Hey forgive me if this has been addressed before, I scoured the previous posts and did not find anything that fully answered my question. Question is...what is the best way to do time lapse with a Z1u. I know there is not a in camera solution like some other Sony models. So unless someone knows a better solution, I thought maybe use my Nikon D80 and use a DigiSnap 2000 from http://www.harbortronics.com/ to capture stills and import into FCP. I keep seeing these beautiful time lapse sequences and want some results with nice production value..any help is welcome!

I am a newb when it comes to time lapse but if it came down to being able to do it with a Z1 or a D80 I would certainly take the nikon which will give you a way nicer picture.

Side note I wonder how the GOP of HDV would work when time lapse is involved, every frame is an I frame?

Are you asking if you should use a video camera instead of a photo camera? Still cameras are better than video cameras for time lapses.

Thats what I thought, I just seems so easy to use a in camera solution. I imagine the quality is going to be so much better using a digital still. Thanks for the imput.

Yeah the quality will be better, and the other reason is your video will take up space on your hard drive even though you intend for it all to be sped up, and much shorter.
I do shoot timelapses with my HDV camera though, there's nothing wrong with that! I would say you should set your render to apple pro res in final cut, if you were to shoot HDV. Because rendering an effect on HDV footage can potentially lower the quality, because HDV is mpeg2 and re-compresses your video when it renders.

There is another option if you have a laptop and the memory, a piece of software called Capture Magic. It comes in SD and HD versions, plug your camera in, select the interval that you want to record and away you go. You can trial the software for 14 days, just go to
www.bigmugsoftware.com

I thought ablout that but if you are out in the elements it might not be safe (delicate laptop, power supply rain) I would be OK in a controlled environment though