4,6,8 hour on time with "A" series Powershots for Time Lapse

[Hillbille]

I have been using (and learning to use) Canon Powershot "A" series cameras with CDHK for time lapse photography.

I am still learning. The photography is easy and the software to turn the stills into a video is easy too. What was harder for me was getting past the hour to hour and a half battery time (2 AA's in most but 4 AA's in others) for the cameras. THAT time was with everything turned off that possibly could be turned off or down to save energy!! LOL!! So what I would do is to just service the camera as quickly as possible - stopping the shooting sequence to change batteries as quickly as I could and then attempting to replace the camera EXACTLY where it was in the line and angle it was prior to the interruption.

When I wanted to do some TL over a longer period of time - say 4 to 8 hours this got old really quickly!! LOL!! If I did it right and watched the clock and replaced the batteries every hour on the hour - it was a PITA - not to mention the cost mounted pretty quickly! (Using batteries other than name brand netted VERY terrible results - and NAME brand Coppertops or Bunny's got very expensive very quickly! LOL!!)

So my solution was to look into a way to power the camera(s) for extended periods of time within reasonable limits.

I did some investigation and the 2 AA cell camera's need only 3v (1.5 + 1.5 = 3.0v) so that was the camera input voltage. Output - well I wanted to be able to use a common every day easily available portable power source - say a 12v battery. Can be purchased almost anywhere and will provide almost unlimited power to a small camera needing only 3v!! Now all I needed was a way to get the 12v (in actuality a lot of car batteries put out 14+ volts) down to a usable 3v for the camera. I am an RC airplane flyer as well as a amateur photographer (of model airplanes mostly!! LOL!!) and the aircraft I fly use electric power - so I have some insight into what is needed. The batteries I use for the aircraft are 3 cell lipo. Lithium polymer batteries (abbreviated LiPo) are rechargeable (secondary cell) batteries. LiPo batteries are usually composed of several identical secondary cells in parallel to increase the discharge current capability. The majority of the ones I have are 3 cell batteries with a total output voltage of 12.6 volts.

I normally had the means to power my remote control systems with these batteries using a circuit that would drop the usable voltage from 12.6 vo down to 5 or 6 volts. Not low enough for what I need for the cameras. But at least I had an idea of what to look for and what it might cost.
I found what I needed and acquired a couple of them. What it is - is - a 3.3v switching (cooler) 3A regulator that reduces voltage FROM 6-23v down to 3.3v and any amperage to 3A. So you connect it to ANY 6v to 23v power source (DC voltage!) and you get 3.3v and 3A out! Perfect for any of the "A" powershot series that utilize 2 AA cells for 3 volts. Now what I needed was a connector to the INPUT power of the camera. I am using (currently) the Canon A495 and it's connector is not the mini USB but a power plug connector - an not a common one either!! Took me a while to discover that a power chord from a NOKIA charger (cell phone - cheap on e-bay at $1.98 with free shipping) FIT the A495 plug. Cut off the USB end and soldered the two wires (red and black) to the UBEC voltage regulator. Actually I soldered some simple disconnects onto the wires so that I could easily move the UBEC from system to system if I wanted.

When finished I tried it out.

Worked like a charm.

I wanted to make it even easier for myself so I soldered up somme of the connectors I use on my model aircraft to allow me to use the 12.6v batteries from the planes on the camera system - since I already have them and they are MUCH smaller and easier to carry than a car battery.

Worked.

A 1300 Mah LiPo will give me about 3 hours of shutter action on the A495 - WITHOUT flash. If I use the flash I cannot set the CDHK to actuate the shutter quicker than 45 seconds as it takes about 30 to "charge" the circuit! But without flash I get a shot as low as every 5 seconds. 4MB card nets me a little over 3000 shots at low res and about 1600 on high res. I like shooting a photo about every 10 seconds for what I do - or about 300 shots per hour without flash in sunny daylight this gets me about 6 hours. I use a little larger battery or gang up two smaller ones and get that easily with this system.

LONG POST!!

