Camcorder with time lapse?

This is just an exploratory query at the moment, the requirement is far from certain as yet.

Does anyone know of a camcorder, not more that about £500 and preferably HD, that can do time lapse photography?

Doesn't have to be off its own battery, it can be mains powered, but obviously needs a tripod mount.

If it suits your needs, check out the GoPro HD Hero2 - that does time lapse, however, it is on the small side so doesn't have a lot of features that a bigger camcorder has...

Here's a guide to do the time lapse with the GoPro

The size is only a problem insofar as it's likely to get lost at the bottom of the camera bag

And as you imply it's a bit basic, especially optically... but it's not expensive (tho' VAT and import duty won't help) so I'll put it on the list as a possible, thanks

I've done a few timelapses at uni. I use the video function on my Canon 600d and record for a few hours, then increase the speed of the video in premiere. Any 1080p HD camera will do a decent job, it's all in the post processing really to make it smooth.

What do you want to do?

1 frame or a short video clip every few minutes/hours?

My 40D doesn't have a video mode, and I don't want to buy another DSLR!

I could control it from the computer and stitch a series of stills together with QuickTime, but I'd prefer not to be tied to a computer... I'd much rather the camera could take stills at pre-selected intervals until I told it to stop. I'd also prefer the camera to stitch them together so I just had to download an mpeg movie from it, but I suspect that may be asking a lot

Single frame at intervals from a second or so up to a few minutes should cover it. Keep going until I tell it to stop or it runs out of memory

Does your DSLR not do that? Then use an editing programme to create the video ... I have done it several times using my Pentax and if I save as a medium quality JPG I can get a few thousand on the card.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Does your DSLR not do that?

No; it's got a couple of continuous shooting modes (~3 or ~7fps) but they're not adjustable and you have to hold the shutter release down for as long as you want to shoot.

But I don't really want to mess about using the DSLR, all I want is a half-way decent camcorder that can take a still at presettable intervals without being tied to a computer, it's not a lot to ask is it?

a simple app on a smartphone might do what you want.