Raspberry Pi Zero 2W — Timelapse Camera

A self-contained timelapse application for the Pi Zero 2W + Pi Camera (v1, v2, or HQ).

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Hardware

Component	Notes
Raspberry Pi Zero 2W	Any OS revision
Pi Camera (v1/v2/HQ)	Connected via ribbon cable
microSD card	≥16 GB recommended
Power supply	5 V / 2 A micro-USB

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First-Time Setup (run once)

Boot the Pi (Raspberry Pi OS Lite recommended), open a terminal, and run:

sudo bash setup.sh

The script will:

1. Prompt for your WiFi SSID and password and write the configuration
2. Enable and start SSH (connect with ssh pi@<ip> afterward)
3. Install system dependencies: picamera2, ffmpeg, tqdm
4. Optionally install a systemd service so you can start the app with sudo systemctl start timelapse

Country code — if prompted, enter your two-letter ISO country code (e.g. US, GB, CA). This is required for WiFi to be enabled on Pi OS Lite.

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Running the App

python3 timelapse.py

The app will prompt for:

Parameter	Example	Description
Interval (seconds)	10	Time between photos
Duration (minutes)	60	Total session length
Playback FPS	24	Frames per second in the output video

After the session completes, the frames are compiled into an H.264 MP4 and saved on the SD card (or a USB drive if one is mounted under /media).

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Output

~/timelapse/
└── 20241215_143022/
    ├── frames/
    │   ├── frame_000001.jpg
    │   ├── frame_000002.jpg
    │   └── ...
    └── timelapse_20241215_143022.mp4

If an external drive is mounted under /media, the session directory is written there instead to spare the SD card.

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SSH Access

After setup.sh runs:

# Find the Pi's IP address (from another machine on the same network)
ping raspberrypi.local

# Connect
ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

# Copy the finished video to your laptop
scp pi@raspberrypi.local:~/timelapse/20241215_143022/timelapse_20241215_143022.mp4 ~/Desktop/

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Stopping Early

Press Ctrl+C during capture. The app will finish the current photo, stop cleanly, and still compile whatever frames were captured.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
picamera2 import error	Run setup.sh, or: sudo apt install python3-picamera2
ffmpeg not found	sudo apt install ffmpeg
Black frames	Allow the camera 2 s to auto-expose; bright scene helps
WiFi not connecting (Bullseye)	Check /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf; verify country code
WiFi not connecting (Bookworm+)	nmcli device wifi list to see available networks
Setup flag missing	Delete .setup_complete and re-run setup.sh