WARNING
=======

Taking thousands of images in a timelapse with your DSLR camera will wear out
the shutter mechanics of your camera, which is expensive as all hell to
replace! Use at your own discretion.


gphotolapser
============

This is a project to shoot long (24h+) nature timelapses using DSLR cameras
controlled over USB using gphoto2. Features that this codebase provides
include:

 - downloads the images after taking them
 - camera exposure, ISO speed and aperture based on scene brightness
 - uses gphoto2, so it should be easily portable to different cameras


Usage
-----

The simplest way to quickly run this software in this repository is by
executing the trigger.py file. Overview of options is displayed using the
command:

	gphotolapser/trigger.py --help

To get a reference configuration file 'timelapse.conf', use the flag -t:

	gphotolapser/trigger.py -t


Connect your DSLR camera with USB and start the trigger. The first captured
image should be taken in 5 seconds and downloaded to the working directory
shortly.


Practical Setup for Nature Photography
======================================

Note that the setup to shoot long timelapses in remote locations can get heavy
as you need to provide power for your equipment.

To get you started, here's the outline of one simple setup:

 - get a Raspberry Pi, preferrably a Zero
 - acquire a rather capacious USB battery bank (20Ah)
 - make sure your camera has some kind of a lasting power solution like a
   battery grip
 - figure out some kind of heating or other solution to inhibit water from
   condensing on your camera's lens
 - configure the RPi to automatically connect to your phone's Wi-Fi hotspot,
   with a static IP if possible (some phones also show the IP-s of connected
   devices)
 - make sure you can login with SSH over your phone's Wi-Fi, important for
   debugging (looking at the images as they come in and so forth)
 - set up this software on your RPi, preferrably with an udev rule that starts
   it when camera is connected

Finally, in the nature the steps to activate everything should boil down to:

 - connect power to RPi
 - start up camera, set it in focus and set the focus to manual
 - connect your RPi to your camera with a USB cable, after a while the series
   should start
 - monitor the setup listening for clicking sounds, you can also fetch a latest
   image to make sure everything's OK