Mobile-only Time Lapses with Sony mirror less cameras
I’ve recently purchased the time lapse application for my Sony A5000. I really don’t see why it wasn’t included, but in the world of cameras €10 isn’t a big deal.
However, it has two annoying limitations: a 999 frames limit, and the videos it creates don’t show up in the mobile app. As I’m stuck up a mountain without a proper computer, I searched for a mobile workaround. I can easily download the frames using the PlayMemories Mobile app, but both the built in gallery and Google Photos can only animate 50 frames at a time, and I have several hundreds.
I looked for an app, but didn’t have much luck, so I turned to a nerdy solution: Termux running good old ffmpeg.
Once you’ve got Termux up and running, allow it to access your file system with the “termux-setup-storage” command. Then install ffmpeg with “pkg install ffmpeg”.
Now you only have to cd to the PlayMemories Mobile folder and run
ffmpeg -start_number 6180 -i DSC0%04d.JPG -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 12 test.mp4
Adjust the filename pattern and the start_number parameter based on your filenames.
You should obtain a perfectly usable h264 video file, here’s mine.
