ESP32-Cam Time Lapse

A $6 ESP32 camera is used to record time-lapse footage. It's controlled over a web interface and stores images to an micro SD card. ffmpeg is used to convert the Jpeg images to an mp4 video. While macro photography doesn't work great due to the fixed focus, landscape photography looks good.
Project page with code and information:
bitluni.net/esp32camtimelapse
Links to the parts (affiliate links):
ESP32 Cam ($5-8):
aliexpress.bitluni.net/espCam
ESP32-Cam Programmer:
link.bitluni.net/camProg
My main camera and lens I used for the good ones (4k 60fps):
amazon.bitluni.net/gh5
plz share :-)
Check out my Tindie store to get some of my creations:
www.tindie.com/stores/bitluni
Consider supporting my lab for some extras and frequent updates:
github.com/sponsors/bitluni
/ bitluni
paypal.me/bitluni
Twitter: @bitluni
reddit: u/bitluni
#electronics #diy #maker

[@IndraKurniawan-vk2qb]

when the Camera is cheaper than the microSD card xD

[@kyrrekar]

"I like to do timelapses from time to time" that's a good one

[@Hackvlog]

Time lapse cameras won't get much cheaper than that. Great for risky applications, where camera might get damaged, stolen or lost. Awesome!

[@jasonlisonbee]

Best acceptable excuse for why all supposed photos of beings and objects which existence of is questionable are so poor quality they're useless for evidence except to show something to be mistaken was there. Also masks otherwise obvious clues of being fake. Can't wait until FHD at least is that inexpensive.

[@MaxC_1]

@@jasonlisonbee you do realise that the camera that is used for ESP32 CAM is the OV2640 which supports a video resolution of 1600x1200 which is higher than HD and less than 10% lower than Full HD

[@orange_tweleve]

​@@jasonlisonbeeyou can swap the base ov2640 to a ov5640 , it has way better image quality and higher resolution but the esp32 processing capability caps it. Plus it gets REALLY hot

[@axelkagstrom4418]

Haha, I like the password! 2:50

[@nimaamini9038]

Haha 😂 didn't notice!

[@NotSoCrazyNinja]

Timelapses are great for showing how everything is in a constant state of change. Nothing stands still. Every second, the entirety of the universe/multiverse changes so dramatically that our feeble little brains can't even comprehend it.

[@joelpearson8623]

Seems funny that I’ve been working on building a greenhouse for the past few days and I decided to take a break and play around with the esp32-cam I purchased a while ago. You’ve given me some good ideas! Thanks

[@haraldh.9354]

GRatulation zu den 100k !!!!

[@mvl3713]

This is my new favorite channel. Cheers

[@richardgreen9531]

Thank you bitluni for the two USB-serial boards. They are excellent!

[@thushararathnayake]

Hi Luni your projects are just awesome

[@LC-ue6mp]

Thank you for your time and effort in teaching us about this. Awesome!!

[@Peter_S_]

Great video! I would like to try taking 3 time lapse movies simultaneously with different exposure settings so that post processing could be used to grab the best data from each exposure and nice smooth fades can be made between exposure levels in the final file. Another approach might be to establish hard-coded exposures based on sun position rather than light readings.

[@Sysshad]

Very nice timelapses, so beautiful

[@undefinednotfound]

Short answer: yes it can be used. Any camera can be used for time-lapse

[@jayfraxtea]

Awesome! I need that for all my greenhouse plants. Detecting pest and rot would be a great next step.

[@kissingfrogs]

And with a bit of AI thrown in detect and destroy pests.

[@ashiksaleem360]

Wow that are some nice shots

[@Digithalis]

just awesome stuff for artist, great project as usual man, thumbs up!!! :-)

[@PhG1961]

A very nice and cool project. Although cheap, quick and dirty a rather remarkable result. Thnxs for sharing.

[@markopalikko6986]

Very nice video, thank you!

[@MadLabZ]

looks great for a $6 addon, great work.

[@wjhoogervorst]

Great video and instruction

[@JeremyCook]

Congrats on 100k Subs! Looks pretty good at 1/2 meter IMO.

[@asmolbean9300]

Came here for a project... Didn't expect to find a great new channel. Thx for the video

[@damianomotta1809]

thats a incredible project super well done, ill build one by myself in a minute

[@rickseiden1]

Those are some pretty awesome time lapses. I'm surprised this hasn't shown up on Hackaday yet.

[@kimfraga7957]

You save my day, tahnks

[@markusgaul8467]

perfect for 3d printing videos :D

[@youliantroyanov2941]

Bitluni ftw... You live in a beautiful place. Nice tomatoes.

