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MRC_Hans
23rd October 2007, 06:39 AM
OK, what I want to do is make time-compressions films. I once borrowed a Logitech webcam that had the SW to do this, that is, you could set an interval, and the cam would take a picture every, say 2 mins (or whichever interval you set), and the software would stash them all into a .mov.

No doubt, I could get a similar webcam, but they have crappy resolution, crappy optics, crappy focussing, and crappy light regulation. So I'd want to use a "real" digital camera, preferable one of my Sony DSC ones, of course.

What I envisage is hooking the camera up to a laptop via an USB cable, and having the laptop remote control the camara and store the pictures as they come (since the space on the HD beats that of the camera memory).

Does anybody know of a way to do this?

Hans

Zax63
23rd October 2007, 10:21 AM
I found this site (http://www.steves-digicams.com/digsoftware_cameractrl.html) that has links to various camera control software but I couldn't find anything for the Sony DSC line.
If buying a new camera is not out of the question you can use dpreview.com's feature search to find a camera with built-in time lapse capability.

MRC_Hans
23rd October 2007, 11:37 PM
Excellent source, thank you! Well, buying a new cam is not out of the question, this is a somewhat long-term project anyhow. Also, using your source, I might find a suitable second-hand cam; resolution is not such a big issue here, since for movies, some 3 megapixels will be quite satisfactory.

Will still be looking for a Sony solution also.

Cheers, Hans