Time-lapse cameras (intervalometer)

[Ben Discoe]

I arrived here in Hawaii with my hexacopter and a rugged affordable
camera (Fujifilm XP60). Much to my dismay, i find that the camera
cannot be told to take photos at regular intervals while aloft.
Holding down the trigger with a rubber band does not do it either. I
had just assumed that "take a picture every N seconds" would be a
standard camera feature, but as it turns out, it's actually somewhat
rare.

A long search and study of dpreview.com shows that, in fact, there are
basically only 4 high-megapixel fixed-lens cameras which can take
pictures continuously (commonly called time-lapse, or more obscurely
as intervalometer):

1. Pentax Optio WG-2 (and WG-3), 16 MP, 192 g, $205 on amazon
2. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5, 16.1 MP, 214 g, $360 on amazon
3. Nikon Coolpix P510, 16 MP, (41.7× zoom!), 555 g, $370 on amazon
4. Ricoh GR, 16.2 megapixels, 3″ screen, 28 mm, 245 g, $800 on amazon

The first two are similar: cheap waterproof point-and-shoots.
The Nikon is the heavy one with the crazy zoom (not useful IMHO for aerials)
The Ricoh is the expensive one, with (one would assume) higher image
quality for that price.

A link which compares the four:
http://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/side-by-side?products=pentax_optiowg2&products=panasonic_dmcts5&products=nikon_cpp510&products=ricoh_gr&sortDir=ascending

All are 16 MP. I can confirm from my Fujifilm (also 16 MP) that just
because it's capturing that many pixels, it's not necessarily good
quality. So, spending more for the same MP can definitely be worth
it.

Does anyone here have experience with any of these cameras? Anyone
know exactly what intervals they support?

For my predicament here in Hawaii, I'm just going to strap my Galaxy
Nexus phone to my hexacopter and take 5 MP snapshots. Sigh.

[Mathew Lippincott]

if you already have a Fujifilm XP60 it might be worth buying a servo for pushing the photo button.  Brooxes sells a pre-built one of these for $35 called the "clickPAN SERVO" for paring with a genTimer.  The nice thing about these servos is that they can be used to remotely trigger any camera.

http://www.brooxes.com/newsite/BBKK/BBKK-PARTS.html

Alternatively, a continuously rotating servo can be used, ala Cris Benton:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kap_cris/3154193529/in/set-72157624591116314

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[Ben Discoe]

Thanks Matthew, it's very good to know there is a hacker aftermarket
for those things.

In my case, I suspect it would be throwing good money (clickPAN-SERVO
+ clickPAN-ADJUST, $60) after bad - the Fujifilm just isn't the right
camera, I should probably buy a Pentax. There is also the added
weight (batteries) and complexity of the mechanical finger. My UAV
already has SO many mechanical and electrical things that can go
wrong, and it's very easy to fly it into a tree or hard landing, I
hesitate to add more failure points. :)

To partly answer my own question, searching for the Pentax WG-2 user
manual online, it refers to "Interval Shot" in which the interval can
be from 10 seconds to 99 minutes. 10 seconds is kinda long but OK (5
would be preferable; unlike a kite or balloon, a UAV is more limited
in how long it can stably hover in a given spot)

[Ben Discoe]

Further info for those interested:

I did my first aerial test. It was scary as hell taking my UAV up
that high on a windy day with big trees around (I live in a windy,
forested place, so this is unavoidable). I tried several "time lapse"
apps on my Android phone, most of which were bad (resolution limited,
or unstable). The only one that actually worked was "Tina
Time-lapse". It set it to my phone's max resolution (2592x1944) and 5
second interval.

The results... not so great. The phone-camera was swinging in the
wind, so there was motion blur in most shots, and perhaps the motion
was also throwing off the autofocus, because the rest were poorly
focused. Here are a few typical images:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100275646589690012041/albums/5886880918564651393

[Liz Barry]

Hi Ben, 

Can i encourage you to post this email as a Research Note? http://publiclab.org/research

It's how we keep track of what has been tried in which conditions, more searchable than an email list. 

Let me know if i can assist you setting up a profile etc!

Liz

@lizbarry

[Ben Discoe]

Liz, I logged in to the publiclab.org site and tried to submit a
"research note" at http://publiclab.org/post

I wrote a long note, but when I click the big blue "Publish" button,
nothing happens.
The "Preview/Edit" button next to it works just fine. But no publish.

[Liz Barry]

Hi Ben,

First off please save your research note content somewhere while we figure this out! Second, check to see if you have attached an image at upper right. Currently, attaching images is required although that is under discussion on the plots-alpha list.

[Ben Discoe]

Thanks. I added an image and then the note published. It's fine if
attaching an image is required, but it really needs to let the user
know that when you push the Publish button and nothing happens!