[@variostutos]

Thanks!

[@KakYull]

Congrats for 💯 k Subs :)

[@Moondoggy1941]

Thanks, I was thinking about doing this, we have flower fields in the spring that causes massive traffic jams, so I wanted to place a camera at an ideal spot and receive it a month later. I guess I would need a good battery.

[@teabagNBG]

last time i checked wemos mini was kind of the best... but i never knew esp only had a cam version... this is nice

[@certified-forklifter]

thanks!

[@GuruTimCreates]

Nice informative video. Thanks

[@Yury485]

Very good! Thanks. I'm not a programmer, but I added a blinking red LED when connecting to a Wi-Fi and writing to a SD card. It would be nice to add a file with shooting parameters, date and time to the folder with images.

[@stefanhauschel4705]

genial Chef !!!!

[@Scootertuner420]

Cool. I like that this cam actually gets more developed with. Atm the ammount of sketches for noobs like me is very limited.

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

Very good

[@jimd1617]

very cool. keep the vids coming :)

[@clonkex]

Wow you live in a beautiful area!

[@xanamata5386]

nice time lapses

[@joetylerdale]

You are just soooo cool!

[@mamoundim4993]

Wow so nice

[@RichardT2112]

Time to go buy a few cameras! Cheers!!

[@Really2950]

Nice idea

[@GelectronicsTv]

Nice thats very cool

[@o0julek0o]

I am sure I'm not the only one in saying that we'd love to see your gardening projects too. Especially if you make anything electronics related.

[@user-tt7jz1tz6c]

awesome

[@ThalysonGomes]

Very nice project. I'll do this :D thanks

[@dekipet]

What a password!!! Great!

[@mandarin1257]

101k subs. Nice!

[@hellwhichnickisfree]

Looks better than the 35 Euro Raspberry Pi camera. I'm in!

[@sorer1]

I needed to take photo once per day on specific hour. I modify your modification :) Also added ftp server, so now iam able to download captured images without removing sdcard. Now is exactly what i need. Thanks.

[@Friendroid]

DS3231 rtc with SQW pin connected to p-mosfet to connect the power supply to esp32-cam power input will make your batteries last a year.

[@Fraseco]

I've also had the ESP32Cam here for a while. Which SD card would you recommend? I've already destroyed some

[@pileofstuff]

Ok, you convinced me. I'm ordering one today!

[@adlerweb]

Huh? You can order items without taking 10 or more? ;)

[@pileofstuff]

@@adlerweb My first order is one. Who knows how many will be in my second order...

[@MrSaemichlaus]

Ooooh yeaaaah!!

[@Bratzt3r]

Hi, is brilliant !!! Please tell me this, if the USB 32 is Wi-Fi enabled will you not be able to save the pictures directly to a Wi-Fi enabled computer or hard disk instead? I am not an electronics guy but have a keen interest in learning and so I ask. Thanks .

[@morganallen2272]

I wonder if these boards changed recently. I tried building a reset circuit like yours early last year and encountered the LED connected to (IIRC) IO0, causing reset to be flaky at best and I just gave up on this model. Might be time to revisit.

[@LemmyCaution66]

Excellent video. Just bumped into your video/channel and was pleasantly surprised. I will subscribe after writing my comment and will watch some more. Have a nice Sunday afternoon. Greetings from Belgium 🇧🇪

[@kareno8634]

(I Know) This was\ is Great! Love Time-Lapse - the bit of Guitar ~ and Nice Tomatoes! = ) Just wish my 'brain' could get a grip on the knowledge. Cheers!

[@doOf3r]

Some of those 'Board cameras' you can easily change the lenses by simply unscrewing them and replacing with another (Better!) Lens, even Wide-Angle/Fish-eye and mini-Zoom, easy to refocus too by screwing in/out.

[@leef_me8112]

Ditto.

[@Svinogalya]

@@leef_me8112 Dildo.

[@bardenegri21]

You can do that to these, they aren't glued in. There's a video of a guy putting a mechanical IR filter as se over it after removing the lens. Lets you fit bigger lenses like for cctv cameras.

[@gaeldesmontagnesnoires1711]

Holly FAK your editing skills are next level... gat dayuum :/

[@henryjames4065]

Great work ! But is there a way of getting this to work in server mode so that I can set it up without a router close by? I guess yes but the real question is how, maybe you could tweak the code a little ??? I'm kinda new to this and my attempts at tweaking have all failed. BTW: Mac Users you can easily use QuickTime 10.5 to join pictures to a video, works great.

[@anycatdessai]

How did you power these?

