Advice needed: auto single frame capture?

MatskiMonk

MatskiMonk

17,135
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
So, I'm planning a road trip next year, one of the things I would like to do is capture the entire journey on camera, it will take approx 18 days of driving, so I'm thinking about maybe capturing 1 or 2 frames per minute. 2 fpm and 6 hours driving a day gives 120 frames per hour, or 720 a day. 18 days worth of footage at 25fps would give me the whole trip in less then ten minutes which is kind of what I'm after. My other kit will probably include a video camera a point and shoot compact and my EOS 60D, along with my iPhone and a laptop.

I would want to mount the camera in the windscreen and just leave it going all day. Very little input to its operation is desirable.

So, can anybody suggest what I should be buying to achieve this?
 
Looks like AutoShutter will let you go 30 seconds between shots for your iPhone.

For your DSLR, I have a intervalometer that would work. Edit: I used it to shoot this.

Regardless of which you go with, you'll need a car charger.
 
I'm afraid that frame rate is going to result in a very disjointed movie. Time lapse of things moving against a fixed POV works, and time lapse of the POV moving through fixed surroundings also works, but you're going to have traffic, environment, everything changing constantly, and it will lose continuity. Instead of being a time lapse, it will be a set of disjointed frames, I'm afraid. Think of grabbing a box of random images and making a "movie" out of them.

Experiment first with different capture rates and see how it goes, rather than just going into it and seeing what comes out the other side of the 2-1/2 weeks.
 
Well, I think I might use the App TB mentioned to get an idea first, I'm afraid what Wfooshee says will be true.

The other option is filming the whole thing live, then shortening it afterwards, but this will take up ALOT of space!

Edit: I need it to be simple too, I'll be driving and navigating, as well as looking for shots to take with my DSLR and places to park to take those shots, the iPhone I was going to use mostly for Check in's since it will look awesome on the map when it's done.

Video camera may be used for a "video diary", since last time I did this trip I regretted having not kept better records of the amazing time we had. This time I'm going solo, and without something to talk to I may loose my mind....!
 
I would agree that having something in the frame that provides continuity would be important. Hood of the car, dash, etc will be important to have in the frame. Having a mount setup so your point of reference that is providing the continuity is the same on every shot.

I did something similar except it was with Mini-DV format. It used a lot of tape to get it done, but would agree that a single shot at fixed intervals would produce the effect. Certainly test it out before you go on your trip! :)
 
Well the free iPhone version of AutoShutter seems to only be a single shot timer... so I tried with app called LapseIt. So far the best results were at 1 frame per 5 seconds, replayed at 20 fps, although I think I can take that to 1 frame per 10 seconds.

Problem is, I can't really use my phone to do this on the trip, unless I get a second phone just for this.

Does anyone know of any compacts with such a feature?

Edit: Seems the Ricoh CX-6 can do it, calls it interval shooting... well, it's a starting point.
 
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