Ideas for doing a time lapse sequence?

[khaosinc]

SO while watching my tank mature (until it spit a seam) I always thought it would have been cool to have a time lapse video of the tank maturing.

Are there any digital cameras on the market that are programmable to do such a thing? Preferably one without a "break the bank" price tag..

Barring that, is there a program out there that I could input a mess of pics in to and create a time lapse movie and just set my camera up on a tripod for the next year or so? (I need a new one anyway)

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

Just load a bunch of stills into a .GIF file. I know Canon gives you a program to do it with free with their cameras.

 

[khaosinc]

is there any camera out there that can be programed to take pics at a given time... or interval. What I'd really like is something that just took 1 pic every hour (24 frames per second isn't it?). I often work long and/or erratic hours and being around to take a pic could be a pain. I'm also a space case and would forget a lot.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/164271-REG/Canon_2477A002_Timer_Remote_Controller_TC_80N3.html
Of course that is just a shutter release, you need a camera, tripod, and lens to go with it.

 

[Tremont]

If you just want to do progression, try those network webcams that will just sit on an ethernet cable and ftp a picture at a set interval. It won't be high quality but it is very cheap and easy to set up.

If you are interested in doing high quality long time lapses with a digital camera, they are much harder than short ones, just cause it is so hard to control your environment/lighting over that period of time. I suppose if it was just progression you could just have a DSLR on a tripod in an opposite corner hooked up to an intervalometer. I've spent a huge amount of time and energy on time lapse (and it is amazing..just not quite ready to show my work yet) and I have pretty much concluded that to do growth/progression shots, I need to have a special room/tank devoted specifically to time lapse..

-Tre

 

[Tremont]

Oh and try virtualdub for stitching the frames. It's free and and it works great (just select the first jpeg in the sequence).

-Tre

 

[khaosinc]

well... the tank is in its own room. I haven't finished the fish room yet so setting up a 'safe' area with a tripod is no big deal. Not much light other than the tank is planned.

I'm not adverse to spending a few hundred on this project, and I like the idea of hooking it straight in to the computer. Can someone reccomend a set up I could hook straight in to a mid range PC? I don't know a lot about cameras so layman speak would be appreciated... or at least explained enough I don't look like a mark going in to a store...

 

[Tremont]

I used one of these for a while and it was very easy to setup and easy to use. You don't even need a dedicated PC, just one somewhere on your network running an ftp server:

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-...-Cameras.list.81535_11002_7000000000000005702

The only drawback is it is only 640x480 - there may be similar devices out there that are higher resolution - I'm not sure.

-Tre