Oh yes - the camera has NO batteries in it at all using this system. All power is external.

Hillbille

[the jimmy]

Okay so let's see some results, post your time lapse!

[StaticMedia]

Cool mod, I have an old 7.1mp SD1000 I've been collecting time-lapse video from for ages. I like these because they will fit anywhere. Great for candid time-lapse. I have not done any super long time-lapse, but have heard of this type of mod. I just bought a GoPro Hero2 which has some cool time-lapse increments up to 60 mins which is neat. I havent tested the T.l. yet but I already love that cam. Keep us posted on how it does!

[Hillbille]

Never posted any of the videos before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC_x-...layer_embedded

I'll see if that works.

These are VERY odd TL's as they are made at a Dry Lake bed of the people flying model aircraft - so there isn't a lot to see except them going out TO fly and returning FROM flying. The planes move out of frame too fast for these photos and are way too far away - so I try to capture as much of my friends as I can.

Notice in the video how LONG the shadows are when it starts - and how SHORT they become toward the end. Morning start and mid afternoon ending. Say about 65 degrees at start and about 100 at the end.

Hillbille

[Hillbille]

Here is another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXxNs...layer_embedded

Yes that IS a SBC Sheriff's deputy. The dry lake is private property - we (as a club) have written permission to use the land for model aircraft flying. Besides he's a flyer too!! LOL!!

Hillbille

[Hillbille]

There is a small part of the "parts" listed and shown in the first photograph that is essential to the set up. It is a small connector that plugs into the ESC lead BEFORE the battery and is a "Y" for the power. What it does is allow me to plug in a "fresh" battery after a couple of hours BEFORE I remove the old battery. This allows continuous power to the camera - uninterrupted so to speak so that it will keep shooting.

Hillbille

[Hillbille]

Originally Posted by StaticMedia

Cool mod, I have an old 7.1mp SD1000 I've been collecting time-lapse video from for ages. I like these because they will fit anywhere. Great for candid time-lapse. I have not done any super long time-lapse, but have heard of this type of mod. I just bought a GoPro Hero2 which has some cool time-lapse increments up to 60 mins which is neat. I havent tested the T.l. yet but I already love that cam. Keep us posted on how it does!

I have been "playing" with a new script - it allows you to start the camera and "set" days of the week to "shoot" as well as times. As an experiment - I set the camera to "shoot" photos starting at 06:45 a.m. and started it at 7:00 p.m. the night before - the one battery kept the camera "ON" all night and I swapped it out the following morning at 06:30 before the shoot started. Sure enough the script worked like a charm and the camera started shooting exactly on time and - shot until the "OFF" time at 09:45 a.m.. I had it set to shoot a photo every 10 seconds and it was nearly perfect - three hours and it shot 1070 photos. This script is a significant breakthrough as it will allow the camera to be left for indefinite periods (as long as a power source is available) and the camera WILL shoot time periods on various days!! I love it!

Hillbille

[Hillbille]

Originally Posted by StaticMedia

Cool mod, I have an old 7.1mp SD1000 I've been collecting time-lapse video from for ages. I like these because they will fit anywhere. Great for candid time-lapse. I have not done any super long time-lapse, but have heard of this type of mod. I just bought a GoPro Hero2 which has some cool time-lapse increments up to 60 mins which is neat. I havent tested the T.l. yet but I already love that cam. Keep us posted on how it does!

I started out using the "S" series - the low end ones S200 and S230 which took great photographs but the resolution wasn't there. I HATED the batteries. I soon gravitated to the SDXXX series due to their size - just as you said they are very compact. Still really dislike their batteries. (If I ever figure out a way to power them through the mini USB connector - THEN - I might start using them again.

I currently use ONLY the "A" series of Canon cameras for my time lapses. They are easily powered through the adapter port plug and I (as seen in the photos) can give them enough power for pretty extended sessions. Makes them all the more attractive for me. If you want a TL over a period lasting MORE than an hour - you better have an external power supply of some type and have all of the power saving features activated (or DE activated as the case may be!! LOL!).

Hillbille