Recommended Time Lapse solution?

J

JonnStar

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Hi all,

I need to record time lapse footage for a construction site in Rustenburg and have so far come up trumps with a solution I am happy with. I myself have very little idea about what sort of equipment is optimal for the job. In fact a google search of time lapse cameras and solutions is surprisingly not too helpful especially since I don't know of many reputable local businesses who do this sort of thing.

The trick is that I need to be able to access this time lapse photography or storage over the Internet as I am based in Sandton but need to oversee that it keeps running and I also may need to download and produce samples throughout the event.

So I have two queries for anyone who may have any suggestions to get me started on the right track:

1. Is there a complete solution easily obtainable locally, say a smart camera that has onboard storage and 3G remote access capability with software capable of supporting hourly snaps?

2. If not I will need to set up a local storage server with 3G access, connected to an IP camera. Any suggestions for an IP camera good enough and easy to setup for the job?

Obviously either way it needs to be securely mounted for an extended time. Night vision is a small bonus but I don't think absolutely necessary. Quality need not be over the top HD stuff since I don't expect to justify a very expensive camera in excess of R5000-00 but hopefully I can get decent presentation level quality for similar or less?

Unfortunately it has to be 3G capable due to the remote site and as a cheap solution. Provided one camera only needs to take say an hourly snap of 500Kb to 1Mb I think a 2Gig monthly cap should suffice, I can then have it upload to a local storage via dropbox or directly if possible and then work with the snaps at will.

Also any vendors capable of supplying a simple solution with installation are welcome to PM me :) I have dealt with one or two vendors before close of last year but wasn't happy with the options.

Thanks.
 
I havn't tried this but I would think a cheap Android phone+SD card would cover all of the above.

A quick google shows there are a few apps available that can do timelapse on android. Some apps like Lapseit do the rendering on the phone and upload the video directly to youtube. I would guess another option would be to install DropBox on the phone and sync all your photos to the cloud and then do the rendering on your laptop. This will also allow you manage the pictures remotely, eg. delete night shots, etc.
 
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It is an interesting alternative considering the quality of photos these days on smartphones, thanks for the suggestion Napalm :)
 
How about a go pro with a Eye-fi wifi card that transmits the data to a nearby smartphone?

BTW - coming up trumps means you have been successful. ;)
 
bwana said:
How about a go pro with a Eye-fi wifi card that transmits the data to a nearby smartphone?

BTW - coming up trumps means you have been successful. ;)
Click to expand...

Oops, seem to recall the phrase being used for the opposite :o thanks. Will look into your suggestion as well.
 
I may have a solution for you, but I will have to test the product first, only found it after reading your query. The camera will time lapse according to the intervals you set up and it then will either email or mms you the images, it can also time and date stamp the images.

That is just the basics, it does so much more, according to the manual anyhow.

Either way this looks like something I want to test out, might see who the **** keeps cutting my fences.
 
lived666 said:
I may have a solution for you, but I will have to test the product first, only found it after reading your query. The camera will time lapse according to the intervals you set up and it then will either email or mms you the images, it can also time and date stamp the images.

That is just the basics, it does so much more, according to the manual anyhow.

Either way this looks like something I want to test out, might see who the **** keeps cutting my fences.
Click to expand...
Why do you have to be the only one who can test it? :confused: Even if you don't approve of it, others might.
 
lived666 said:
I may have a solution for you, but I will have to test the product first, only found it after reading your query. The camera will time lapse according to the intervals you set up and it then will either email or mms you the images, it can also time and date stamp the images.

That is just the basics, it does so much more, according to the manual anyhow.

Either way this looks like something I want to test out, might see who the **** keeps cutting my fences.
Click to expand...

Please share if you can or let me know the outcome :)
 
JonnStar said:
On the third or fourth post a guy shared a link to a cam I think might do the job. It is around R8-9K but I think this could be justifiable if it would eliminate the need for other equipment.
Click to expand...

Wait a week if you can, the one I want to test will be under R3K. Just PM your info and I will get in touch with you.

@bwana, not everyone wants to spend R3k on testing a product
 
wifi controlled gopro taking snaps on a connected pc/laptop?
afaik the hero3 gopros(white would probably be best) are all wifi enabled and can be controlled from a remote device.
 
I still think a cheap android phone would be the best solution.

Advantages
It's a cheap and easy solution to implement that doesn't require multiple devices (or multiple points of failure)
Most android phones have a high res camera
On-board 3G
On-board storage and easy to sync to cloud storage (dropbox, google drive)
Phone battery will last at least a day if there is no power from the wall plug OR solar charger depending on your setup.
Optional Solar Charger -eg Power Monkey Explorer
Flexible - with all the different android apps, you can find a solution that suits you best. eg. render final video on device or to the cloud, or save all pictures to a specific folder/to the cloud. I've been messing around with the free(lite) version of Lapseit for android and it's quite customisable. I'll post some sample vids tonight if I have a chance.
You can remote control the android phone using Teamviewer (for android) should anything go wrong (eg. application crashes) or if you want to change some timelapse settings remotely.

Disadvantages
Perhaps not the best quality camera compared to the Go Pro (but at 240p -a limitation of the of freeware version of Lapseit, it wasn't too bad on my U8800. Paid version allows higher res)
Apps can crash (this happened a few times on my Huawei U8800)
RICA:D
 
I'm currently playing around with my Android tablet, Lapse It and Tina Time Lapse, and DropSync. It may actually work well, only thing is when I present this as a solution to a Director or CEO and say I'm using an Android phone it may not actually sound like a good idea even if it may be :D

Also, how stable will it run on Android unattended for over a year. :eek:

Was also considering a Raspberry Pi hack project of my own :o but would take a lot of time.

Also contacted about 5 companies today, all have 3G/GSM cameras but all are motion detect only as security cams and not quite suitable. Some you have to sms to receive an mms and so on.
 
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