You can practically do anything with an iPhone built-in camera app from panoramas to HDRs. Plus with a handful of additional editing apps, it’s easy to turn smartphone photos into near studio quality prints. But if stitching hundreds of images together into timelapse movies tickles your fancy look no farther than iMotion Pro app.
iMotion Pro is a powerful tool that turns the iPhone camera into a timelapse and stop motion camera. Although a nearly identical iMotion HD has been out for almost three years now, Fingerlabs is putting out a new updated version without any in app purchase strings attached. The app opens up to a very straightforward and spare menu with a giant button for making new movies as well as thumbnail previews for your most recent cinema creations.
Starting a new movie brings users to a page of camera settings. From here iPhone shooters can set the interval at which the shutter will fire from every half-second to once a day. Tapping on the manual tab meanwhile will let the user only snap a picture when they want to. Turning on the microphone of course will add sound recorded from the phone. Users with two iOS device can also download a free iMotion Remote app to control their stop motion-capturing device from afar.
Once the user presses start, iMotion switches over to a live view mode just like the regular camera. On the upper left there’s a toggle to assign a manual focus for the entirety of the timelapse. Alternatively users can leave autofocus on full-auto allowing the camera to readjust before every shot. Opposite of the focusing button, users can also lock in the exposure for some extra consistency between exposures.
Once you have everything set, you can hit start to begin the stop motion sequence. Ideally timelapses are perfect for catching action as it happens such as a drive down the highway, sunrise at dawn, the motion of stars through the night, the stage at a concert being set up, or a parade passing down the street. Once users are done capturing all the stop motion action, the app will automatically stitch the images into a single seamless movie.
In the media library you can adjust the speed of the film clip, add in music from the iTunes library, and export your masterpiece into the photo library, or upload it directly to social media channels.
iMotion Pro is an amazingly simple yet powerful tool for making timelapse movies straight out of your phone. The app takes a bit of initial setup, but it beats buying a completely new camera to just take stop motion footage. Plus, with the apps built in editing features, it’s even simpler to turn an amateur production into a polished work or art.
iMotion is an iOS app available for $2.99 in the App Store.
Kevin Lee is a freelance writer who types all day and listens to his ever-expanding music library. Follow Kevin Lee on Twitter at @baggingspam.