MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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We're having a sizeable extension put onto the house later this year and think itd be nice to have a time lapse video of it being built.
I've looked through the previous posts and can't find anything like what we're after.
I'm mostly worried about battery life so would be tempted to try and wire something in properly?
I have a Hikvision Security Cam system but not sure how to get it to do timelapse
I have a GoPro3 but don't think the battery will last very long
I have an Rx100 but not sure I really want to leave it outside
I saw somebody suggest a Pentax W60 camera which are only about £30 on eBay at the moment.
Has anybody done something similar and got any pointers or suggestions?
A time lapse is just a collection of stills, edited together to look like a speeded up video.
A photography forum is probably the best place to ask.
A gopro will be perfect for it, obviously the battery doesn’t last that long, so you’ll need power, either that or bring it inside to charge but leave the tripod/mount outside to get the same perspective.
I've got the pentax and used it a couple of times for time lapse. It works pretty well. Waterproof, and the battery lasts for a long time lapse. I did one that was a few months. I think the problem with a build will be you'll have days of nothing and days with lots. When there is lots going on the best thing is a video that you speed up rather than lots of stills (eg blockwork, rendering, windows). I'd maybe look at a base for the camera so you can take it out and put it back in exactly the same place when you want to. eg fix the go pro to bit of wood that sits on a fixed shelf. That way you can have a mix of time lapse stills and videos. You can also change the battery. Or maybe a webcam. That way you can just record a massive video then edit what you want
Feels like a potential pi project...
https://maker.pro/raspberry-pi/projects/how-to-build-a-time-lapse-camera-using-a-raspberry-pi-zero-w
Get slow builders and just wander out once an hour to take a photo from the same place.
Here was my attempt to find out how my desk cables got tangled each night. Only 7 seconds but took a while to edit
There’s an app for that, or used to be. You can use an older mobile, set it up on a stand of some sort, with a powerpack or similar plugged in, in a protected spot or a box, and take pics at timed intervals, per second, minute, hour days, etc.
Google construction cameras
Brinno do one that is fit and forget, plenty of used ones on fleabay
Gopro with usb battery pack. Swap batteries once a day
We used some on a big construction project and found that you really don’t want many photos otherwise you have a very boring video.
I have used my gopro to time lapse a 4-6 hour job which worked well, but other than for key moments (building the roof rafters?) you could probably get away with a couple of photos per day and blend them rather than creating a video. You might even get away with just creating a solid position for your phone camera so you can just go and take identically framed photos manually...
I have a old SJ400 which is a basic copy of a go pro. I use it to time lapse some training videos for my daughters Insta. It has time lapse settings of 1/2/3/5/10 seconds. On 2 seconds it turns a hours training into about 10mins. Confused how this happens but it does. If i set it to 5 seconds it lasts about 1min.
I would have a look at your go pro. Play around with the time lapse settings and as above, use a usb external battery. You can even turn the display off on the camera to save battery etc.
Go pro last about 3 hours, less in the cold
I have an Apeman H55 trail cam that will do timelapse. Fully waterproof, takes an external 12V power supply and can be set to record at certain times only- eg, from 08:00 to 17:00.