Fees for OUTDOOR long-term time-lapse

Outdoor long-term time-lapse where the camera is mounted securely in a weather-proofed housing, and is powered with a solar-powered battery. The camera then runs for weeks, or months, or even years. The camera is frequently monitored and the footage checked.

Long-term time-lapse involves a dedicated rig that is mounted somewhere safe on location. This means the camera (and related gear) are used just for this one purpose – and I can’t use it for anything else for the year (or whatever duration.) Hence the costs for the long-term time-lapse photography is higher – it involves a dedicated camera system.

• Examples:
• PNCT outdoor long-term time-lapse  (3 years)
• Time-lapse photography – New York Fashion Week 2022  (mixture of long-term, and short time timelapses)

The fees mentioned here are tentative, due to the variables, but should give a good ball-park figure.

There is an installation fee of $600 to set up a camera & timing controller, and mount the waterproof housing & solar panel.

Then there is the creative fee in shooting and generating the timelapse video(s).

This creative fee depends on how long the timelapse setup needs to run – days / weeks / months or longer. The creative fee is also on a sliding scale, where the subsequent days / weeks / months are priced at a lower rate than the initial period.

The billing structure:
For timelapse projects, the payment structure is divided along these lines:
— The first day/week/month as deposit.
— The rest of the payments are structured according to the length of the project, with a final payment of 30% of the total fee upon completion of the timelapse videos, or on delivery of the RAW images.

The deliverables will be either:

a.) The video footage compiled from the individual images.
The specifics of the final videos (duration, resolution, etc), will depend on your requirements.

b.) Some clients only need the unprocessed RAW files.
In that instance, there is a 25% reduction of the creative fee.

Fee structure

This is a rough guide to the fees involved in shooting a project or event, using time-lapse. There are too many variables to immediately give a fixed rate, so please call me or email me so that we can discuss your project, and figure out what is possible.

To give you an idea of what is involved, and why the actual fee might vary – the pricing depends on:

• The scale of the event.
  Some events need multiple cameras. Other events can be captured properly from just one camera viewpoint. Would dollies be needed to create cameras movement? Is a single static camera good enough? These are some of the considerations.

• Would an assist would be needed?
  This would depend on how much gear is needed to capture the event. Then the security of the cameras if we shoot out on location, are also important. For example, if we shoot out on the streets of New York, then I will most likely need an assistant per camera.

• The deliverables after the project or event.
  The deliverables are usually video clips in 1080p or 4K format. Some clients prefer the individual RAW files, without editing. Most clients want a finished video that includes music and title & credit slides. We would also have to figure out beforehand how long you need your video to be, because this will affect all kinds of technical decisions down the line such as the time-lapse interval and other camera settings.

• Some clients only need the unprocessed RAW files. In that instance, there is a 25% reduction of the creative fee.