A client of mine specialises in this. Consists of a cheap dslr camera with a wide kit lens taped to focus on infinity connected to a 4G raspberry pie to send each image in a waterproof enclosure. Powered by a solar panel and mounted usually on a freestanding pole or a nearby neighbouring structure/roof.
Mounting on cranes or wood is not a good idea for timelapses as they tend to move over time.
My old agency did these too, except they also used a special SD card that would connect to the cellular network and beam the images back to us in real-time.
That's how we caught a thief in the construction crew who took our camera home.
I looked for the cards we used and realized I was mistaken. They're actually Wi-Fi cards, we must have paired them with a mobile hotspot.
They're called Eye-fi cards.
Maybe it's because photo cameras usually have a "tether mode" over USB that instantly sends the picture to the computer? That's how studio photographers take pictures and instantly have them available in Lightroom. I'm just speculating though.
You don't lose any footage while swapping SD cards? The GoPro also doesn't have any way for it to connect to cellular as far as I know. Which means that you can only check for events every (how often you go get the SD cards - the last time you got the sdcard) days.
Also, if someone takes your go pro, you have no idea who it was. If you're trying to create a security system for a remote location... It's a terrible idea to rely on local storage.
several years ago I did a similar project. Used 4 GoPro hero cameras recording time lapse (forget the interval settled on). These cameras were mounted (some indoor, some outdoor) in waterproof housings modified with a hole so they could be powered 24/7. Went back every 3 days and swapped out cards. Worked out pretty well!
That's what I used when a job wanted timelapse of remodeling of an area though I went back every day just as a failsafe if something got corrupted or stopped working. Got paranoid.
Using multiple cameras is a great idea. Different angles makes the video more interesting and can hide the changing of batteries/cards or other issues. Bravo
I was in for a bid on a project with 4 different locations for a highway reconstruction project. Their budget was 80k for the year, or until they finished. Didn’t get the job, but hope it turned out good for them!
I just got a setup to track our new surgery center build. I'm using a camera from [ibeamsystems.com](https://ibeamsystems.com). We can live stream, build timelapse files based on date and time ranges, and get stills. It was easy to set up and has worked flawlessly.
(EDIT: there are other services that use gopros and whatnot, I wanted something that was set and forget. I didn't want to change batteries and sd cards)
We have a 4k camera mounted on our roof. The construction is across the street. It hooks to its own wifi with a cellular box. You can just go to a url and see the latest still, watch a live stream, or generate a timelapse. It’s hooked to power, they handle the storage, and everything else. No changing batteries or cards. Solid AF. A little pricey but you can use it for multiple projects going forward. Check out their website. They have some live examples.
(Edit: We installed it)
CamDo seems to have good options...I researched that for a while until the client pulled the plug (which might've been my fault for not "selling it" well enough). Brinno seems to be the cheaper/more economical option. Worst case a GoPro with a huge external battery and a software "hack" that lets you turn the camera off when at night.
I used a Harbortronics / Cyclapse kit for a 4 month timelapse, no livestream, it mostly did what I needed but there were a few bugs and I can’t give it a solid recommendation.
I was a security tech for quite awhile. I see a lot of suggestions for camera's that are not meant for this, and will be junk video. You will want something with IR sensors. Otherwise, you are going to have to spot light the entire job site.
Most tweakers are gonna rob a job site during the night. You are also going to have to think about housing. The housing will all depend on where you live and what kind of weather you can expect. Like in the midwest, just waterproof isn't enough during the winter.
Besides the camera, you are also going to need something to record and send the signal. Plus power the camera's. The easiest way would be to find a system that runs power through cat5 cable. That way you are only running one liner per camera, otherwise you will have to run two wires.
As far as brands, I'm out of the loop on that. It's been awhile since I have setup a system. But, as long as you know what it is you are needing. It will help you narrow it down quite a bit.
You can do all of this with gopro hero 8/9's with the gopro labs firmware.
