Timelapse Project by Sergey Firsov

The Timelapse Project is the open source hardware and software project which is made to create dynamic time-lapse videos.

It allows you to specify the sequence of commands. For example: rotate a camera to 30 degrees clockwise, then stay at that position for 10 minutes, then rotate a camera to 90 degrees counter clockwise. This sequence can be of arbitrary length. This is the example of timelapse which has been made by using this device.

Using this instructions you should be able to make the device yourself. If after reading the instructions something remains unclear please ask, I will be happy to answer or correct these instructions.

Basically all you need to do to create a hardware part of the device is to connect pins using wires.

In the WeMos board you will find a number of pins. Most of the pins are programmable and have a positive polarity. These are the pins which are used in the project:

• D7. - IR LED for controlling the camera.
• D1. - The LED which indicates that the wifi communication is established between the device and the wifi point.
• D6. - The LED which indicates that the power is on and the software is working.
• D2, D4, D3, D5. - Pins to control the stepper motor. This pins should be connected to the stepper motor driver board.

1. To be able to operate cameras of different manufacturers you need to pick your manufacturer in the drop down list.
2. Choose between the normal mode and the bulb mode. The normal mode is when the shutter speed settings is specifyed in the camera. Bulb mode is when the external device tells the camera when to close the shutter. Use the bulb mode if you need a long exposure. Usually 1 second or more. To use the bulb mode you should activate it in your camera. The bulb mode in my camera activates when I'm increasing the exposure to the maximum value. Always switch your camera to the manual mode when shooting timelapses.
3. The shooting rate is the delay between each shot. The minimal posible value depends on your camera. If the value will be too small your camera will not be able to shoot at that rate.
4. The shutter open time is the exposure time. It is using only in the bulb mode. Keep in mind that a camera might make photos much slower when the exposure is high. So usually you would want to make this value much smaller then the shooting rate value.
5. Then you have Add stay and Add move. By pressing these buttons you are specifying the sequence of commands which your device will be making.
6. In the Stay iteration you are specifying how long the device will be staying without rotation while shooting at the same time.
7. In the Move iteration you are specifying the rotation direction, the rotation angle and how many steps the stepper motor will be making before taking each picture.
8. The Go! button sends your commands to the device and initiates shooting. After that the device will not respond to you commands till the job will be finished. That is made to make sure there will be no time deviations between shots caused by the client-server communication. If you want to interrupt the shooting simply unplug the power supply.
9. After you press Go! button the IR LED which is intended to control you camera should start blinking. You can see it blinking using the camera built in your phone. Look through the phone camera at the IR LED. Unlike other LEDs IR LEDs usually have a very focused and narrow beam so you should look directly in front of it.

To make the casing you can use any rigid box with the sufficient weight. The heavier it is the more sturdy it will stay.

For the first version I made my casing from the 12 mm plywood and used 4 bolts as the adjustable stand. In the future I'm going to make a 3D printed case and share the model for printing here.

If you don't mind carrying a tripod then probably it would be a good idea to make a tripod mount at the bottom instead of the stand. It will definitely give you more control.

To attach the ball head I used the metal epoxy putty. It's a bi-component soft substance which hardens if the components are mixed together. This is not the most professional way of joining metal parts but it's handy for quick prototyping.