TimeWarp may be traditionally linked to jumping to the left and then a bit to the right, but it’s also one of the GoPro Hero7 Blacks significant new features. In this feature, I’ll take a look at how to create a GoPro Hero7 Black TimeWarp.
What is the GoPro TimeWarp feature?
It’s clever, really clever and simplifies a technique that many time-lapse specialists have been perfecting for years. Essentially TimeWarp is a stabilised time-lapse.
The stabilisation smooths out the motion giving a more fluid movement through time. I’ve recently seen a similar effect with the DJI Mavic 2 Pro.
Having received a power boost with the 2GB of internal RAM GoPro has the power to analyse the scene, stabilise and process it to create the TimeWarp footage.
As with GoPro’s Time-Lapse feature, there are a series of options that enable you to adjust the resolution, aspect ratio and speed of the video. Let’s take a look at these options; I’ll also make a few recommendations as we go.
What aspect ratio for GoPro TimeWarp?
As with all other GoPro video options, you have a choice of either 16:9 at 4k or 1080 and 4:3 at 2.7k or 1440.
As a general rule when starting out stick to 4K or 1080p as these will be correct for most video players and your TV. Only use 4:3 if you need a little headroom for cropping the frame later in post-production, or you like the retro feel of the 4:3 format.
What speed should I set my GoPro TimeWarp?
GoPro offers a good selection of speeds for the TimeWarp video, 2x, 5x, 10x, 15x and 30x. These speeds relate to the length of playback compared to the recording time. So for example at 2x, 1 minute of video captured will end up as 30 seconds of video, 5x would see 1 minute produce 10 seconds of footage and so on, here’s the full list:
2x: 1 minute = 30 seconds
5x: 1 minute = 10 seconds
10x: 5 minutes = 30 seconds
15x: 5 minutes = 20 seconds
30x: 5 minutes = 10 seconds
GoPro state that the amount of movement can affect the final playback times, but the above figures should give you a rough guide.
As default, the Speed of the TimeWarp feature is set to 10X as this has been found by GoPro to gain the best results in most cases. However, experiment and check out the effects of each speed to see what it does. Below is a quick example of the the GoPro Hero7 TimeWarp footage alongside TimeLapse footage so you can see the difference.