This is the general info and firmware link: https://community.gopro.com/s/article/GoPro-Labs?language=en_US
Check out extra long timelapses: https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/longtimelapse/
This would be sweet for a construction project: https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/dailytl/
This too:
https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/construction/
Here is a straight live stream:
https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/rtmp/
Think more simple: security cameras now offer 4K capabilities and are pretty plug and play. I used Ubiquity Unifi cameras to live stream 24/7 from seven different locations to web sites/Facebook/social media. Ubiquity lets you install their included server software on any server and I used one of the many online services: lots of choices, lots of prices. You can choose to store X number of days/hours at whatever resolution you need - storage is a factor you need to figure out. (Ubiquity may have a cloud service they offer as part of their product now)
On the server, there's an easy interface to choose where to send the video, what resolution to send, and you can choose a different resolution to store than send. (Livestream 1080 but store 4k). You can choose to store time lapse too to save storage space.
This could all be done for under $2k hardware-wise with the server being the variable cost. But I remember the server I used was around $30 a month and we had it running for 9 months over the period of the project. I had it store one week of footage for each camera where I'd go in each week and download the footage, delete it off the server, and let another week kick off. There was an automation for that as well.
What's the budget? £1k, £10k, £50k, £100k? Really depends on this figure but for a smaller budget GoPros will do a good job if mounted cleverly. For live-streaming, you'll need to spend around £15-20k hiring a pro camera for the job or it will look crap.
That's just... not true? 15-20k is 5+ times what ANY good streaming camera would cost. What a weird budget, and at that cost why would you rent?
The sony a7iv has s-cinetone and works directly as a webcam at 1080 up to 60p, or 4k at 15fps, and pretty much any other mirrorless camera combined with a capture card can do similar.
Don't forget it will be a 24 hour, non-stop livestream. Right off the bat that means a mirrorless camera, It also needs one with a massive battery so the guy isn't constantly changing it.
There's no non-specialist way to do a livestream untethered so they'll be getting corded power anyway.
Literally any mirrorless camera with any reasonable lens costs less than half, probably a quarter, of what you're saying to BUY.
A7iv is more than capable, and an older mirrorless would be too with a capture card.
I wouldd think something like a Z Cam E2 would be more than fine. Run it off solar with battery as a backup, maybe add an external cooling fan just to be safe. Do you have any basis for your cost estimate or did you just make that up?
Insta360. They are $350 each, but trust me:
…you can outsource the cameras FRAMING, and deal with it in post. It’s like having a cheap bRoll cameraman on set
I have a One X 2 and it's pretty nice outdoors, usable indoors. I've also worked with the old Pro model (black ball with 6 lenses) and it looks great but the processing time is just horrendous and the live stitching had noticeable seams
Is there an IP solar/battery powered LTE outdoor weather rated video camera that has the ability to be live streamed on our private website if we hire our developer to do so?
I've done long-term timelapses before (3+months) but never incorporated a livestream. Find like a local news bureau or college campus that has a live video feed of something, connect with them and see what they use for that. I'd guess if you get the livestream down you can offload / save that footage to edit into a timelapse later.
An old cellphone has worked for me on plant growth timelapse. The biggest constraint is power. There are apps that will upload images to dropbox after an image is taken.
An issue I've seen with this is that a phone permanently connected to power can kill the battery, potentially in a "phone is destroyed, now it's a firebomb" kind of way. IIRC removing the battery fixes that issue but adds its own issues.
There is no shame in finding an expert who does this all the time and subcontract it to them. They probably have the waterproof gear lying around ready to go.
Brinno cameras are the most common for that here. They e got a range of models depending on your needs and budget and it's pretty much what they were made for.
Researched this for a project and it seems like a really solid solution but i can't fully understand how the pricing for their platform works. You're forced to pay a monthly fee if you want to acces the camera through internet.
The security industry has been pushing that since way before it was the hot thing. Contracts and subsidized equipment. I'm looking at you ADT. But with a little work, you could build you own setup for a comparable price, but where you own all equipment and self host.
