DIY time lapse intervalometer saves dough, improves creativity

We know you've had plenty of time to recreate that shutter release hack, and if you found yourself impressed with the results, you're bound to adore this one. Eagleapex has struck again with yet another swank camera mod, this time giving DSLR owners an easy (and affordable) method for handling time lapse photography. Granted, this creation isn't the simplest to build, and there's still a few notable limitations that keep it from supreme greatness -- namely the inaccurate interval setting and the occasionally problematic short output pulse -- but neither of those quirks are ones that pros can't remedy when concocting their own. Check out a video of the results after the jump, and don't ever say that watching ice melt is a bore.

[wolfwill23 @ Feb 10th 2008 2:16PM]

I am a filmmaker/photographer and have solved the problem of Canon not making their TC-80N3 timer available for the Rebel cameras. Check out rebeltimelapse.com and check out my hack.

Thanks.

[KevlarCondom @ Dec 31st 2007 11:55PM]

I have used the Nikon D2xs for almost two years now to do this same thing (built in intervalometer), but to bring high res time lapse down to the mass market is really neat. Both Canon and Nikon make intervalometers that plug into most DSLRs but they are about $150-200.

[John @ Jan 1st 2008 12:00PM]

did this ever tell how to connect it to the camera?

[Jeff P. @ Jan 1st 2008 12:11PM]

You can pick up a Chinese knock-off of the Canon timer controller for about $40 on eBay. I have no idea how well they work but I might just take the plunge. I hate to spend $130 on something I might only use once or twice.

[ralphg @ Jan 1st 2008 12:31PM]

The primary reason that I still hang onto my 9-year-old Epson PC-800 digital camera is that it does timelapse photography -- from one picture veery 10 seconds to once a day -- up to the capacity of the memory card.

Unfortunately, the largest memory card it handles is 96MB (128MB makes it crash), but I can still get over a thousand photos at 640x480 resolution -- sufficient resolution for creating timelapste movies.

Many Canon cameras can do timelapse, but are limited to taking just 100 photos at a time -- a curious limitation.

[RyanTV @ Jan 1st 2008 4:51PM]

My D200 does this natively.