Field test: Fujifilm X-T3 time lapse

You know, there's more than one way to make a time lapse video and I'm a man on a mission to field test all of the gear I own that can create time lapses.

I decided to test the "Interval Timer Shooting" feature of my Fujifilm X-T3 camera. The camera has a built-in intervalometer; it doesn't do in-camera rendering of photos to video.

My camera was facing east from the 6th floor of a seven-story parking garage. A time series of 311 JPG photos was shot from 12:24 pm to 12:29 pm using a one (1) second interval. Five (5) minutes of actual recording time resulted in approximately 10 seconds of time lapse video, given the recording settings I used.

All trees "flower," some more noticeably than others, like the ones with purple- or white flowers shown in the video. At the time when this video was recorded many trees were almost in full leaf. In my experience, that's two weeks earlier than usual despite record-setting cold during this past winter.

Panorama Photo

The following panoramic composite image was taken from the 6th floor of the parking garage using the "Camera" app on my Apple iPad mini 6, set for "Pano" mode. The camera was facing east. No, the black metal safety railing isn't actually curved.

31 March 2026. Facing east.

Tech Tips

My Fujifilm X-T3 camera was set for manual exposure and manual focus. Aperture was set for f/11. Shutter Speed was 1/500 second. ISO was set for 160. White Balance was set for "Daylight." The focal length of the 18-55mm kit lens was set for 18mm (27mm, 35mm equivalent). Aspect Ratio was set for 16:9 (6240 x 3512 pixels). Image Quality was set for Fine JPEG.

The ELECTRONIC LEVEL (green line) was turned on. The manual focus DEPTH-OF-FIELD SCALE (blue bar), set for "FILM FORMAT BASIS," indicated everything from slightly more than three (3) feet to infinity was acceptably in focus, as shown in the following HDMI screenshot of the X-T3 LCD.

ELECTRONIC LEVEL (green line) | DEPTH-OF-FIELD SCALE (blue bar)

Fujifilm "Film Simulations" are "recipes" for recording JPG files in-camera. ("Film Simulations" aren't applied to RAW files.) I set the camera to use the "Velvia/VIVID" "Film Simulation." ("Vibrant reproduction, ideal for landscape and nature." Source Credit: Fujifilm.)

Apple "QuickTime" was used to render the video; the output was edited using Apple "Photos." Titles, credits, and a music bed were added using Apple "iMovie."

Related Resources 

• "Road Lapse" along Richmond Highway - a blog post by Walter Sanford
• Time-Lapse Photography: A Complete Guide [using Fujifilm X-T3 camera] (37:56) - a YouTube video by pal2tech
• Fujifilm Depth of Field Focus Scale (8:37) - a YouTube video by pal2tech
• Fuji Depth of Field Scale Pixel Basis vs Film Format Basis (4:15) - a YouTube video by Grandads Reviews

Editorial Commentary: Both "pal2tech" and "Grandads Reviews" are correct in their explanation of how the Fujifilm "Depth-of-Field Scale" works but I chose to follow "Grandads Reviews" recommendation to set the scale for "Film Format Basis" when doing landscape photography. Looking at my photos, I'm satisfied with the results.

Copyright © 2026 by Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.