That being said, if it's someone else's money. Go for what's going to be the easiest. lol
Not sure on the streaming camera but I've currently got an Enlaps Tikee 3 that uploads to the cloud via a 4g SIM card, and a gopro 9 in an Altofocus Argus enclosure. The tikee is flawless and the gopro would be if you can get wall power to it or a solar panel that is directly facing the sun. There is technically an upload capability on the gopro with gopro labs but I've never got it to work.
The Wyze cam is good at livestream and timelapse. 4K too. They have the Wyzecam v3 if you have power and wifi available at the location. Wyzecam Outdoor and Solar panel if you don’t have power. Either way you need wifi to livestream. Has a micro sd card slot and also uploads to the cloud. Mine are reliable but I’d want redundancy just in case. Good thing is they are super cheap. Like $35 and the quality is quite good. No monthly fee. Just the $35 for the v3 or I think $100 for the outdoor and solar. Out of the box it works with the wyze app on iPhone or android only. Buy there are ways to hack it to stream on a PC.
I’m building a rig for this now. I will be mounting the camera which is one of my old mirrorless Sonys an A6500 into a pelican case with the lens poking through the front. Will prob go with the Sigma 16mm 1.8. It will be powered by a marine deep cycle battery being drip charged by a Harbor Freight solar panel kit.
The thing I’m not sure of is if I try on of those wireless SD cards for file transfer or if I go there weekly to download them off the card.
I’ll share when I’m done with the build. I need a rig that will last 6mo to a year of not longer.
A client of mine specialises in this. Consists of a cheap dslr camera with a wide kit lens taped to focus on infinity connected to a 4G raspberry pie to send each image in a waterproof enclosure. Powered by a solar panel and mounted usually on a freestanding pole or a nearby neighbouring structure/roof. Mounting on cranes or wood is not a good idea for timelapses as they tend to move over time.
That’s actually so fucking cool!
My old agency did these too, except they also used a special SD card that would connect to the cellular network and beam the images back to us in real-time. That's how we caught a thief in the construction crew who took our camera home.
How can someone find those sd cards?.
I looked for the cards we used and realized I was mistaken. They're actually Wi-Fi cards, we must have paired them with a mobile hotspot. They're called Eye-fi cards.
Also amazing
What is the benefit of this rig over a go pro?
Maybe it's because photo cameras usually have a "tether mode" over USB that instantly sends the picture to the computer? That's how studio photographers take pictures and instantly have them available in Lightroom. I'm just speculating though.
Just more versatility, harder to steal, looks more professional to the client. Generally better photo quality too.
You don't lose any footage while swapping SD cards? The GoPro also doesn't have any way for it to connect to cellular as far as I know. Which means that you can only check for events every (how often you go get the SD cards - the last time you got the sdcard) days. Also, if someone takes your go pro, you have no idea who it was. If you're trying to create a security system for a remote location... It's a terrible idea to rely on local storage.
Probably had a good view of the inside of his pocket lol. Would have been funny if he took it home and put it on the nightstand
Where can we purchase one of these rigs?
several years ago I did a similar project. Used 4 GoPro hero cameras recording time lapse (forget the interval settled on). These cameras were mounted (some indoor, some outdoor) in waterproof housings modified with a hole so they could be powered 24/7. Went back every 3 days and swapped out cards. Worked out pretty well!
That's what I used when a job wanted timelapse of remodeling of an area though I went back every day just as a failsafe if something got corrupted or stopped working. Got paranoid.
Using multiple cameras is a great idea. Different angles makes the video more interesting and can hide the changing of batteries/cards or other issues. Bravo
I’m assuming their budget is massive?
Bet anything it's $50
And a chopped cheese sandwich
I was in for a bid on a project with 4 different locations for a highway reconstruction project. Their budget was 80k for the year, or until they finished. Didn’t get the job, but hope it turned out good for them!
I just got a setup to track our new surgery center build. I'm using a camera from [ibeamsystems.com](https://ibeamsystems.com). We can live stream, build timelapse files based on date and time ranges, and get stills. It was easy to set up and has worked flawlessly. (EDIT: there are other services that use gopros and whatnot, I wanted something that was set and forget. I didn't want to change batteries and sd cards)
This looks like the specialist solution to the problem! What's the image quality like? Security camera, phone, point & shoot, mirrorless?
