Long length Time-Lapse

[steeviemac]

I have been asked to create a 1 image per day, 5 year time lapse of a large construction project. I have an idea of how and where to fasten a camera but don't know how to set up the shutter to release every day at the same time. I can but a new camera for this purpose. Any ideas?

many thanks.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

Many digital cameras can be remotely controlled with accompanying software. Canon, for example, has a program called 'Canon Remote Capture'.

I believe that with this software, you could set up an interval for time lapse photography.

You would, of course, need to have the camera tethered to a computer.

 

[steeviemac]

Thanks for the reply. I hope there's a solution out there that doesn't require trying up a computer for five years.

 

[Big Mike]

Seeing as it's only one photo per day, I would think that the easiest solution would be to just manually take the photo.

 

[JimmyO]

How necessary is the one per day? I would think that one a week would be just a good

This project will probably be harder then you might think. I think you might also want to do it via wireless wecam somehow

 

[astrostu]

Seeing as it's only one photo per day, I would think that the easiest solution would be to just manually take the photo.

Agreed. Unless the location is far from where you live or work.

 

[darkpbstar]

yea this seems like a pain. There better be some huge incentive for doing it. And everyday? That doesn't sound right at all, why not once a week as someone said. That seems much more practical, and I too think, why not just take it by hand, in the same spot, so you don't have to mess with automatic, wireless stuff, just seems pointless. Tehre is no way I'd do that, there everyday, to take a photo of the same thing...wow

 

[Eupfhoria]

Played back at full NTSC speed, 1 shot per day for 5 years will play back in almost exactly 1 minute.

That said, Your best bet is probably a webcam or a motion camera. A SONY PD-150 has the ability to record for X seconds every X minutes. I'm not sure if that is a good 5 year solution (especially since they are still running between 1 and 2 grand). For that money you can get a crappy PC/laptop and $100 web cam to do your work.

 

[Alfred D.]

You will need 2 identical cameras at least! The second, fully charged and thoroughly tested at all times, stored carefully near the main camera, and ready for action at the flick of the switch, for backup if numero uno packs up.

This is a long term project. So system reliability and redundancy is a big deal!

 

[steeviemac]

Played back at full NTSC speed, 1 shot per day for 5 years will play back in almost exactly 1 minute.

That said, Your best bet is probably a webcam or a motion camera. A SONY PD-150 has the ability to record for X seconds every X minutes. I'm not sure if that is a good 5 year solution (especially since they are still running between 1 and 2 grand). For that money you can get a crappy PC/laptop and $100 web cam to do your work.

This sounds like the way to go but I'm worried about image quality. Can anyone recommend a high quality web cam?

many thanks,

 

[skid2964]

My Canon S3 IS has a menu option that allows me to choose how many pictures to take and how much time between each picture (Intervalometer option). This would work for the purpose you mention.

You could select 1440 minutes as the interval and 1825 as the quantity. (connect the camera to wall outlet power) Seems like you might need a good UV filter also!

The S3 seems like a good choice because it is relatively inexpensive yet takes very acceptable photos. You could buy two or three as backup units. It even has a wide screen format!

 

[Ejazzle]

http://evsjupiter.com/

this is how i check the waves

but it is really to monitor the beach erosion. hope that can help. go through the web site a little bit.
or http://www.video-monitoring.com/contact.htm

 

[Bifurcator]

Most compact cameras will do 1 per hour right? That's 24 a day. So throw the other 23 out and select from any hour of the day/night for the animation. Collect the 16gig Card every two weeks. So simple and even cheap-o compacts do a 60min time lapse so you don't need to be leaving an expensive DSLR on location. The A2 (a camera I happen to be using till I get a D3) can do it, is remote controllable with free software if you want too (all functions), and sells for about $200 on e-bay right now. It goes into power saving mode (off basically) between shots too.


Sounds like a fun project!

 

[dklod]

Ive seen time lapse footage of construction sites before. Its amazing stuff. Some of you might think that 1 perday is over kill, but alot can happen on a construction site in a week. The one I have seen was from a fixed camera located either on a tall pole or nearby roof top and I would think they took maybe 4-5 shots per day. Im not sure how many frames per second it played back at (Im guessing 30) but the amount of detail it picked up was truley incredible. In fact while writing this I have managed to find the video online. I wish you luck in your project, just remember if you chose to take it manually, pick out 2 reference points for the top and a side of your frame so that it almost looks like your camera was mounted.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/player.cgi?wfer_timelapse