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/es...
Links to the parts (affiliate links):
ESP32 Cam ($5-8):
aliexpress.bit...
ESP32-Cam Programmer:
link.bitluni.n...
My main camera and lens I used for the good ones (4k 60fps):
amazon.bitluni...
plz share :-)
Check out my Tindie store to get some of my creations:
www.tindie.com...
Consider supporting my lab for some extras and frequent updates:
github.com/spo...
/ bitluni
paypal.me/bitluni
Twitter: @bitluni
reddit: u/bitluni
#electronics #diy #maker
Пікірлер: 268
"I like to do timelapses from time to time" that's a good one
when the Camera is cheaper than the microSD card xD
Time lapse cameras won't get much cheaper than that. Great for risky applications, where camera might get damaged, stolen or lost. Awesome!
@jasonlisonbee
4 жыл бұрын
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
2 жыл бұрын
@@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
4 ай бұрын
@@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
Haha, I like the password! 2:50
@nimaamini9038
4 жыл бұрын
Haha 😂 didn't notice!
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
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.
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
4 жыл бұрын
with a screen that small and only one button, why not just use the esp as a wifi station and use the web interface?
Short answer: yes it can be used. Any camera can be used for time-lapse
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.
thats a incredible project super well done, ill build one by myself in a minute
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
4 жыл бұрын
Ditto.
@Svinogalya
4 жыл бұрын
@@leef_me8112 Dildo.
@bardenegri21
4 жыл бұрын
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.
Awesome! I need that for all my greenhouse plants. Detecting pest and rot would be a great next step.
@kissingfrogs
4 жыл бұрын
And with a bit of AI thrown in detect and destroy pests.
Thank you bitluni for the two USB-serial boards. They are excellent!
A very nice and cool project. Although cheap, quick and dirty a rather remarkable result. Thnxs for sharing.
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.
Those are some pretty awesome time lapses. I'm surprised this hasn't shown up on Hackaday yet.
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.
Glue a lens salvaged from a CD/DVD player for macro.
@listerdave1240
4 жыл бұрын
Also, the lens can actually be focused manually. It has a screw thread but it is kept in place with a small blob of glue. It can be forced a little to break the glue bond and can then be focused even for a distance of just a few mm. If the lens is too loose after breaking the glue you may need to put a new blob of glue, preferably a weak glue that can easily be broken if you want to refocus.
@Dnxl03
4 жыл бұрын
I thought it was a laser
@sriyantra1939
4 жыл бұрын
Pl explain thru video.
@jasonlisonbee
4 жыл бұрын
@@sriyantra1939 The lens focuses the laser. Possibly more accurately, the pickup's view of a reflection of the laser. Seperate sub component.
@nkronert
3 жыл бұрын
To make the camera more near-sighted, you can also by a EUR 2 pair of reading glasses and fix one glass in front of the camera.
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.
Came here for a project... Didn't expect to find a great new channel. Thx for the video
What a password!!! Great!
Roberto Prado I can't record the photos on the SD. When I trigger timelapse, the folder is created, but the files in the photos are not saved. I use the ESP32 2.0.0 card version. Can you help me?
Hi Luni your projects are just awesome
Very nice timelapses, so beautiful
How did you power these?
I've also had the ESP32Cam here for a while. Which SD card would you recommend? I've already destroyed some
Hello thank you for this video could you tell me what code to add to set the time with the ntp server with wifi, because the date and time displayed on the micro sd are not correct (January 1, 1980) THANKS
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.
GRatulation zu den 100k !!!!
just awesome stuff for artist, great project as usual man, thumbs up!!! :-)
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 .
Wow you live in a beautiful area!
how about a little help file explaining what all the abbreviation stand for and their meaning in the ov2640 settings?
Why did you write the sketch in so many different little files. Wouldn't it work just as well with all the parts in one sketch?
This is my new favorite channel. Cheers
What power source did you used for the timelapses?
looks great for a $6 addon, great work.
