A single, standard battery in a DSLR camera will suffice for making most time lapses- but, what if you want to capture a time lapse for a week, a month, or an entire season while being far removed from any source of power?
Well, for a recent documentary called Watershed, produced by Kontent Films, I did just that. I built 4 time-lapse camera rigs that ran, unassisted, for up to 4 months.
I made this at Techshop in San Francisco where there were lots of tools available. But really, it can be built at home no problem.
Check out the video and then take a look at how I did it.
Well, for a recent documentary called Watershed, produced by Kontent Films, I did just that. I built 4 time-lapse camera rigs that ran, unassisted, for up to 4 months.
I made this at Techshop in San Francisco where there were lots of tools available. But really, it can be built at home no problem.
Check out the video and then take a look at how I did it.
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Signing UpStep 1: Gather Materials
Materials (links are to possible options, not necessarily the items I used- please be smart and make measurements, look at reviews etc…)
- Camera. We chose to purchase used Canon 20D cameras through KEH. You want something solid and high quality, and remember, megapixel count isn't super essential because the likely final output is HD video.
- Lens. As with all pictures, the better the glass the better the time-lapse. But, like the cameras, I'd recommend not going too crazy- balance your risk and benefit. We chose cheap zoom lens from KEH so we could change the shot as needed from where we were able to place the cameras. If you know what your shot is before hand, a prime lens in this situation might be appropriate.
- Media card. Get a big one because you don't want to run out of space!
- Intervalometer. Depends on what model of camera you choose. I'd definitely recommend not skimping out here; just get the one made by Canon so you don't have to worry about it (my knock off failed on me)
- Battery. How long do you want this time-lapse to be? We used a car battery (really, a slightly larger RV battery) for our rigs. They didn't run out of juice, so we don't really know how long they would have lasted. Probably a lot longer. Try to find a battery that isn't built to deliver massive amounts of power all at once (starter battery), but rather one thats used to releasing a small charge (like a battery used for RV appliances or what they call a marine battery) We were able to get one for cheap at a place that recycles old batteries:
- Battery Case. Plastic shell for the car battery that can be purchased at West Marine or other places. Its not technically water proof, but it does help keep the rain off the electrical components while still allowing it to off gas in extreme weather. It's also helpful for attaching various components. Make sure its the right dimensions for the battery you get.
- Dummy battery. Goes in your camera in the battery slot and has a cord the extends out. You can make your own if you know how (read all of my instructions before you build that), or you can do what I did and buy a cheap AC adapter for the camera.
- Voltage converter. Your camera operates on around 7 volts of DC power, where as a car battery runs at an average of 12v DC. (household power is 120v AC) Look for a variable DC converter that takes 12v power and makes it something close to 7v (7.5 works fine). Again, higher quality here is better. The linked to item is fairly low quality...
- OR a Voltage converter, dummy battery combo. This guy in England makes really high quality ones for about the same price. I only found out about them after I had placed our cameras. If I were doing this project again I'd use these.
- Pelican case. This is a standard water/weatherproof case for your camera. You don't need the foam if it makes it cheaper.
- Mounting plate. Not essential, but it certainly does make mounting your camera easier.
- 20 Amp fuse
- Electrical connectors of the appropriate size (terminal ends, butt splices etc)
- Large diameter PVC pipe. For the Lens snout; I purchased at Home Depot. The interior diameter needs to be bigger than the diameter of your lens.
- Clear, UV lens Filter. This covers the opening in the PVC pipe making it weather proof. It can be purchased at a camera store; bring in the pipe to make sure it fits…
- Epoxy. some sort of really strong, really gooey substance to fill up holes and hold some things together
- Silicone moisture packets
- Mounting hardware (screws, bolts, nuts, washers, rubber washers, brackets etc) and misc scrap wood
- Velcro
Tools:
Wire cutting and splicing tools.
Multimeter
Large diameter circle cutter (slightly smaller diameter as exterior of PVC pipe)
Drill
Wrench
File
- Camera. We chose to purchase used Canon 20D cameras through KEH. You want something solid and high quality, and remember, megapixel count isn't super essential because the likely final output is HD video.
- Lens. As with all pictures, the better the glass the better the time-lapse. But, like the cameras, I'd recommend not going too crazy- balance your risk and benefit. We chose cheap zoom lens from KEH so we could change the shot as needed from where we were able to place the cameras. If you know what your shot is before hand, a prime lens in this situation might be appropriate.
- Media card. Get a big one because you don't want to run out of space!
