I have an opportunity to capture a construction project over about 8 months. I have an old Canon G11 camera that I can use to capture the time lapse sequence. I have created a prototype enclosure that will be securely mounted on a pole at the job site and take pictures every 30 minutes or so. I also have a couple of options on how to get the camera to trigger, but we'll cover that later. Here is the initial design.
Basically, I used a step up adapter ring to mount to the front of the case to hold a UV filter and protect the camera and inside of the case. The camera slides on the internal mount so that the lens extracts flush to the UV filter glass. There is enough space left in the case to add the power adapter and physical shutter release. The plan is to physically mount the case to the job site telephone pole using lag bolts. This will make it semi-permanent, and locks can be added to the box to deter theft.
Parts Used:
1 x 77mm Pro Series UV Filter
1 x Andoer Arca Swiss Adapter Plate
1 x Arca Swiss Plate
1 x Actobotics 90 degree Hub Mount Bracket A
1 x Actobotics Large Screw Plate
4 x 6-32 Socket Head Machine Screws
2 x Machine Screws
I already have an AC adapter for the Canon G11, and they are going to install a power outlet onto the pole this case will be mounted to.
SDM, CHDK, Eye-Fi, or Physical remote???
I have to decide how I'll trigger the camera using either SDM/CHDK and a time lapse script, or a physical intervelometer. Here are the pros and cons of each:
Using a custom script with CHDK or SDM will allow me to set the timeing for triggering the shutter to anything I want, and get it to only take pictures during daylight hours. There are some limitations with CHDK and the size of the Memory cards. Using this method means that I cannot use the 16GB Eyefi mobi card that I have for wireless access to the pictures. This means that I will need to remove the memory card from the camera to retrieve the images.
Using a physical shutter release means that I'll have to purchase one off Amazon, and that the images will be taken 24 hours a day. However, I can then use an EyeFi wireless SD card and be able to get the images off the camera without having to open the box and take the memory card out. I'm leaning towards this option.
This will be an ongoing blog post as the construction project gets moving forward!
