Raspberry Pi Zero W v1.1 — Timelapse Camera

A timelapse application tuned for the Pi Zero W v1.1 — single-core BCM2835 ARM11 @ 1 GHz, 512 MB RAM, legacy camera stack (picamera, not picamera2).

Looking for the Pi Zero 2W version? → robzarry/timelapse

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Key differences from the Zero 2W version

	Pi Zero W v1.1 (this repo)	Pi Zero 2W
SoC	BCM2835 · 1-core ARM11 @ 1 GHz	BCM2710A1 · 4-core Cortex-A53 @ 1 GHz
RAM	512 MB	1 GB
Camera library	picamera (legacy stack)	picamera2 (libcamera)
OS	Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye (32-bit)	Bullseye or Bookworm
ffmpeg preset	ultrafast (encode speed priority)	medium (quality priority)
Default resolution	720p (1280×720)	1080p (2592×1944)
Encode time (1 hr session)	~10-30 min	~2-5 min

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Hardware

Component	Notes
Raspberry Pi Zero W v1.1	BCM2835 SoC
Pi Camera v1 or v2	Connected via CSI ribbon cable
microSD card	≥16 GB recommended (Class 10 / A1)
Power supply	5 V / 1.2 A micro-USB

Important — 2.4 GHz WiFi only. The Pi Zero W v1.1 does not support 5 GHz networks.

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First-Time Setup (run once)

Boot into Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit, Bullseye) and run:

sudo bash setup.sh

The script will:

1. Enable the legacy camera stack in /boot/config.txt (start_x=1, gpu_mem=128) and prompt to reboot if needed
2. Prompt for WiFi SSID, password, and country code → writes wpa_supplicant.conf
3. Enable and start SSH
4. Install python3-picamera, ffmpeg, and tqdm
5. Optionally install a systemd service

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Running the App

python3 timelapse.py

Prompts:

Parameter	Example	Notes
Interval (seconds)	10	Time between photos
Duration (minutes)	60	Total session length
Resolution	2 (720p)	See table below
Playback FPS	24	Frames per second in output video

Resolution options

Choice	Resolution	Notes
1	1920×1080	Best quality — long encode time
2	1280×720	Default — best balance on BCM2835
3	960×540	Faster encode, smaller files
4	640×480	Fastest option

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Output

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

Output is written to an attached USB drive (if mounted under /media) or ~/timelapse/ on the SD card as a fallback.

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SSH Access

# Discover the Pi on your local network
ping raspberrypi.local

# Connect
ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

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

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Performance notes (BCM2835)

• Capture is fast — the bottleneck is the SD card write speed.
• Encoding with libx264 -preset ultrafast on a single ARM11 core:
  • ~0.3 s per frame at 720p → 2 500 frames ≈ 12 min encode
  • ~0.8 s per frame at 1080p → 2 500 frames ≈ 33 min encode
• A USB drive (via OTG adapter) is strongly recommended for large sessions to avoid SD card wear.

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Stopping Early

Press Ctrl+C during capture. The app will finish the current frame, stop cleanly, and compile whatever was captured into a video.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
picamera import error	sudo apt install python3-picamera
mmal: No data received from sensor	Legacy camera not enabled — re-run setup.sh and reboot
Black / green frames	Camera ribbon not seated properly; check both connectors
WiFi not connecting	Verify country code in wpa_supplicant.conf; 5 GHz networks unsupported
ffmpeg not found	sudo apt install ffmpeg
Very slow encode	Expected on BCM2835; switch to 720p or 540p
Setup flag missing	Delete .setup_complete and re-run setup.sh