A smart auto ramping intervalometer that’s also a portal to your camera. Setup and preview time-lapse from the VIEW or your phone
Building on the experience and success of the original Timelapse+ Intervalometer, the new VIEW intervalometer redefines the category offering a whole new set of features
“the VIEW is the easiest to setup yet most powerful exposure ramping device I’ve tested to date, final renders were incredibly smooth, this makes a traditionally tricky shot almost too easy” – Jay Burlage, CEO, Dynamic Perception
“The Timelapse+ VIEW removes all of the complexities of capturing advanced time lapses and makes capturing a “holy grail” time lapse as easy as capturing a standard time lapse. Say goodbye to wasted nights of trial and error.” – Ron Risman, TimelapseWorkshops.com
Have you ever been tired of waiting for a time-lapse to complete and packed up early only to discover after hours of processing that it was just becoming good when you stopped? With the VIEW intervalometer you can see what you’re getting, while it’s still going. This means you can end it with confidence knowing you have the results you wanted, or find renewed patience after seeing things are just getting started.
The VIEW intervalometer can automatically ramp the exposure by analyzing the exposure value of each image and feeding it through a sophisticated algorithm to deliver perfect results for sunset, sunrise, milky-way or all of the above and more!
The powerful processing capabilities allow the VIEW to intelligently find optimal settings, resulting in fewer required settings. This means it takes less time to setup and there’s less to go wrong.
The VIEW is designed for use in the field, with quick and easy setup whether it’s cold and you’re wearing mittens or inside your car using your phone.
And in addition to the user interface, the camera interface and physical setup is also simplified as much as possible. It has an integrated hotshoe mount that can read the flash sync, eliminating the need to carry and extra cable for that. It also has a full-size USB host port for connecting the camera, so for most applications only a single USB cable is needed.
The long-lasting built-in battery also simplifies setup (and eliminates the concern of a cable disconnecting). And if it needs more power during a time-lapse, you can always plug in external power via a micro-USB connection.
With the optional web service, you can use your phone to fully control setup and manage your camera and time-lapse remotely. This includes liveview, focus control and motion setup, as well as previewing the time-lapse and downloading images. It requires the VIEW to be connected to a WiFi hotspot (future support for a USB cell modem is planned) and a subscription toyourname.view.tl (one year free for backers, $60/year after that).
This is perfect for long-term setups — you could monitor and reconfigure everything from anywhere in the world!
More will likely be added in the future, but at a minimum the above will all be fully supported at the time of shipment.
Software-wise, the system runs Debian Linux and uses a collection of small low-level c libraries and drivers tied together at a higher level by NodeJS. This will make it easy for advanced users to extend custom functionality that leverages the power of the underlying hardware by writing simple plugins in Javascript. E.g., you could easily swap out ramping algorithms, etc (for those interested). If this isn’t for you — don’t worry — you don’t need to be technical to use it.
-> More info on the Motion Package here
-> More info on the Workshop Package here
The purpose of this Kickstarter campaign is to generate enough preorders to cover the initial costs of development, testing, certification and production. This part of everything was much more expensive than I expected with my first project, so I’ve set the goal accordingly so that I can ensure delivery of a high-quality product.
Features Already Complete & Working
Planned by the time it ships
Planned for Future
This is an amazing time to be alive. Cutting-edge technology is within reach for creative individuals like me, but nothing is done alone. I’m building on top of an incredible platform of open-source libraries and tools provided by a generous community. The VIEW runs Linux and uses libgphoto2, an open-source library with a wide range of supported cameras and features. The hardware is based in part on the excellent work of Olimex, as well as work by Sparkfunand Adafruit.
I’m very thankful for everyone who has helped bring me this far — being able to afford to spend the last four years learning about time-lapse and innovating has been incredible. Thank you to all those who believed in me for the first campaign before I even knew how far this could go. And thanks to everyone who has purchased and used the Timelapse+ along the way.
Also, I’m grateful and delighted to have the support of Dynamic Perception and Ron Risman for the campaign launch, as well as the strategic help of Isaac Kamsin.
And finally, but not least, a big thank you to my wonderful wife Jackie for her support through all of this!
This is my second project, so I’m much more aware of what to expect. I’m just thankful it all worked out last time given what I knew then!
This time I’m much more prepared and already have a nearly complete hardware design and basic software functionality working (which i personally have been using and testing for some time now). I have spoken with multiple manufacturers and vendors and have quotes, so I have a confident estimate on production costs and lead times.
Key upcoming challenges:
Finalizing the Hardware design (in progress right now): Hardware needs to be perfect — there’s no “downloading” an upgrade later. There are a couple minor details I still need to improve in the hardware (moving placement of a couple components and debugging communication with a 9-axis sensor) and I expect these to be resolved in the next prototype revision. However, if the next revision isn’t perfect, shipping could be delayed by up to a month while it goes through another revision.
Case Design: The case is not yet designed. It will be injection molded. I will likely outsource part of this process to speed things up and ensure high quality and manufacturability (my strength is in the electronics more than the enclosure). I don’t expect any surprises here, but it’s still a little bit of an unknown (although I went through it before with the previous project and plan to use the same vendors). This process is expensive, so it will begin immediately after the kickstarter campaign once I have the funds.
Sourcing & Lead times: As of right now all the components are readily available and so I don’t expect any delays in this area, though things can always change. I’ve limited the first batch to a maximum of 2500 to help alleviate any potential procurement delays.