Time-lapse photography

From NURDspace
Time-lapse photography
Nizzies Cameras.jpg
Participants Dennis
Skills Unknown
Status Planning
Niche Video artsy stuff
Purpose Fun
Tool No
Location
Cost
Tool category

Time-lapse photography

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What

I would like to make some time-lapses because they look cool and can be very interesting, showing slow movements that you won't see normally. Some ideas:

  • Show the seasons having their effect on my garden
  • Show the germination of seeds

We could use a Raspberry Pi with a Pi cam or a webcam, but where's the fun in that? So for now this page will focus on digital cameras and more specifically compacts.

Triggering the camera

How can we have the camera take pictures at certain intervals?

From firmware

There are alternative firmwares for certain cameras that support scheduled shots. Probably one of the most known is CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit). As the name suggests, this is for certain types of Canon cameras, mainly compacts. Actually it is not a firmware, but a program that will be executed from SD card. Another is Magic Lantern, for Canon EOS DSLR cameras.

USB

Some cameras can be triggered over USB. One example of software is this.

Other ways

Some other ways I can think of are:

  • Have something physically push the button, for instance an arduino with a servo
  • Remove the button and directly attach something like an arduino for control
  • Use the trigger port that some cameras have

Info and progress per camera

Canon PowerShot A470

CHDK

Cam is supported: [1] Current firmware

  • GM1.02C
  • Year 2008

Canon PowerShot A550

Canon PowerShot A590 IS

CHDK

Current firmware

  • GM1.00C
  • Year 2006

CHDK

Current firmware

  • GM1.01B
  • Year 2008

HP Photosmart 735

Power

  • 2X Batteries. It is quite picky, I have good experiences with Energizer Lithium
  • DC in port
  • Looks like it can not be powered with USB