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Hack Your Point-and-Shoot into a Time Lapse Camera
Posted by Matt Buchanan at 5:00 AM on July 22, 2008
CamTim is a hack that'll let you use any digital camera with a remote control for time-lapse photography. It's not super-easy, but it won't make you cry (probably). It's basically a board you program to buzz the camera's remote button at whatever interval you want. Using a ZigBee module, you can also set it up to run wirelessly, which is pretty handy for long-term spying... on birds. [ZigGrid via MAKE]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
BoinK
Posted 5:53 AM 22/7/08
Funny. I built just such a thing a few months ago. I went a bit OTT though with an LCD, "real time captured" stats, programmable delays in s/m/h and such. T'was a fun project though.
BoinK
T-man
Posted 5:51 AM 22/7/08
But don't even think about taking it on a plane...
T-man
qbrad's thoroughly impressed with NY Gizmodians
Posted 5:29 AM 22/7/08
Anyone ever head of an app called TimerShot? It's free and does this via Firewire, USB too, methinks.
qbrad's thoroughly impressed with NY Gizmodians
strider_mt2k
Posted 5:23 AM 22/7/08
Yes, paralleling connections to momentary switches is an awesome way to do some simple mods while retaining the original function of the item in question.
How and what you interface with is the fun!
Nice work!
strider_mt2k
Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!
Posted 5:17 AM 22/7/08
My SD1000 has a time lapse function under video. With a big enough card, I could take a good amount of footage. I tried it with the cats fighting. Funny stuff it was.
Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!
venomous_duck41
Posted 5:13 AM 22/7/08
@urbanturban666: agreed. strictly for those who cant resist the urge to tinker.
"which is pretty handy for long-term spying... on birds"
continuation: ... at night... from the bushes... while ducking the headlights of passing cars...
were dealing with some really tricky "birds" here!
venomous_duck41
vmspionage
Posted 5:13 AM 22/7/08
Most webcams do this out of the box. IMO this is only worth it if you need the capabilities of a better camera like an SLR.
vmspionage
urbanturban666
Posted 5:04 AM 22/7/08
not worth the work, screw this!!!
urbanturban666
Kobe_No_Means_No
Posted 6:07 AM 22/7/08
Get a TI-83 for $25:
[forums.slickdeals.net]
and then turn it into an intervalometer:
[www.hackaday.com]
Kobe_No_Means_No
sfokevin
Posted 6:51 AM 22/7/08
Very Road Side Bombish if you ask me
sfokevin
Bllo
Posted 6:45 AM 22/7/08
Once again today, Lovin' my Canon Powershot G9 !
Bllo
GiltProto
Posted 6:36 AM 22/7/08
For some reason this is not a feature that many manufacturers put in their cameras but you can find them with a bit of research. I bought a 1.3M Ricoh once in 2001ish simply because it had time lapse capability. Also found a FILM camera with time-lapse capability from a surplussy catalog type place - so I bought two.
There was also an article here on Giz that talked about upgrading the software in some camera, or running the new software directly off routines stored in the flash memory card. But I'll be darned if I can find it right now....
GiltProto
petrarch1613
Posted 6:02 AM 22/7/08
if you have a Canon, look for a CHDK for it. Some of them will have time-lapse modes.
petrarch1613
jarque
Posted 9:36 AM 22/7/08
I use this mod on a little camera and then hang it around the cat's neck to find out what she does all day! Wait... that sounds familiar.
Mr. Lee Cat Cam
jarque
jarque
Posted 10:13 AM 22/7/08
@jarque: I meant to say I could use this mod. I'm pretty sure the cat would play dead if I tried to attach a camera to her collar though.
jarque
MikeGrenade
Posted 12:52 PM 22/7/08
@vmspionage: If you were going to do this with an SLR, you'd just use an off the shelf intervalometer...
MikeGrenade
nefariousmadman
Posted 5:10 AM 22/7/08
Seems like a waste of time and money.
nefariousmadman
EnidEldred
Posted 4:10 AM 24/7/08
Cool hack...here is a way to do it with a DSLR. http://imagika.com/2008/06/use-a-ti-83-as-an-intervalometer/
EnidEldred