DIY engineer builds Raspberry Pi backyard timelapse camera
The open-source rig pairs a Raspberry Pi 4 with a Camera Module 3 Wide, shoots 12-megapixel photos every minute and runs on power over Ethernet.
A DIY engineer posting as Atypicalworkshop has built a Raspberry Pi-based outdoor timelapse camera for backyard use, according to howtogeek.com. The project combines a Raspberry Pi 4 with a Camera Module 3 Wide and captures 12-megapixel photos every minute during the day.
The camera supports power over Ethernet, so a single cable can carry both data and power to the outdoor unit. Images are stored on an SD card before being transferred to a Mac's external archive storage.
The rig is controllable from a phone. It can also automatically delete older photos once the SD card reaches 85% full, which keeps the card from filling up during long-running timelapse sessions.
Open-source code on GitHub
The code behind the project is open source and published in a GitHub repository, so anyone with the same hardware can build and modify their own version.
Quick answers
What hardware does the Raspberry Pi timelapse camera use?
It combines a Raspberry Pi 4 with a Camera Module 3 Wide and captures 12-megapixel photos every minute during the day.
Is the project's code available?
Yes. The code is open source and available in a GitHub repository.
How does it handle storage when the SD card fills up?
It can automatically delete older photos once the SD card is 85% full.