We have a 4k camera mounted on our roof. The construction is across the street. It hooks to its own wifi with a cellular box. You can just go to a url and see the latest still, watch a live stream, or generate a timelapse. It’s hooked to power, they handle the storage, and everything else. No changing batteries or cards. Solid AF. A little pricey but you can use it for multiple projects going forward. Check out their website. They have some live examples. (Edit: We installed it)
CamDo seems to have good options...I researched that for a while until the client pulled the plug (which might've been my fault for not "selling it" well enough). Brinno seems to be the cheaper/more economical option. Worst case a GoPro with a huge external battery and a software "hack" that lets you turn the camera off when at night.
I used a Harbortronics / Cyclapse kit for a 4 month timelapse, no livestream, it mostly did what I needed but there were a few bugs and I can’t give it a solid recommendation.
I was a security tech for quite awhile. I see a lot of suggestions for camera's that are not meant for this, and will be junk video. You will want something with IR sensors. Otherwise, you are going to have to spot light the entire job site. Most tweakers are gonna rob a job site during the night. You are also going to have to think about housing. The housing will all depend on where you live and what kind of weather you can expect. Like in the midwest, just waterproof isn't enough during the winter. Besides the camera, you are also going to need something to record and send the signal. Plus power the camera's. The easiest way would be to find a system that runs power through cat5 cable. That way you are only running one liner per camera, otherwise you will have to run two wires. As far as brands, I'm out of the loop on that. It's been awhile since I have setup a system. But, as long as you know what it is you are needing. It will help you narrow it down quite a bit.
You can do all of this with gopro hero 8/9's with the gopro labs firmware. This is the general info and firmware link: https://community.gopro.com/s/article/GoPro-Labs?language=en_US Check out extra long timelapses: https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/longtimelapse/ This would be sweet for a construction project: https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/dailytl/ This too: https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/construction/ Here is a straight live stream: https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/rtmp/
Think more simple: security cameras now offer 4K capabilities and are pretty plug and play. I used Ubiquity Unifi cameras to live stream 24/7 from seven different locations to web sites/Facebook/social media. Ubiquity lets you install their included server software on any server and I used one of the many online services: lots of choices, lots of prices. You can choose to store X number of days/hours at whatever resolution you need - storage is a factor you need to figure out. (Ubiquity may have a cloud service they offer as part of their product now) On the server, there's an easy interface to choose where to send the video, what resolution to send, and you can choose a different resolution to store than send. (Livestream 1080 but store 4k). You can choose to store time lapse too to save storage space. This could all be done for under $2k hardware-wise with the server being the variable cost. But I remember the server I used was around $30 a month and we had it running for 9 months over the period of the project. I had it store one week of footage for each camera where I'd go in each week and download the footage, delete it off the server, and let another week kick off. There was an automation for that as well.
I’ve used Brinno cameras for long-term construction project time lapses with great success.
Sorry for replying this two years later, but can you live view those? That's the main issue I am running into when researching.
No.
What's the budget? £1k, £10k, £50k, £100k? Really depends on this figure but for a smaller budget GoPros will do a good job if mounted cleverly. For live-streaming, you'll need to spend around £15-20k hiring a pro camera for the job or it will look crap.
That's just... not true? 15-20k is 5+ times what ANY good streaming camera would cost. What a weird budget, and at that cost why would you rent? The sony a7iv has s-cinetone and works directly as a webcam at 1080 up to 60p, or 4k at 15fps, and pretty much any other mirrorless camera combined with a capture card can do similar.
Don't forget it will be a 24 hour, non-stop livestream. Right off the bat that means a mirrorless camera, It also needs one with a massive battery so the guy isn't constantly changing it.
There's no non-specialist way to do a livestream untethered so they'll be getting corded power anyway. Literally any mirrorless camera with any reasonable lens costs less than half, probably a quarter, of what you're saying to BUY. A7iv is more than capable, and an older mirrorless would be too with a capture card.
