Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a camera system that can take a photo unattended at a set interval. The focal length is about a meter and intervals up to an hour. If you've ever seen the movies of the flower coming up from the seed, these are the kind of pictures I want. I need to take still images because I have to take measurements off the photo. I'd rather not have to break frames out of an mpeg for paxit to analyze. 

A web search found lots of systems like the wingscapes or Brinno trail camera. These have a fixed lense and no focus. I'm looking for a little more control. An SLR with a charger and some programming built in would be ideal. Its indoors so I can run off a PC to trigger the shots if need be. I'd just like a system with everything set up so I don't have to buy a piece here, a timer there, or write the code.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I have a wired remote shutter release I uson with my Nikon D300. It s an MC-36. I don't have the specs handy but I think it would work with many different Nikon cameras. Just Google it and see the specs.

try this in google.. time lapst webcam  a couple of interesting pages, though I know nothing about them in personal experience

http://www.azcendant.com/Time-lapse.htm

http://timelapseblog.com/2010/02/08/make-a-webcam-time-lapse/

http://tilaphos.sourceforge.net/

some webcams have decent lens focus etc.

There are several companies that make (wired or wireless) DSLR camera trigger devices with extended possibilities. You could try Micnova, Pixel or JJC. Available for several camera brands (Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus...).

I haven't tried any, but maybe someone here has more experience with them.

This little camera is way below the better DSLR's but has a terrific built in time lapse feature.  It's video capabilities and applications are mind blowing.  The GOPRO HERO is mega fun to boot.

http://www.adorama.com/ACCOIN01.html?emailprice=t&j=Email071912POV&utm_term=Other&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email071912POV&utm_source=ET

 

supports 1 frame per min and some other things perhaps?

Just have a look on e-bay for the chinese/taiwanese knock-off version of the proprietary system for your camera manufacturer.  That's what i did and it works like a charm at 1/4 of the price - and will do whatever the propriety system does so is more than enough for what you need.

As for getting flowers growing you will need a continuous (on day and night) daylight source (ie one that plants like) in a light sealed room -otherwise your photos will be differently exposed during the day and night (light through windows will overexpose etc) and the timelapse will look rather crap when put together.  The key is having the same settings for each shot (manual).  Also - you will need to change both the memory card and the batteries throughout the project - so be very careful not to move the camera while doing so.

(the above is spoken from experience where i failed a shoot over ~4 days: Link)  

Oh and hour intervals will miss the bloom i imagine - it happens pretty quick... you need at least 5 minute intervals if you want pretty detail in the "video"...

Attached Link: http://www.poserdirect.com/mediaplayers/timelapse.zip

Inshaala is correct about using a generic knockoff thats how I did the one here... http://www.poserdirect.com/mediaplayers/timelapse.zip ...it's only the second one I did as well. File is roughly 70mb - MPeG2 format. This clip is at 740 x 496, because thats the maximum resolution of some special media players I'm using. But the original version - 4592 x 3056 - looks stunning when played back on an full HD TV. To make it was incredibly easy. A sony a200 and a cheap - amazon $10 - interval timer set to take an image every 5 seconds. Images where loaded into the freeware "jpg2video", quick and which offers a good choice of video formats. Though it doesn't add audio, so saved as high quality AVI, added a null audio track using dubit (also freeware). The timer itself was a bit flimsy and didn't turn off, but taking the batterys out solved that. Instructions where useless, but with a few minutes playing fixed that. Also as well as Inshaala tip about batterys and cards, when using found the following ... 1. Remember your tripod! 2. Allow the camera time to focus and set exposure. 3. In low-light situs such as sunrise/sunset, the remote unit started beeping if the camera struggled. 4. Sometimes the remote stopped working for no reason, but pressing a button restarted things OK. 5. The camera got hot as well, which can be a issue for some SLR's like the a33. Though the remote wasn't affected by that. 6. Think safety. A slr stuck on a stick allday says steal me. So locate your camera in a place it can't be seen. Here mine was behind a window 6-8ft off the ground. Oh, and one other thing. Scene. Theres no point in making a timelapse if what the scene isn't photogenic!!!