Timelapse tripod setup - House Build

daoirse

Hi, I'm about to start a timelapse setup for a new build over 12 months. I'm looking at using a GoPro 5.

My question is how steady my platform / tripod needs to be. I'm looking at mounting it to a telegraph pole or a metal pole on the site. Would minor vibrations from the wind be a problem for this type of setup?

Any other input welcome.

Gregor Samsa

Minor vibrations won't be a problem.

Lets say your end result movie is at 30 frames per second, and lasts 5 minutes. That's 9,000 frames.

If you were filming 24 hours a day every day for a year, you'd be shooting one single frame every 54.44 minutes*. Slight variations in framing from frame to frame over this scale won't be noticed when playing back at 30fps.

A GoPro lens is pretty wide - I think the Hero 5 Black's focal length is 14mm full frame equivalent. This also reduces the visual severity of small changes in framing.

A telegraph pole or decent metal pole will be fine, assuming the mounting of the camera onto the pole is robust. One thing to watch out for is be careful not to move the camera or it's mounting too much when changing the battery or the memory card.

*I think you'd have to use the 60 second interval on the Hero 5, as you can only use the set amounts from the menu.