Timelapse camera recommendations? (1 Viewer)

[Captain_of_Crunch]

I was wondering if anyone in the camera/photography forum has any recommendations for a timelapse camera? Budget would be around £300 max, but anything cheaper would be great. Doesn't have to have amazing specs (1024 would be fine) and ideally be able to cover 1-2 days worth of footage.

I have looked at the Atli Eon camera, but this gets mixed reviews and doesn't seem to be easily available at the moment.

 

[Mono]

Most camera traps can operate in timelapse mode as can GoPros. Depending on the shot frequency you may need to hook them up to an external power supply.

 

[Dave Williams]

I have an 8 year old Olympus TG-4 which you can pick up for under £300 and it has an incredible array of features for the money including time lapse ( interval shooting).
There's one on eBay for £50. The TG-6 can be bought for £300 but I don't have the specs on that to compare. The TG-4 will take up to 299 frames in time lapse.
Found a video to illustrate

 

[S_Man]

For this price you should find a 2nd hand Canon DSLR with a lens, and install Magic Lantern firmware... check their website to see which models are supported but last time I checked with my 7D the battery was drained in a few hours with my version of ML (that was many years ago!), maybe things have changed, or other camera models do last longer, or you might use a power supply, and get 1-2 days? You should find the answer with some basic search...

If you are not a nerd, the easiest way would be a trail camera/camera trap, as mentioned in the 2nd post... under 100 euros/£, weatherproof! Not the same image quality as a real camera of course, but although IR flash at night will drain more juice, you should get thousands of pictures with a set of batteries...

 

[Dave Williams]

It might help if we knew what you intend to photograph and why. If it's to check out what creatures visit over a period of time then a trail camera is probably the best way to go. If it's to record the tide coming in and out or a flower opening then you need something different, a camera with a suitable lens .

 

[Captain_of_Crunch]

Thank you for the replies. Sorry, should have added that the reason I am looking for the camera is to capture a timelapse of my garden rather than wildlife. I had so far only searched for dedicated timelapse cameras and hadn't considered a cheap compact camera, so that is a good suggestion, thanks.

Would the TG-4 have enough battery life for 12 hours timelapse?

 

[Dave Williams]

Would the TG-4 have enough battery life for 12 hours timelapse?

You would be taking only 299 shots which is one every 2.4 minutes. That shouldn't present a problem, they hold the battery power very well. They are waterproof too so no need to worry about the weather and you can even time lapse under water ! Roughly how big an area do you want to cover? I'll dig mine out and take an example shot if you like.

 

[Captain_of_Crunch]

That is good to know, thanks. It is quite a wide panoramic view but I wouldn't mind if it doesn't capture it all. Yes, an example would be good to see, thanks.

 

[Dave Williams]

Although the video I posted states you can take 299 shots I can't see any way of extending it beyond 99 so that might be an issue , there again one every 7 minutes might suffice your needs.
The first shot is wide open, the second using the optical zoom. You can cover a fairly wide area.

 

[Mono]

299 shots is about 10secs of video. I would reiterate the GoPro option, they will run in time-lapse mode until the card is full and will auto-stitch the images into a video. There are a host of apps available that will use a phone in time-lapse.

 

[Dave Williams]

Lots of possibilities, lots of different advantages/disadvantages to the methods suggested.
Check out the prices too!