If anyone is interested in a cheap way to shoot stunning timelapses, buy yourself an old Canon Powershot off eBay, a $5 memory card writer, and download the CHDK firmware hacks for Canon cameras: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

Sadly the CHDK hacks don't work with DSLRs (yet).

EDIT: I should add that the beauty of timelapse is that even an old 5MP camera can create beautiful 1080p HD videos.