Atli ATL4500 4K review: a specialized timelapse camera for long-term projects

Sitting firmly on the expensive end of the timelapse spectrum, the ATLI ATL4500 4K is pitched towards professional users. By ‘professional’ here I don’t mean professional photographers or videographers necessarily – its full name is the ATLI ATL4500 4K Construction Time Lapse Camera, and as that name implies, it’s chiefly intended for capturing footage of construction projects.

As such, it’s not designed to be used as a handheld camera. Looking more like a security camera than anything, the ATL4500 4K comes with screws and wall plugs to fix it in place, and is hardy enough to be left for months or even years. With independent Wi-Fi connectivity, it lets you program it from anywhere – to the point where there’s a more expensive version with 4G and LTE, though I was testing the basic version with just Wi-Fi.

While I don’t currently have any construction projects on the go – and the DCW editors tend to take a dim view of reviews that take longer than a year – I took the ATL4500 4K to a few locations to assess its quality of footage and ease of use. Is it the right timelapse camera for your projects? It could well be – here’s what I found.

ATLI ATL4500 4K: Specifications

ATLI ATL4500 4K: Price & Availability

The ATLI ATL4500 4K can be purchased directly from ATLI for a starting price of $759. If you want 4G and LTE connectivity, you can purchase the upgraded version for $999, and it is also available as a bundle with a C-clamp and ball head mounting kit for an extra $40. Prices are only in dollars, but ATLI will ship internationally – I was offered $22.50 to ship one to the UK. It is also available on Amazon US – although the starting price is higher at $799 – on Amazon UK it was available for £809.92 at the time of writing.

ATLI ATL4500 4K: Design

It is immediately obvious upon opening the box that the ATLI ATL4500 4K is not like your average consumer camera. It’s not meant to be carried between shooting locations and used hand-held; it cannot be set up on a tripod. It comes with a fixed mount, with a little movement along the vertical axis, that is designed to be solidly screwed into a wall via the holes in the mount and the included screws and wall plugs, and left for long periods. If you do not wish to fix a camera to a wall (or mount it in a similarly long-term fashion) and leave it for long periods, this is not the camera for you.

The camera is protected by an IP65 weatherproof housing, which ensures it can handle being left outdoors. The SD card is protected by a cover that actually screws in place, ensuring there is no danger of it working itself loose.

Internally, the ATL4500 sports a 10,500mAh lithium-ion battery, though it describes this as its ‘emergency power’; really, you’re supposed to keep it hooked up via the 12V power supply. It can even support being powered via a solar panel, if you have one to hand.

It also comes with two twist-on Wi-Fi antennae, which allow the camera to connect independently to a Wi-Fi network, meaning it can be triggered, scheduled and controlled via the app or desktop software no matter where you are. This also allows stored footage to be instantly downloaded on the go.

ATLI ATL4500 4K: Performance

ATLI timelapse cameras are well-known for being easy to use, and even though the ATLI ATL4500 4K is considerably more expensive than many other cameras in the range, it continues in that tradition. The app is sensibly laid out, making it very clear for even a total newbie to figure out how to set up and record a timelapse. You can set the intervals from 2 sec to 24 hours, and then either set up a schedule, or just instruct the camera to record until told otherwise.

You can also do this on the desktop client, available for Windows and Mac, provided your camera is independently connected to Wi-Fi. However, I encountered a nasty bug where any footage I downloaded from the PC client ended up with glitched frames, rendering it unusable. Downloading the same footage from the app presented no such issues, so hopefully this is a simple fix.

In better news, the footage itself looks great. I captured several clips in 4K, and was impressed by how well the camera handled rapid changes in lighting. Imagery has a good level of detail, with solid dynamic range that only intermittently results in a blown-out white sky or a murky shadow. It’s not as good as a high-end mirrorless camera, but it’s a damn sight better than most cheap timelapse cameras.

As well as capturing a few daytime clips, I also set the camera up in the back garden to see how it handled a day-to-night transition – and here I came away impressed. The ATLI’s ATL4500 4K low-light optimisation adroitly handled the changing conditions, to the point where for most of the clip, it’s hard to see that anything’s changing (you’ll have to take my word for the fact that the sun was going down fast). Even once the sun was fully down, the image held up well, with details only just starting to get muddy in the foreground.

The 4K quality offers a high level of detail, with the option to crop in and export in full HD if the camera isn’t quite close enough to your subject of interest. It’s 25p maximum, not 30p, but this is less an issue for timelapse than it is for regular video.

ATLI ATL4500 4K: Sample Footage

Above is a selection of four clips taken using the ATLI ATL4500 4K, both in full daylight with changing conditions, and over the course of a sunset.

ATLI ATL4500 4K: Verdict

The ATLI ATL4500 4K is a highly specialized tool – it’s not the sort of camera you’d buy on a whim, nor is it the sort of camera you’d use for many different purposes. It does what it does – capture high-quality timelapses over a long period from a fixed location – and it does it well. Everything about the design has been considered with that purpose in mind, and features like the independent Wi-Fi connectivity and bolted-on SD card cover are all contributing to this one function.

If you’re, say, a construction company looking for something to capture long-term, client-facing videos of your projects, the ATLI ATL4500 4K definitely justifies the investment, and it’s easy enough to use that you don’t have to become a videography expert. For more casual hobbyists, a cheaper and more portable camera will be a better choice.

ATLI ATL4500 4K alternatives

The Brinno BCC5000 Time Lapse Bundle is a high-end camera kit that’s even more expensive than the ATLI ATL4500. It delivers 4K video and is a lot more portable than the ATLI, though isn’t as suited for long-term projects.

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If the ATLI ATL4500 4K is a bit too heavy-duty and immovable for you, the ATLI X10 is much lighter on its feet, and is still able to capture good-looking 4K. It’s not as robust, of course, but still offers some weatherproofing for outdoor use.

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Also check out our full rundown on the best timelapse cameras