Timelapse – 1 month period

[Noah Kadner]

I’d use a GoPro.

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops
XinTwo – FCPX Training

[Joel Roberts]

Thanks Noah, how would you set it up though? Obviously the GoPro couldn’t be left on location but tricky trying to price the job as would require regular visits to activate.

Thinking minimum capture time of 3 days a week, for 2 hours at a time, for the 1 month duration. Does this sound about right for decent results?

And what Intervals would you record at?

Thanks

[Mark Smith]

I’ve done a lot of long term timelapse some as long as 18 months. I use digital stills cameras in weather tight housing with solar/battery power systems and programmable controllers. Its kind of a waste to throw a digital cinema camera at the job as far as I am concerned. Even a relatively inexpensive digital still camera will take rich enough photos that can be shaped into whatever you need in post. Use compressor afterwards to create a sequence of stills from your captured photos and away you go.
You can look to a place like Harbortronics for some ideas. I have used their gear for years in every kind of weather, even hurricanes and have come out well.

[Noah Kadner]

Yeah I’d leave it there in a weatherproof housing and show up every week or so to check on it

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops
XinTwo – FCPX Training

[Mark Smith]

If you want to rent one of my rigs- (have 2) , PM me . Its the easiest way to go. Put a 64 gig card in the camera, program a schedule on the controller and away you go.

[Mark Suszko]

A go pro is great for this, coupled to a power supply of some sort – but, there are advantages to using a webcam instead. Axis has been my go-to choice for this kind of thing in the past.

Benefits:

The stills are archived off-location. Go-pro, self-contained, could get stolen or damaged, and you’ve lost all the shots. Some go pro type cameras can be set up to be seen remotely, via Bluetooth, but I’m not sure they can be set up as webcams. A dedicated webcam has it’s own internal server that stores AND forwards the grabs to a safe archive, at whatever intervals you need. You can even program it to skip night times or hours after work has stopped, and only shoot during relevant times.

You can check on it remotely from anywhere, any time.

You or the client can review the lapse as it is being built, instead of having to wait and see if you’re getting it right.

You need a weatherproof case like a Pelco or similar, power source and connectivity. The contractor can run a power line and ethernet cable to the camera “perch”. Or you could use a wireless modem and solar panels.

If you’re committed to just making multiple visits with a conventional camera, I’d suggest you build a rigid mounting point at the site so the camera can be reliably re-positioned to match each time you go. Set a steel pipe in a concrete footing, screw on some kind of flange and make a sort of quick-release to fit. Bring along a monitor that’s been overlaid with a gridded outline of the first shot in the series, as an alignment tool. That could be done with a laptop and various apps.

[Michiel De leeuw van weenen]

Most important tip:
– Go to cam-do.com >> They have all kind of solutions to build a time-lapse unit with GoPro.

3/4 things are important for time-lapse:
– Power > If you have external power it’s much easier
– Check > How do you know it’s still working? If you come back after a week or months and it stopped working after 1 day….
– SD capacity. > With a GoPro you can normally only take 1 picture 1 minute or faster. So 1 picture per hour is not possible.
– WIFI > That’s convenient. I tell you why in a moment.

Cam-do somehow solves 3 problems.
Power > If you buy the bigger enclosure you can use a much bigger battery or a solar solution.
Check > Cam-do makes the ‘Blink’. You can send every day a mail message. But you need WIFI for this.
SD Capacity > Also use ‘Blink’. You can take a picture every 10 minutes or so. Only 3 days from 9 till 3. And… you can also make 1 video a day for 1 minute..
– WIFI > As I said, you need WIFI for the blink. I made a solution with a mini-router and usb power timer. But that’s quite difficult. If you need advice for this. Ak me.

Last tip:
Cam-do also has a very convenient time-lapse calculator.
https://cam-do.com/pages/photography-time-lapse-calculator

Gr, Michiel

[Joel Roberts]

Thanks so much everyone, very helpful info.

Just pondering how to cost it up now…