Timelapse Camera

Raspberry Pi Time Lapse Camera

The following Python script will capture a picture from the Raspberry Pi camera every time it is called. The filename of the picture will be date and time stamped and saved to the '/home/pi/pictures' folder.

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os
import time
import commands
from datetime import datetime

d = datetime.now()

initYear = "%04d" % (d.year)
initMonth = "%02d" % (d.month)
initDate = "%02d" % (d.day)
initHour = "%02d" % (d.hour)
initMins = "%02d" % (d.minute)

filePath = '/home/pi/pictures/'
fileName = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H%M.jpg");
fullPath = filePath + fileName
cameraCommand = 'raspistill -o '
fullCommand = cameraCommand + fullPath

os.system(fullCommand)

To capture images at regular intervals the script can be loaded as a cron job.

To edit the cron table type:

 crontab -e 

The format of the cron table is:

 m h dom mon dow command 

where m = minute past the hour, h = hour of the day, dom = day of the month, mon = month of the year and dow = day of week. So to run a script every day at 0735 hours would look like this

35 7 * * * script_name.py 

For the timelapse camera the crontab was configured to run the script every 10 minutes.

crontab -e

Add the following line to the bottom of the text file.

0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * python scripname.py

Save the file.

To check the contents of the cron table type.

crontab -l

You should see the script in the table.