Time-lapse photography allows you to watch objects and scenes change over time. Lapse It Pro for Android lets you use your phone’s built-in camera to create your very own time-lapsed scenes.
Here’s how it works: Lapse It Pro takes multiple pictures of a scene, usually over a long period of time. The app then stitches the images together to form a time-lapsed video of the scene. Lapse It Pro, which has a reasonably straightforward interface, allows you to configure the time interval between shots, set a time-based or photo-based limit on your photography session, and set the resolution at which your phone’s camera will take the photos.
In my tests of Lapse It Pro, my biggest challenge involved finding a satisfactory surface to set up my phone on to get the shot I wanted. I ended up using a pile of old clothes to prop up the device.
Once I succeeded in positioning the phone appropriately, using Lapse It Pro was a snap. I simply started it and left the device on its own for the duration of the session. One thing to bear in mind: If you want to capture numerous photos for more than an hour or so, be sure to connect a charger to your phone. My battery dropped from 80 percent to 4 percent in about an hour of shooting with Lapse It Pro, indicating that the app can be something of a power hog.
Lapse It Pro saves your time-lapse as a video, and you can edit the order of your clips from within the app itself. Lapse It Pro even lets you apply filters to your videos; among the options are filters that make colors look more vibrant or give your time-lapse an old-timey appearance.
Once you’re finished reviewing the footage and selecting how you want the final product to look, you can use Lapse It Pro to render it on your device. On my Samsung Galaxy S2, rendering a video took about 4 minutes–though obviously the length of time depends in part on how much footage you have. The end result is an MP4 file, which you can share online and play on any compatible device.
Lapse It Pro may drain your battery, but it’s a solid app for anyone who is interested in getting into time-lapse photography. But don’t forget to keep a charger handy for longer sessions.