Time-lapse photography is a popular film and video shooting technique that allows viewers to see a long event completed in just a few seconds, such as the full blooming of a flower or the construction of a building from start to finish. But there are three common obstacles to shooting over an extended period of time with a digital camera: battery space, storage capacity and processing.
Enlaps Tikee is a plug-and-play device that removes all of those constraints and allows unlimited time-lapse photography, according to its Kickstarter campaign. It’s powered by an integrated adjustable photovoltaïc solar cell that allows for long-term time-lapse capability. Once captured, photos are wirelessly transmitted to the cloud, which provides a theoretically endless amount of storage space.
Time lapses are automatically processed and can be directly edited or shared, according to the campaign. Tikee (derived from the words time keeper) works in conjunction with a Web application available from any browser on any computing device, it says. The device ships in August. It’s available now to early bird backers at pricing starting at about $381. Future retail pricing is about $655. Its makers are out to raise $163,580 by Jan. 19.
Tikee seems to be a good bet for photo professionals and enthusiasts. But consumers who only occasionally shoots time lapse will likely not see a need to buy an extra device when they can do the same basic thing with a camera they already own, despite the accompanying challenges. There are also several existing products that already make it easier to achieve time-lapse photography, including Pico.