Here’s another article in the series of photography related DIY projects using the Raspberry Pi single board computer. This time it’s a Time Lapse rail.

In this case, I think it’s OK to start with the results, so here’s a video of a few time-lapse sequence that I’ve put together over the last few weeks. Make sure you play it in full screen, and High Definition if possible! 🙂

Backgroud Music by http://RoyaltyFreeKings.com

So, now that you’ve seen what it can do, here’s how it was done… Oh, by the way, there’s a lot of pictures, so to save load time I’ve split the post across a few pages.

Page 1 – The plan and some construction shots and info

Page 2 – More Construction

Page 3 – The Circuits, the Code, and a video fo the rig in action

Update

Be sure to check out my updated version of the controller, which includes a touch screen interface!

The Plan

With all the talk about time lapse rails, I though I’d have a go at building one. Especially since the

cost of the commercial solutions were beyond my budget for something I’d probably only do from time-to-time. But now that I’ve got into it, I must admit I’m quite hooked on it! I actually started this before all the other projects, and I’d completed it some months ago, but I hadn’t gathered enough time-lapse footage to demonstrate it’s use properly. I now have a couple of minutes of decent footage, so here goes. Enjoy.

(Standard disclaimer applies, batteries are a fire hazard, wiring them up incorrectly can cause a fire, burning, etc., not to mention possible damage to equipment. Do so at your own risk, etc).

Here’s an image of the Canon 5D MkII on the DIY time lapse dolly, fully assembled, and ready to go.

The Construction

Here’s the finished rail in full.

It can also take a tripod on each end, so you can do rising panning shots. I prefer the low level, wide angle pans, though. The tripod attachments are taken from a pair of salvaged hotshoe tripod mounts, normally used for mounting a flashgun to a tripod. I took off the hotshot part, and bolted the remainder onto the metal plates at ends of the tail. This gives me the ability to put one or two tripods under the rail for elevated pans.

The construction was definitely the hardest part. Over the course of about 3 months, I’d do a bit, think about the next bit, do some more, etc. The legs were the last piece, as dragging along old buckets on which to prop the rail didn’t look cool AT ALL! I picked up the legs (some kind of wall hangers) at a local hardware store for €1 for a set of 2!

Here’s a close up of the dolly, with the tripod head. It’s attached with some 1/4″ threaded bar and a nut.

The Raspberry Pi in it’s clear acrylic case. It’s powered from a 8 x AA battery pack underneath the dolly, run through the 12v-5v DC-DC converter. The same battery pack drives the motor as well as powering the Raspberry Pi. For the power connector, I used a Micro-USB connector I salvaged off the same car charger from which I got the DC-DC converter.

Another view of the Raspberry Pi on the dolly, this time with a Canon 5D Mark II. The camera is mounted on the head of an old Slik tripod which was too light for normal use, so I removed the head and made up a 1/4″ bolt to attach it to the dolly plate. This allows me to position the camera angle at any angle, and is especially important for the rising/falling pans. It’s important to keep the camera horizontal where there’s a horizon in view.

A low angle shot, showing the skate bearings on the rail.



Page 1 – The plan and some construction shots and info

Page 2 – More Construction

Page 3 – The Circuits, the Code, plus a video of the rig in action