- Intervalometer. Depends on what model of camera you choose. I'd definitely recommend not skimping out here; just get the one made by Canon so you don't have to worry about it (my knock off failed on me)
- Battery. How long do you want this time-lapse to be? We used a car battery (really, a slightly larger RV battery) for our rigs. They didn't run out of juice, so we don't really know how long they would have lasted. Probably a lot longer. Try to find a battery that isn't built to deliver massive amounts of power all at once (starter battery), but rather one thats used to releasing a small charge (like a battery used for RV appliances or what they call a marine battery) We were able to get one for cheap at a place that recycles old batteries:
- Battery Case. Plastic shell for the car battery that can be purchased at West Marine or other places. Its not technically water proof, but it does help keep the rain off the electrical components while still allowing it to off gas in extreme weather. It's also helpful for attaching various components. Make sure its the right dimensions for the battery you get.
- Dummy battery. Goes in your camera in the battery slot and has a cord the extends out. You can make your own if you know how (read all of my instructions before you build that), or you can do what I did and buy a cheap AC adapter for the camera.
- Voltage converter. Your camera operates on around 7 volts of DC power, where as a car battery runs at an average of 12v DC. (household power is 120v AC) Look for a variable DC converter that takes 12v power and makes it something close to 7v (7.5 works fine). Again, higher quality here is better. The linked to item is fairly low quality...
- OR a Voltage converter, dummy battery combo. This guy in England makes really high quality ones for about the same price. I only found out about them after I had placed our cameras. If I were doing this project again I'd use these.
- Pelican case. This is a standard water/weatherproof case for your camera. You don't need the foam if it makes it cheaper.
- Mounting plate. Not essential, but it certainly does make mounting your camera easier.
- 20 Amp fuse
- Electrical connectors of the appropriate size (terminal ends, butt splices etc)
- Large diameter PVC pipe. For the Lens snout; I purchased at Home Depot. The interior diameter needs to be bigger than the diameter of your lens.
- Clear, UV lens Filter. This covers the opening in the PVC pipe making it weather proof. It can be purchased at a camera store; bring in the pipe to make sure it fits…
- Epoxy. some sort of really strong, really gooey substance to fill up holes and hold some things together
- Silicone moisture packets
- Mounting hardware (screws, bolts, nuts, washers, rubber washers, brackets etc) and misc scrap wood
- Velcro
Tools:
Wire cutting and splicing tools.
Multimeter
Large diameter circle cutter (slightly smaller diameter as exterior of PVC pipe)
Drill
Wrench
File
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I can see the nauseating issues of day night day night being an issue, but do you find that you go with wroger-wroger's 4-6 day light hour shots? (i.e. get about 90secs of 24fps video per 365 days)
How about shooting a series of shots every day, i.e. 10 continuous shots every 24 hours?
I've done a fair amount of short-interval timelapses with DSLRs & gopros, but am interested in the long term runs.
Additionally, you might be able to get away with a smaller battery or have much longer term projects by modifying an solar electric fence adapter. These work great for long term remote projects.
I like the idea of being able to go into the vicinity of the camera and download without disturbing the rig and potentially slightly changing the shot.
In an area thats off the grid, but with cell service, you might be able to use the EyeFi card in the camera and link it with an in-box cell phone to upload the photos remotely... If I understand it correctly, it could offer a simpler, more consumer level alternative to francoisg's suggested hack... No idea which is a better solution, AND It would take a lot of juice as you say, but it could potentially work...
(After checking the TSC website they no longer have the same set up as before. A solar automotive, RV. or marine charger might be better to look at so you could charge your 12v battery directly.)
As for the EyeFi card, I would think you only need to get close to the box for the card to download it's payload. It's seems to me that dedicating a cellphone to the project to "call home" would greatly increase the complexity and cost.
If you are interested in adding remote monitoring to your long-term timelapse projects, you could check out Webcampak project on sourceforge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/webcampak/
As you might expect it increases complexity, constraints & costs of the overall setup but it also greatly expands its capabilities (livecam, redundancy, remote monitoring, ...).
Just a thought for a cheaper, easier alternative
ideas already as I've already built one intervalometer for some cameras, and I'm thinking of doing something similar except using a myfi card to feed the images to a home server. For that I could build a setup that charges off the house but has a battery for power outages, etc. Considering using a simple point-n-shoot as the camera in such a setup. If I can figure out how to get all of that working, it's time to write up an instructable as well I suppose. (and yes the intervometer is probably worth an instructable as well.) Thanks for the writeup.
Now if you would have raped 3 little girls you'd probably only get a slap on the wrist and six hrs community service :-)
My trust in authorities is far less than my trust in humanity as a whole
Anyway, great project, I may try something like that but probably use a casing that blends into the environment. I may try to create an artificial rock or something, but definitely want to try this. May set the interval for just once a day. That might be sufficient
-Cory
Ralph
So you get a general spread of daylight and 4 months of video lasting longer than 10 seconds.
i am a photographer myself and was looking for rig like this, yours is one of the easiest i have seen.
one thing i would like add to your rig is a data cable, because nowadays cams are equipped with USB connectivity, you can get your data from media card via laptop, that will increase the storage/picture taking capacity as you can erase the previous data on media card.
very nice instructible and clearly done..