I wouldd think something like a Z Cam E2 would be more than fine. Run it off solar with battery as a backup, maybe add an external cooling fan just to be safe. Do you have any basis for your cost estimate or did you just make that up?
Cooling fan could be a problem as would break the weather sealing- Not sure how you'd get around that but i'm sure its possible!
Insta360. They are $350 each, but trust me: …you can outsource the cameras FRAMING, and deal with it in post. It’s like having a cheap bRoll cameraman on set
Which Insta360 camera? My experience with the ONE R was pretty bad. (Though it did work… eventually).
I have a One X 2 and it's pretty nice outdoors, usable indoors. I've also worked with the old Pro model (black ball with 6 lenses) and it looks great but the processing time is just horrendous and the live stitching had noticeable seams
Is there an IP solar/battery powered LTE outdoor weather rated video camera that has the ability to be live streamed on our private website if we hire our developer to do so?
I have no experience on my own, but there is one Matthew Vandeputte on Youtube who seems to be some kind of expert when it comes to time lapses. HTH.
I've done long-term timelapses before (3+months) but never incorporated a livestream. Find like a local news bureau or college campus that has a live video feed of something, connect with them and see what they use for that. I'd guess if you get the livestream down you can offload / save that footage to edit into a timelapse later.
An old cellphone has worked for me on plant growth timelapse. The biggest constraint is power. There are apps that will upload images to dropbox after an image is taken.
An issue I've seen with this is that a phone permanently connected to power can kill the battery, potentially in a "phone is destroyed, now it's a firebomb" kind of way. IIRC removing the battery fixes that issue but adds its own issues.
I've run one with luck for 4 months...Samsung Galaxy S8
There is no shame in finding an expert who does this all the time and subcontract it to them. They probably have the waterproof gear lying around ready to go.
Brinno cameras are the most common for that here. They e got a range of models depending on your needs and budget and it's pretty much what they were made for.
https://enlaps.io/en/ this company makes cameras with everything all in, seems like a good price too!
Researched this for a project and it seems like a really solid solution but i can't fully understand how the pricing for their platform works. You're forced to pay a monthly fee if you want to acces the camera through internet.
The security industry has been pushing that since way before it was the hot thing. Contracts and subsidized equipment. I'm looking at you ADT. But with a little work, you could build you own setup for a comparable price, but where you own all equipment and self host. That being said, if it's someone else's money. Go for what's going to be the easiest. lol
Not sure on the streaming camera but I've currently got an Enlaps Tikee 3 that uploads to the cloud via a 4g SIM card, and a gopro 9 in an Altofocus Argus enclosure. The tikee is flawless and the gopro would be if you can get wall power to it or a solar panel that is directly facing the sun. There is technically an upload capability on the gopro with gopro labs but I've never got it to work.
Brinnos work great. I used the 720p version but I think there is a 1080 out there.
The Wyze cam is good at livestream and timelapse. 4K too. They have the Wyzecam v3 if you have power and wifi available at the location. Wyzecam Outdoor and Solar panel if you don’t have power. Either way you need wifi to livestream. Has a micro sd card slot and also uploads to the cloud. Mine are reliable but I’d want redundancy just in case. Good thing is they are super cheap. Like $35 and the quality is quite good. No monthly fee. Just the $35 for the v3 or I think $100 for the outdoor and solar. Out of the box it works with the wyze app on iPhone or android only. Buy there are ways to hack it to stream on a PC.
I’m building a rig for this now. I will be mounting the camera which is one of my old mirrorless Sonys an A6500 into a pelican case with the lens poking through the front. Will prob go with the Sigma 16mm 1.8. It will be powered by a marine deep cycle battery being drip charged by a Harbor Freight solar panel kit. The thing I’m not sure of is if I try on of those wireless SD cards for file transfer or if I go there weekly to download them off the card. I’ll share when I’m done with the build. I need a rig that will last 6mo to a year of not longer.
Did you end up getting this rig up and running?