timelapse-push-service

DSLR Timelapse automation with full gphoto2 functionality and object storage push to any s3-compatible provider (Built for use with Original Raspberry Pi) with most cameras that support some level of PTP/IP

Details

This tool is an intervalometer for any gphoto2-supported camera that pushes results to object storage and/or a mounted filesystem. It can take all of gphoto2's CLI options and works with very many cameras. I made this to take a multi-month time lapse of a mountain and to make use of a dusty, old, original raspberry pi.

I don't have time to maintain this actively but is functional on latest docker-ce on rasbian stretch lite on RPi 1. It probably works with any linux docker host (see TODO).

Privileged mode is required to access the attached camera.

Notes on implementation

• Because different devices can be specified through gphoto2 command line options, it is possible to deploy many containers to a single device to operate many cameras, each with it's own unique parameters, push endpoints, etc.

• If you deploy this application onto more recent pi models, then a kubernetes cluster of controlled cameras could be achieved.

• This was mostly a self-service project to get something done quickly for myself, and I don't intend to spend time on feature requests, but if you have an idea for better design or a feature please open an issue because good ideas have a tendency to encourage me to action. :)

Usage

First edit the values in env-config.sh, or just create your own using the below template. You can find a crontab reference below. Here is the example provided:

#/bin/bash

# fill in with your own details and mount to /srv/tlps/app/env-config.sh
# object storage
export S3_COMPAT_ENDPOINT='https://s3.amazonaws.com'
export S3_COMPAT_ACCESS_KEY='accesskey'
export S3_COMPAT_SECRET_KEY='secretkey'
export S3_COMPAT_API_VERSION='S3v4'
export S3_COMPAT_BUCKET_NAME='my-timelapse'

# timelapse app
export TRIGGER_FREQUENCY_CRON="*/5 * * * *"
export PRESERVE_LOCAL_FILES="yes"
export TIMELAPSE_PREFIX="tl"
export TIMEZONE="America/Los_Angeles"
export GPHOTO2_CLI_CONFIG_OPTIONS=""

Then run the container

If you build it yourself be sure to change the image reference. The below will pull from Docker Hub

Object storage only:

docker run --privileged \
  -v ${PWD}/env-config.sh:/srv/app/tlps/app/env-config.sh \
  mrpaws/tlps:latest

With Filesystem mount:

docker run --privileged \
  -v ${PWD}/env-config.sh:/srv/app/tlps/app/env-config.sh \
  -v <ABSOLUTE_PATH_ON_HOST>/srv/app/tlps/data \
  mrpaws/tlps:latest

Crontab Help

# ┌───────────── minute (0 - 59)
# │ ┌───────────── hour (0 - 23)
# │ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1 - 31)
# │ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1 - 12)
# │ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday to Saturday;
# │ │ │ │ │                                   7 is also Sunday on some systems)
# │ │ │ │ │
# │ │ │ │ │
# * * * * * command to execute

Example

The definition below will fire every 10 minutes from 5am to 9pm:

TRIGGER_FREQUENCY_CRON="*/10 5-21 * * *"

Gphoto2 Help

Supported Cameras: http://gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php Camera Configuration Help: http://www.gphoto.org/doc/remote/

Example Set Config

The configuration parameters below will take 2 shots every 30 seconds when the cron job to start gphoto2 fires, and the camera beep will be disabled. This is one way to improve granularity of control over the camera with the app.

GPHOTO2_CLI_CONFIG_OPTIONS="-F 2 -I 30 --set-config beep =0"

Todo

• Get s3proxy sidecar working to accommodate more backends
• Enhance security around credentials file
• Better modularize code
• Rebuild repo with a simple install script for non-docker implementations
• Add k8s deployment