There are a ton of different Time-Lapse scripts and apps built for the Raspberry Pi, but I wanted to make a more customized setup for my own needs.
Here's an example time-lapse video I recorded of cirrus clouds in the sky outside my window (click to view on YouTube):
- See my blog post for an in-depth overview: Raspberry Pi Zero W as a headless time-lapse camera.
- Install dependencies:
sudo apt-get install -y python-picamera python-yaml - Download or clone this repository to your Pi.
- Copy
example.config.ymltoconfig.yml. - Configure the timelapse by modifying values in
config.yml. - In the Terminal,
cdinto this project directory and runpython timelapse.py.
After the capture is completed, the images will be stored in a directory named series-[current date].
Requirements: You should install ImageMagick (sudo apt-get -y install imagemagick)
If you have create_gif set to True in config.yml, the Pi will also generate an animated gif immediately following the conclusion of the capture.
Note: Animated gif generation can take a very long time on slower Pis, like the Pi Zero, A+, or original A or B.
Requirements: You should install FFmpeg (which is actually avconv on Raspbian — sudo apt-get -y install libav-tools)
If you have create_video set to True in config.yml, the Pi will also generate a video immediately following the conclusion of the capture.
Note: Video generation can take a very long time on slower Pis, like the Pi Zero, A+, or original A or B.
For a more pleasing timelapse, it's best to lock in manual settings for exposure and white balance (otherwise the video has a lot of inconsistency from frame to frame). This project allows almost complete control over manual exposure settings through variables in config.yml, and below are listed some rules of thumb for your own settings.
Read more about the Raspberry Pi's Camera hardware.
The most common and useful Pi Camera resolutions (assuming a V2 camera module—V1 modules have different optimal resolutions) are listed below:
| Size (width x height) | Aspect | Common name |
|---|---|---|
| 3280 x 2464 | 4:3 | (max resolution) |
| 1920 x 1080 | 16:9 | 1080p |
| 1280 x 720 | 16:9 | 720p (2x2 binning) |
| 640 x 480 | 4:3 | 480p (2x2 binning) |
Binning allows the Pi to sample a grid of four pixels and downsample the average values to one pixel. This makes for a slightly more color-accurate and sharp picture at a lower resolution than if the Pi were to skip pixels when generating the image.
ISO is basically an indication of 'light sensitivity'. Without getting too deep in the weeds, you should use lower ISO values (60 (V2 camera only), 100, 200) in bright situations, and higher ISO values (400, 800) in dark situations. There's a lot more to it than that, and as you find out creative ways to use shutter speed and ISO together, those rules go out the window, but for starters, you can choose the following manual values to lock in a particular ISO on the Pi Camera:
60(not available on V1 camera module)100200400800
Most photographers are familiar with the fractional values for common shutter speeds (1s, 1/10s, 1/30s, 1/60s, etc.), so here's a table to help convert some of the most common shutter speeds into microseconds (the value used in config.yml):
| Fractional Shutter Speed | µs |
|---|---|
| 6 seconds (max) | 6000000 |
| 1 second | 1000000 |
| 1/8 | 125000 |
| 1/15 | 66666 |
| 1/30 | 33333 |
| 1/60 | 16666 |
| 1/125 | 8000 |
| 1/250 | 4000 |
| 1/500 | 2000 |
| 1/500 | 2000 |
| 1/1000 | 1000 |
| 1/2000 | 500 |
White balance values on the Raspberry Pi camera are set by adjusting the red and blue gain values—the green value is constant. You need to amplify red and blue certain amounts to set a specific color temperature, and here are some of the settings that worked in specific situations for my camera. Note that you might need to adjust/eyeball things a little better for your own camera, as some unit-to-unit variance is to be expected on such an inexpensive little camera!
| White Balance Setting | Color Temperature (approx) | red_gain | blue_gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clear blue sky | 8000K+ | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Cloudy sky / overcast | 6500K | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| Daylight | 5500K | TODO | TODO |
| Fluorescent / 'cool' | 4000K | 1.3 | 1.75 |
| Incandescent / 'warm' | 2700K | 1.25 | 1.9 |
| Candle | <2000K | TODO | TODO |
Note: These values will be updated over time as I find more time to calibrate my Pi camera against a few DSLRs and other devices which are much more accurate! Please file an issue if you can help make these mappings better, or find a nicer way to adjust calibrations rather than a red_gain and blue_gain value.
Depending on the placement of your camera, the picture taken could be upside down. To correct this, set rotation to a value of 0 (no rotation), or 90, 180 or 270 degrees to rotate the image.
MIT License.
This project is maintained by Jeff Geerling, author of Ansible for DevOps.