Our time-lapse sun planner estimates shooting intervals for sun movement timelapse photography. Get location-aware recommendations, see the sun's path across the sky, and plan your shoot with smart interval calculations that account for latitude, season, and golden hour timing.
Time-Lapse Sun Planner
Using the time-lapse sun planner
The time-lapse sun planner detects your location, lets you enter a latitude/longitude, or lets you search cities worldwide (and, optionally, you can change the date). Based on your inputs, it estimates optimal shooting intervals based on the sun's actual movement speed at your location and date. The tool shows a visual sun path, photography times, and physics-based recommendations based on your closeness to the equator (closer distance = faster sun).
Smart interval calculations
- Physics-Based Intervals: Unlike generic calculators that just divide duration by photos, this tool calculates intervals based on the sun's actual angular velocity at your location and season
- Location Intelligence: The sun moves faster near the equator (shorter intervals needed) and slower at high latitudes (longer intervals work fine)
- Seasonal Adjustments: The sun's movement speed varies significantly between seasons, with the biggest differences at higher latitudes - mid-latitudes see ~15% variation, while polar regions can vary by 50% or more
- Golden Hour Optimization: Automatically uses tighter intervals (0.08° per frame) during golden hour for smoother motion, looser intervals (0.12° per frame) otherwise
- Smart Bounds: Keeps intervals between 1-20 seconds to avoid camera limitations and storage issues
Enter your desired clip length, shooting duration, and target FPS: the tool computes an interval recommendation that actually works for sun movement at your location.
Sun path visualization
- Interactive Sun Path: See exactly how the sun will move across the sky on your shooting date, with altitude and time clearly marked (For more details, see our sun path diagram generator)
- Photography Hours Shaded: Golden hour appears in warm orange, blue hour in soft blue
- Sunrise & Sunset Markers: Yellow circles mark exact sunrise and sunset times on the path
- Timezone Clarity: The chart shows which timezone the times represent (like "Times shown in EDT") to avoid confusion when planning shoots in different regions
Comprehensive sun data
- Real-Time Sun Speed: Shows the sun's current angular velocity in degrees per minute for your location (driving the smart interval recommendations)
- Photography Timing: Complete golden hour AM/PM and blue hour AM/PM times for perfect lighting planning
- Technical Calculations: Storage space estimates (assuming 30MB RAW files), total photos needed, and sun altitude at solar noon
- Day Length Tracking: See exactly how many hours of daylight you're working with
The tool calculates intervals for smooth sun movement, but it doesn't account for weather. As always, your milage - or settings, I suppose - will vary.
Export and planning
- SVG Sun Path Export: Download a high-quality vector graphic of the sun's path for your specific date and location
- CSV Data Export: Get raw sun position data (time, altitude, azimuth) for advanced planning or analysis
- Location Memory: The tool remembers your location choice between visits for quick planning
Why location matters for timelapse
Many timelapse calculators treat the sun like a metronome - same speed everywhere, every season. The reality is much more interesting: the sun moves at 15° per hour at the equator but varies dramatically by latitude and season.
In Singapore (near equator), the sun races across the sky and you need shorter intervals (around 2-3 seconds) for smooth motion. In northern Alaska during winter, the sun barely moves and you can use much longer intervals (8-10 seconds) without jumpy motion.
The seasonal difference is equally dramatic . The same location can need significantly different intervals between summer and winter solstices. This tool handles all that math using solar declination estimates based on Spencer's 1971 formula.
Related sun and photography tools
Planning the perfect shoot? These tools work great alongside the timelapse planner:
- Sunrise Sunset Calculator - Exact sun times and golden hour periods
- Sun Angle Calculator - Hour-by-hour sun position and shadow lengths
- Sun Path Diagram Generator - Annual sun movement visualization
- Golden Hour Calculator - Detailed photography timing
- Solar Noon Calculator - Find the sun's daily peak
- Blue Hour Calculator - Twilight timing for dramatic shots
- Solar Tracker Map - Real-time global sun position
- Moon Phase Calculator - Plan nighttime timelapses
