Simple Timelapse PiCamera

I have wanted to get into using the Raspberry Pi together with a camera for a while and decided that this was a great project to start with.

I wasn't interested in creating time-lapses at all until I started this project, they are loads of fun!

This is a very easy way to setup and get started with the PiCamera module with Python

A huge thanks to Armin Hinterwirth who published code on how to draw timestamps on images (https://github.com/amphioxus) - https://www.amphioxus.org/content/timelapse-time-stamp-overlay

This can be done with other Raspberry Pi's and other Pi Camera versions

Step One: Connect up the camera

Step Two (Optional): Assemble Camera Case

Assembly instructions provided by Pimoroni: https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/raspberry-pi-zero-camera-case-assembly-instructions

Step Three: Install Raspberry Pi OS

Very nice getting started guide: https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up

Step Four: Enable the Camera

Log into the Raspberry Pi using an SSH session or connect it up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse and open a terminal window

Open the Raspi-Config:

sudo raspi-config

Select Interface Options

Select Camera

Make sure to enable

Test the Camera

raspistill -o test.jpg

Step Five: Get & use the code

Clone the Repo

git clone https://github.com/aawobdev/pi-camera-timelapse.git

Change directory to the pi camera timelapse folder

cd pi-camera-timelapse

Run a test timelapse for a few seconds

python3 timelapse.py 10 1 .

This will run timelapse.py, these are the parameters:

1. 10 duration of timelapse (in seconds)

2. 1 interval of snaps (in seconds)

3. "." the location of the ouput, in this case, current directory

See https://github.com/aawobdev/pi-camera-timelapse/blob/master/README.md#usage-examples for some more examples

The console output will look like this:

Check the output

ls -la

The images will be placed in an "output" folder, and the resultant timelapse video will be placed into the output folder inside a "video" folder

The "resized" images include the timestamps and if you need access to the original versions, they are without the "resized" suffix

I found it best to setup a samba share on the network to access the images and videos through my Windows Computer: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/remote-access/samba.md

Step 5: Run in the background!

If you want to do things like timelapse the sunrise or sunset, the best way to do this is to have the script run at a certain time, using a cronjob

Open the crontab file

crontab -e

At the bottom of the file, enter the command to run at a specific time, for this example: Run at midnight(00:00) for 8 hours

This will also print the output of the script to an "output.log" file inside my folder

0 4 * * * python3 /home/pi/Camera/timelapse.py 28800 3600 /home/pi/Camera >> /home/pi/Camera/output.log 2>&1

For more examples or detail have a look at: https://github.com/aawobdev/pi-camera-timelapse/blob/master/README.md#run-in-background

Step 6: Go make some awesome time-lapses!