[@bourdon845]

Intéressant

[@DiyintheGhetto]

I'm wondering if therebis a way just to get video from the esp32 without having all them controls.

[@middelbh]

Hi! I made a comparable system with the same camera, but added a small 0.96” oled screen and a button to allow changing the timelapse intervals. Do you think it is possible to also use the display to change the camera settings? I can give you my code if you want...

[@cantinasongband]

with a screen that small and only one button, why not just use the esp as a wifi station and use the web interface?

[@DobermannJeff]

Muss man das am Computer betreiben oder kann man einfach zb eine powerbank anschließen?

[@technicalcrush3457]

Is it possible to stream a video and store a video in the sd card simultaneously?

[@jayachandra677]

I love how your code looks on git repos :)

[@lhb4031]

that is great thanks,but sounds to complicated for me to do. is there a simple plug and play?

[@gridarmorfix]

how about a little help file explaining what all the abbreviation stand for and their meaning in the ov2640 settings?

[@NeoAnthony]

Do you think it would be possible to create an array of these cameras to create a super-resolution image? Similar to how Panoramic Images are created.

[@AKRON-Productions]

Was the last timelapse from landscapes at 1:14 at the Sebensee in Austria?

[@2davecooke]

Great work! When I tried your code the led stayed on permanently. Also how about a mode in the code and hacker interface to put camera into deep sleep after taking a photo. Keep up good work please.

[@Arachisage]

Great idea! I want to do something similar for my vegetable garden. What power source do you use for the unit?

[@RobertMartinTheGreat]

If I purchased one of these are they completely set up, can I just plug & play

[@alexandrsollo5955]

Hi! How to set default resolution (e.g. 800x600) for video at the start of ESP32-CAM ?

[@S_O_O_C]

With a suitable power supply, a big ass SD Card, stripped down ESP (Bluetooth/Wifi/Webserver are unnecessary once you configured it) and some code tweaking this could also be used for timelapses over very long durations, as the ESP is quite power-efficient

[@statwizard]

+ 1 Subscribed!

[@aimless3827]

This camera better than any 1000$ ++ banks security camera.

[@doro516]

I have a module like that but the video transmition is pretty slow, do you know what could be the cause?

[@Gabonidaz]

how about some project with your garden? I think you can make it fun. Very nice video, thanks

[@ShrKhAan]

You could fix the focus to macro if you unscrew the lens 1 or 2mm, so you enlarge focus a little bit, does the lens rotates ?

[@Clem.E]

What power source did you used for the timelapses?

[@gotj]

The esp32 is the dogs bollocks !

[@fadiltaci2257]

Hello, I tryed to compile sketch, but i get this: "no return statement in function returning non-void [-Werror=return-type]". Do you know, how can I fix it?

[@DavidinEssexUK]

What about recording 10 hours of sound??

[@eliasfarms]

I found my ESP32-Cams to be very sensitive to me touching or moving the board while streaming in a browser with the example sketch. Some of that pertained to wifi signal strength, which seems to be an issue, but also some other strangeness going on.

[@lightdark00]

Motion detecting security camera seems a much better use for the setup. This pleb let an ad play through minimized with the sound off. Yep, not jailbroken currently.

[@mcmurdostation7134]

Wow that's awesome are you from austria?

[@Rouverius]

Yeah, it's a 2MB camera but it looks like the biggest issue is optics. Maybe design an adapter for trying camera lens?

[@JAYTEEAU]

Great work. What was the music please? Cheers, JAYTEE

[@SGThirkell]

Hello. This is great. I've followed what you did and it works. Can I ask, is there any way to stop the LED flashing as it takes a timelapse still or is this to do with the piout?

[@dcdi6925]

can you state which options to turn on from the interface for better timelapse recording?

[@niconico-cg6mp]

Excelent video , how to use esp32 cam with micropython? Thanks

[@poweredbysergey]

Interesting

[@tinkmarshino]

hummmm interesting channel you have here.. looks like I am gonna have to stick around a bit and learn some new tricks (which is kinda hard at 68.. But I never stop trying)

[@clonkex]

are you 70 yet

[@tinkmarshino]

@@clonkex yup.. and learning new tricks is harder then it used to be... Sheesh! who knew...

[@rwh777]

This works perfectly, right out of the box....but I have no idea how it actually works. Is there any way I can find out how these add-on objects work...aside from reading the cpp code?

[@PavelMy]

I would have missed that quality.

[@gkzhou7571]

Hello,sir. could the ESP32 support camera and audio codec/or MEMS microphone at the same time?

[@noweare1]

I think they use the same I2S interface so I don't think so.