Time-lapse camera

Parts in this circuit

Wiring, pin by pin

Red = 5 V, orange = 3.3 V, black = GND, other colours = signals. “Pin” is the position on the 40-pin header; the GPIO number is what the code uses. Power the Pi from a 5.1 V supply and wire with the power off.

Python code (gpiozero)

from picamera2 import Picamera2
from gpiozero import LED
from time import sleep

cam = Picamera2()
cam.configure(cam.create_still_configuration())
cam.start()
sleep(1)

lamp = LED(17)

for n in range(1, 7):
    lamp.on()                                  # the lamp shows that a photo is being taken
    cam.capture_file("frame%02d.jpg" % n)
    lamp.off()
    print("Frame", n, "of 6")
    sleep(3)                                   # wait 3 seconds

print("Done. On a real Pi you would join the frames into a video.")

How the code works

• for n in range(1, 7) runs the loop 6 times with n = 1, 2, 3 and so on.
• "frame%02d.jpg" % n puts the number in the file name with two digits, so the files sort in order.
• sleep(3) waits 3 seconds. Real time-lapses wait minutes or hours.

Parts to buy

The links open a search on each store, so you see what is in stock today. Check the model, voltage and price before you order.