Hello :) I have make your version of timelapse camer, but i have there a little problem. When i start timelaps, esp create folder in sd cart but doesnt save any photos. After creating folder , esp its rebooting and in next start creat next folder without photos. What can i do with that?
@patrykpiro5698
3 жыл бұрын
So i have found resolt for it. Just change esp32 version from 2.0.1 to 1.0.4 and all will works.
Ok, you convinced me. I'm ordering one today!
@adlerweb
4 жыл бұрын
Huh? You can order items without taking 10 or more? ;)
@pileofstuff
4 жыл бұрын
@@adlerweb My first order is one. Who knows how many will be in my second order...
Bitluni ftw... You live in a beautiful place. Nice tomatoes.
Wow that are some nice shots
hi bitluni, a very nice project, but... in your last version, the jpeg save doesn't work. the cam creates a directory after the other at ssd card, but does not store photos in it... what could be the reason? the web server works fine... best regards Matthias
@matthiasgreiner-petter6069
Жыл бұрын
ESP32 1.04 instead of 2.06 is the solution... Matthias
Isn't the LED supposed to act as drive activity light hence why it flashes when you use the sd card?
@Enderkruemel
4 жыл бұрын
No its a Flash LED Not a small Indikator LED.
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.
Thank you for your time and effort in teaching us about this. Awesome!!
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
3 жыл бұрын
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.
genial Chef !!!!
Is it possible to use a addition micro lens to have good focus in close range ?
can we make this timelapse camera project to send data instead of saving on sd card permanently like let say after some time transfer timelapse folder data to some server or back to my pc so that we do not have to physically access the sd card again and again? my use case is to monitor birds ( bird watching ) so i dont want to disturb them by going close to their nest however placing a esp32 module is very stealthy and they do not get scared of it .
Every time you use that camera are need a wifi Internet? I hope you respond 🥰 i planning to make my own project like this.
@HaxR3
3 жыл бұрын
You need a wifi access point to connect, but not internet. You connect to wifi just for controlling them, it's an intRAnet, just the devices connected to the wifi. You can use an ESP32 as a wifi access point, but very slow so video preview would be impossible.
How do you make time-lapses function in a web server? I still don't get it. It only has the " get still " and "start streaming" button. How to add it.
What about recording 10 hours of sound??
Hello,sir. could the ESP32 support camera and audio codec/or MEMS microphone at the same time?
@noweare1
4 жыл бұрын
I think they use the same I2S interface so I don't think so.
Great idea! I want to do something similar for my vegetable garden. What power source do you use for the unit?
Can you make a project by connecting a usb webcam to the esp32 and send the livestream over wifi to the pc
last time i checked wemos mini was kind of the best... but i never knew esp only had a cam version... this is nice
Muss man das am Computer betreiben oder kann man einfach zb eine powerbank anschließen?
it would be nice to know how you got the time-lapse bottom to show up so we all can use it
Looks better than the 35 Euro Raspberry Pi camera. I'm in!
I uploaded the code albeit it does not store images in the SD card. Would you please give me some advice? Thanks in advance.
Very nice video, thank you!
Great video and instruction
just wondering why you did not implement easy to change wifi ssid and password without recompile the sketch again. and one more thing is append jpeg frame-by-frame without the need of external pc.
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 ?
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?
Congrats on 100k Subs! Looks pretty good at 1/2 meter IMO.
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.
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 🇧🇪
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.
Wow that's awesome are you from austria?
Very nice project. I'll do this :D thanks
Would it be possible to modify the code to use a better quality sensor? Not more megapixels, but maybe just better color reproduction etc. Or increase the size of the psram to fit better quality?
Hm, it does not work for me. No pictures are stored on the card. I tried different ones, startet everything several times but no data is stored. The Webinterface is working fine. I get the following message: E (1555) sdmmc_sd: sdmmc_check_scr: send_scr returned 0xffffffff Card Mount Failed Any hints? Thx. Edit/ Sehe gerade du kommst auch aus Darmstadt ... Beste Grüße.
