ᐅ Setting Up a Time-Lapse Camera for House Construction

Created on: 19 Oct 2014 23:18
D
Doc.Schnaggls
D
Doc.Schnaggls
19 Oct 2014 23:18
Hello,

since our house construction is taking place on Wednesday, we have now also bought a time-lapse camera.

However, we are a bit confused about the optimal time interval at which the camera should take a picture.

Are there any recommendations or experience regarding the time interval to use during the assembly of a prefabricated house?

5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds,...?

We would be very grateful for any advice based on experience.

Best regards,

Dirk
T
toxicmolotof
20 Oct 2014 00:20
Better to take more pictures than too few. If you take one picture every second, you’ll have 60 pictures per minute, or 28,800 pictures in 8 hours. At 30 pictures per second, you get smooth footage without stuttering, which equals 960 seconds of video or 16 minutes.

If that’s too long, you can remove every second picture and have 8 minutes. Or remove 3 out of 4 pictures, and you’ll have 4 minutes of video.

Less is always possible, but you can’t add more pictures later.

Always make sure you have enough storage space—30,000 pictures at 10 MB each add up to 300 GB! So it’s not necessary to save photos in full ultra HD. A resolution of 1920x1080 is more than enough.

And the most important side note: obtain permission from all workers involved.
D
DNL
20 Oct 2014 08:08
Toxicmolotow has said everything that needs to be said.

I’m curious: what camera is that?
T
torsan
20 Oct 2014 08:08
Hello!

I got myself a Brinno camera. It can take a fairly large USB stick, has plenty of adjustable settings, and is also suitable for outdoor use. As I understand it, it only takes pictures when there is daylight, which helps conserve the batteries.

My biggest concern is where to place it. If I just leave the camera outside somewhere, I’m worried it might get stolen. Does anyone have any ideas? It will probably come down to asking a neighbor.

My cousin created a time-lapse film using a webcam and got quite a decent result. Structural concrete construction, one picture every 15 minutes.

Cheers, torsan
D
Doc.Schnaggls
20 Oct 2014 08:39
Hello,

we also bought the TLC 200 from Brinno and an additional waterproof case.

What convinced me about this camera was the good resolution and the small screen attached on the back. It would have been really inconvenient for me to have to carry a laptop just to check the camera’s alignment.

We are allowed to set up the camera on the neighbor’s property – from there we should be able to record everything without any issues.

Regards,

Dirk
One0020 Oct 2014 08:46
We documented the house construction using a GoPro (Liapor prefabrication method), including stair building and more. Taking one photo every 10 seconds results in about 2 minutes of footage at 25fps and approximately 8 hours of recording time. For those with more storage available, I recommend taking one photo every 5 seconds for a prefabricated house.