Progress Photo Timelapse Calculator
Work out how long your daily progress photo timelapse runs at any frame rate, how many days of photos a target length needs, and the frame rate that fits.
Progress Photo Timelapse Calculator
Your photos
One photo a day, so this is also your number of days. A timelapse needs at least 2.
Frame rate
Photos shown per second of video. A lower number keeps each photo on screen longer. Decimals like 2.5 work.
Target length
Optional. How long you want the finished video to run.
Your timelapse
To reach your target
Add a target length to see how many photos and days it takes.
Photos needed always rounds up to a whole photo, so the video never falls short of your target. Video lengths and frame rates show to two decimals, and time per photo to three. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
LockIn30
30 Day Challenge
Take one proof photo a day, every day
Start a Progress Photo challenge of 7 to 365 days and add a proof photo each day. Create Timelapse turns the photos into a vertical video.
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One photo, one frame: how the length is worked out
A daily progress photo timelapse is a set of still photos played back quickly. Each photo becomes one frame, and the frame rate decides how many frames play every second. FFmpeg's documentation describes the same setup: its image sequence reader takes a list of image files and plays them at the frame rate you set, 25 frames a second by default.
That gives three formulas, and the calculator runs all of them at once:
- Video length = photos ÷ frame rate. 90 photos at 8 fps run 11.25 seconds.
- Photos needed = target length × frame rate, rounded up to a whole photo.
- Frame rate that fits = photos ÷ target length.
Each photo stays on screen for 1 ÷ frame rate seconds. The table shows how much the frame rate changes the length of the same set of photos.
| Photos | 2 fps | 8 fps | 24 fps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 15 s | 3.75 s | 1.25 s |
| 90 | 45 s | 11.25 s | 3.75 s |
| 365 | 182.5 s | 45.63 s | 15.21 s |
Picking a frame rate for daily photos
Video standards are fast. Apple's Logic Pro guide lists 24 fps for film and high-definition video, 25 fps for PAL broadcasts and 30 fps for high-definition video. At any of those rates a month of daily photos is over in about a second: you see the change, but no single day.
Slower rates keep each day on screen longer. At 2 fps each photo shows for half a second, and at 8 fps for an eighth of a second. One daily-photo app, Dayli, made videos at 2, 4 or 8 FPS.
If you want to see each day, try a rate between 2 and 8 fps and watch the "each photo on screen" figure. If you would rather have a quick blur of change, a film rate suits a long run with hundreds of photos. Omni Calculator's advice not to go below 12 fps is written for timelapses shot seconds apart, like clouds or traffic, where smooth motion matters more than any one frame.
The "each week of daily photos adds" figure shows how fast the video grows: 7 ÷ frame rate seconds a week, so 3.5 seconds at 2 fps and under a third of a second at 24 fps.
Working back from a target length
If you know how long you want the video to be, multiply that length by the frame rate and round up. The answer is both the number of photos you need and, at one photo a day, the number of days it takes. A 30-second video at 8 fps needs 240 photos. Thirty days in, that leaves 210 more days to shoot.
The calculator also turns the question around: with the photos you have now, what frame rate fills your target? 30 photos in a 30-second video means 1 fps, a full second for each day. If the answer falls below 0.5 fps or above 60 fps, the calculator says so: the target is too long or too short for the photos you have.
This page counts days, not dates. To turn a day count of 7 to 365 into a finish date, use the 30-day challenge end date calculator. If the video has to be ready by a set day, the challenge start date planner works back from that deadline to a start date.
Getting daily photos that line up
The math is the easy part. A timelapse only looks smooth when the photos match, and Splice's guide to daily journey timelapses gives three tips for that:
- Take the photo at the same time each day, so the light and background stay consistent.
- Keep the same angle and distance in every shot.
- Use a tripod or a stable surface.
Missed days show up as jumps, so the streak behind the photos matters as much as the frame rate. The habit streak calculator works out your current and best streak from your start date and missed days, and the 30-day habit challenge tracker gives you a grid to tick off each daily photo.
If you would rather keep the photos and the streak in one place, LockIn30 has a Progress Photo habit in its library. A day of the challenge only counts once it has a proof photo. A daily reminder can nudge you at the same time each day, and Compare puts two of your photos side by side. Once you have 2 or more photos, Create Timelapse makes a vertical 1080×1920 video with a small LockIn30 label that you can save to your camera roll or share. All of that is free, and the photos stay on your phone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about progress photo timelapse calculator
How do I work out how long my progress photo timelapse will be?
Divide the number of photos by the frame rate. Each photo becomes one frame of the video, and the frame rate sets how many frames play each second. FFmpeg's documentation shows the same idea: its example reads a numbered set of images at 10 frames per second. So 30 daily photos at 8 fps run 30 ÷ 8 = 3.75 seconds, and 365 photos at 24 fps run 15.21 seconds.
How many photos do I need for a 30-second timelapse?
Multiply 30 by the frame rate and round up to a whole photo. At 2 fps that is 60 photos, about two months of one photo a day. At 8 fps it is 240 photos, and at 24 fps it is 720, almost two years of daily photos. Enter your own frame rate above and the calculator also shows how many more days of photos you need.
What frame rate should I use for daily progress photos?
Pick it by how long you want each day on screen, which is 1 ÷ fps seconds. Film and video standards use 24, 25 or 30 frames a second (Apple's Logic Pro guide lists all three), but at 24 fps a 30-day run of photos is over in 1.25 seconds. Slower rates hold each photo longer: 2 fps shows each day for half a second and 8 fps for an eighth of a second. One daily-photo app, Dayli, made videos at 2, 4 or 8 FPS. Omni Calculator's advice not to go below 12 fps is meant for footage shot seconds apart, such as clouds or traffic, not for one photo a day.
How long is a timelapse of a year of daily photos?
365 photos run 15.21 seconds at 24 fps, 45.63 seconds at 8 fps and 182.5 seconds (3 min 2.5 s) at 2 fps. Each week of daily photos adds 7 ÷ fps seconds, so at 2 fps the video gets 3.5 seconds longer for every week you keep going.
How long is a 30-day progress photo timelapse?
Thirty photos last 15 seconds at 2 fps, 3.75 seconds at 8 fps and 1.25 seconds at 24 fps. At film rates a month of photos barely makes a clip. A slower frame rate keeps each day on screen longer, and a longer run makes a longer video. To see when a longer run would finish, the challenge end date calculator turns a day count into a date.
Why does the calculator round the photo count up?
You can't take part of a photo, and rounding down would leave the video short of your target. A 15-second video at 2.5 fps needs 37.5 photos, so the calculator asks for 38. The frame rate that fits your photos is shown to two decimals, so it can miss the target by a few hundredths of a second: 100 photos in 30 seconds needs 3.33 fps, which runs 30.03 seconds.
What happens to the video if I miss a day?
You get one frame fewer. The video is 1 ÷ fps seconds shorter, and the jump between the photos on either side of the gap is bigger. So enter the number of photos you took, not the number of days on the calendar. The challenge completion rate calculator compares the days you have done with the days that have passed.
Can LockIn30 make the timelapse for me?
Yes, from the proof photos in a LockIn30 challenge. Each day of a challenge needs a proof photo to count, and once you have 2 or more, Create Timelapse turns the current attempt's photos into a vertical 1080×1920 video at 4 photos a second. You can add the day number, the task or a calendar to each frame, and every video carries a small LockIn30 label. Save it to your camera roll or share it. The timelapse is free, and it is made on your phone with no account.