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.
have run quite a few progs on these cams, but for some reason this code example does not save a pic..it just resets the board. switching to a 5V power bank vs the computer usb cable with no change It simply keeps resetting the board . I did notice you don't include the soc.h libs to deal with brownouts but i am not getting an error code along those lines. Otherwise, this is a nicely presented project.
Please make a webcam version or just resolder a better camera with Better sensor is that possible?
I find that after 6 hours of being on the camera will shut down. A reboot by unplugging and plugging back in the power will resolve the issue. Do I have a faulty camera or do I need to put a small fan near the ESP32. Any ideas are appreciated.
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
2 жыл бұрын
are you 70 yet
@tinkmarshino
2 жыл бұрын
@@clonkex yup.. and learning new tricks is harder then it used to be... Sheesh! who knew...
how about some project with your garden? I think you can make it fun. Very nice video, thanks
How to view ESP32 CAM video globally or from anywhere on world with network connection? Are there any ways to host on global IP?
Congrats for 💯 k Subs :)
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?
that is great thanks,but sounds to complicated for me to do. is there a simple plug and play?
Cool. I like that this cam actually gets more developed with. Atm the ammount of sketches for noobs like me is very limited.
Is it possible to stream a video and store a video in the sd card simultaneously?
Hi I finally got it working but I have a new problem, if the esp32cam gets disconnected it won't reconnect to the router/hotspot/network automatically and I have to reach the esp32cam and restart it by hand. What if I want to fix it in some place high? Do I really need to restart it every time? Can't it just get reconnected to the network like any other normal device? And btw can I add multiple network credentials to esp32cam code so if one is not in range it would connect to the other ones.
@bitluni Could you try to make like a super cheap micro action cam? Doesn't matter the video quality as much as cost. Just to be relax if it gets crashed or something 😅
sir, can we access that taken picture by remote location. I mean connecting wifi and access different location (like IP cam)
@gytax01
4 жыл бұрын
I'm interested too!
@noweare1
4 жыл бұрын
@@gytax01 You need an access point which is hardware that connects to the internet. So out there there is no way. Just have to save to the SD card.
Hi! How to set default resolution (e.g. 800x600) for video at the start of ESP32-CAM ?
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.
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
Have been looking for a DIY project showing how to salvage a recent Samsug Galaxy or IPhone camera and run it on a Raspberry Pi. Has anyone seen such a video?
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
6 ай бұрын
can you state which options to turn on from the interface for better timelapse recording?
Dear bitluni, The link in the discription of the esp32 cam is working but they ain't selling it via that link anymore.
hi friend, thanks for the codes, but i cant install the libs, why? i tried all metods
Yeah, it's a 2MB camera but it looks like the biggest issue is optics. Maybe design an adapter for trying camera lens?
I'm wondering if therebis a way just to get video from the esp32 without having all them controls.
You could try initializing the SD card in 1 bit mode, so the flash pin is not used for communication with the SD Card. This way the data rate is slower. But that's mainly a problem when running on battery. And having an LED blinking all the time isn't exactly power saving either. :D You can initialize the SD card in 1 bit mode with: SD_MMC.begin("/sdcard", true); Not sure if the library supports the 4 bit protocol, I believe that would also not interfere with the LED and would be faster. But anyway, you could try to see if you can get away with the 1 bit mode or if the speed is too slow. Or desolder the LED... :D
nice time lapses
Very nice and clear video, Bitluni! I got mine working! Now, does anyone know where to find a description of all the parameters of the ESP32‑CAM? I would like to know how to set them programmatically, not just with the web interface. What do all those abbreviations stand for? What values can the parameters take?
@bitluni
4 жыл бұрын
I didn't find specifics. Some values act strange. Abbreviations are probably A for auto, E for exposure, WB white balance, S for shutter. You most probably will find more in the datasheet of the camera