on the iTunes server, you may not be able to update or restore the software on your iPhone. Once the congestion has decreased the software should be available for you to update. It would be advisable to attempt the update later on today.

If you have attempted to restore your iPhone and it is currently in recovery mode, you will not be able to use your iPhone until the software has been restored or updated. A temporary solution may be to use your SIM in another AT&T phone or have your calls forwarded to a phone you have access to.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.

If you would like to voice your concerns to Apple about this, feel free to visit apple.com/feedback

Thank-you for your patience on this matter.

Regards,
Your Apple Care Team

Final Update: - I was just able to activate my phone and sync my new apps. I'll let you guys know how the 2.0 firmware is and give you my 2cents on the apps soon.