Shooting Timelapse Video in Gardens & Homes
How Can One Record the Blooming of Flowers or Growth of Plants?
May 3, 2009
For folks who can’t afford a $1,000 or more for a Nikon D300 or similar-priced digital camera, the new Brinno GardenWatch Cam may suffice for at least some of their timelapse videos. It is now marketed by Hammacher and Schlemmer for $160.
Basically, the Brinno video camera is designed to visually document the life cycles of flowers and other garden plants, condensing perhaps weeks or months of life into a few digital minutes. The camera is mounted on stakes in the garden, preferably where it cannot be seen and stolen. The bright green color helps to camouflage it in the garden.
It operates on four AA batteries and is weather resistant.
Record Growth of a Flower
The Brinno can be set to record such events as:the growth of a flower or plant as close as 18 inches away. Or it can be set to capture a larger section of the garden.
It can photograph changing events at one of six preset intervals, ranging from every five seconds to every 24 hours.
The camera is set to automatically shut down at night, when light is not sufficient for shooting. It comes with two gigabytes of removable storage, enough to store up to 1800 pictures over several days, weeks or months. With some adjustments the Brinno can be used to record other activities:
Digital Cameras Have Reduced Cost
The Brinno, of course, is not the only camera that can be used to produce timelapse videos. In the past, expensive film cameras were needed for the projects, but digital cameras have brought the cost down considerably. Cameras such as the Nikon D300 and Canon digital cameras produce high quality photos.
Firms like Granite Bay advertise that their timelapse software can produce high definition videos in 1280x720 or 1980x1080 wide-screen format. With that type software and digital cameras, even amateurs can produce high quality timelapse videos of such events as.
- Changing sunsets
- Clouds moving across the sky
- Construction projects
- Activities in the home
- A chess game
- A caterpillar turning into a butterfly
- A baseball, football or basketball game
- Traffic on a busy street or intersection
YouTube has numerous examples of such videos. Of course, videos such as these may mean tying up the camera on one project for long periods of time.
Rental Timelapse Cameras Also Available
Timelapse cameras can also be rented for special commercial projects. TimelapseVideos.Net, for instance leases and remotely monitors EZHD cameras on a $1595 per week basis and provides copies of the video shot by the camera.
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