What's the best option to make a drive-lapse of 5 hours

[DCEV]

We are preparing for a bit of a road trip that's about 5.5 hours (from Washington DC to Upstate New York/Mohonk Mountain House) and I'd like to make a time lapse of the entire trip but without any ugly cables dangling. What are my options for a suitable camera with sufficient battery life (2+ hour battery life) and mounting options for a Model S?

I'm thinking the pano roof glass just behind the first row would be perfect as I want the video to be of the windshield plus the dashboard so basically the same view you'd get from inside the car.

Is a Go Pro Hero 8/9 the best option to do this? Also thinking about a Go Pro Max but the video resolution is less. Seems like Go Pro Time Warp would result in a nice smooth video but I've seen various figures for the battery life so not sure what to expect. Has anyone done this for a long trip? I'll probably stop to charge after about 2.5 hours of driving so ideally if I can have it run for 2.5 hours on battery that would be perfect, so I can replace the battery of the camera as I charge the car.

Any recommendations for cameras and mounting options appreciaited! Would ideally like to find a quality dual suction mount so there is redundancy in case one of the suction points fail.

 

[CyberGus]

I've used a GoPro Hero for just what you're describing, and hyperlapse videos are amazeballs. However, GoPro battery life is abysmal. The power requirements vary with resolution, so maybe you can get 2+ hours at 640x480 lol?

You'll need wired power to run a GoPro for that length of time.

 

[DCEV]

Yeah the Time Warp videos looks amazing. Should probably look for a circular polarizing filter for the Go Pro to see clearly through the windscreen. I'll be doing the trip in the fall so I think the foliage would make for a nice drive video.

I'd really want the video to be in 4K so I guess a battery option is not viable...

I guess I can live with a single wire providing power that's somehow neatly tucked in and connected to one of the rear USB ports...

What's a good dual suction mount for a Go Pro?

 

[CyberGus]

I bought an accessory kit (from GoPro I think) that had a variety of mounting options, including a suction mount. It's worked fine on glass so far.

 

[SilverGS]

Yeah the Time Warp videos looks amazing. Should probably look for a circular polarizing filter for the Go Pro to see clearly through the windscreen. I'll be doing the trip in the fall so I think the foliage would make for a nice drive video.

I'd really want the video to be in 4K so I guess a battery option is not viable...

I guess I can live with a single wire providing power that's somehow neatly tucked in and connected to one of the rear USB ports...

What's a good dual suction mount for a Go Pro?

Dual suction mount for a very light camera like a GoPro is seriously overkill. You just need a single cup suction mount. Delkin make an awesome mount - that's what I have (for the exact same purpose) or you can also get the one from GoPro directly.

Here's the Amazon one - https://www.amazon.ca/Delkin-Devices-DDMOUNT-MINI-Knuckle-Suction/dp/B002K8Q0EU

And the one from GoPro - https://www.amazon.ca/GoPro-Suction...ion+cup&qid=1597445243&sr=8-3&tag=googcana-20

You can get a charger with a spare battery and just plug it into the USB charger and have a spare battery so that you don't have any dangling wires from the GoPro

https://www.amazon.ca/GoPro-Battery...pro+charger+and+battery&qid=1597445391&sr=8-3

I also have the dual suction mount from Delkin and I use that to mount my full frame mirrorless Sony A73

I own all the above accessories and can vouch for them as excellent products for anyone that has a GoPro.

 

[PhilDavid]

Dual suction mount for a very light camera like a GoPro is seriously overkill. You just need a single cup suction mount. Delkin make an awesome mount - that's what I have (for the exact same purpose) or you can also get the one from GoPro directly.

Here's the Amazon one - https://www.amazon.ca/Delkin-Devices-DDMOUNT-MINI-Knuckle-Suction/dp/B002K8Q0EU

And the one from GoPro - https://www.amazon.ca/GoPro-Suction...ion+cup&qid=1597445243&sr=8-3&tag=googcana-20

You can get a charger with a spare battery and just plug it into the USB charger and have a spare battery so that you don't have any dangling wires from the GoPro

https://www.amazon.ca/GoPro-Battery...pro+charger+and+battery&qid=1597445391&sr=8-3

I also have the dual suction mount from Delkin and I use that to mount my full frame mirrorless Sony A73

I own all the above accessories and can vouch for them as excellent products for anyone that has a GoPro.

This is really helpful!

On a fully charged battery, how long can a Go Pro hero 8 record a drive lapse? Could you reach at least around 2 hours of recording?

Any other camera you recommend? I've looked at so many of them but Go Pro seems to deliver the best looking colors and the smoothest video.

 

[SilverGS]

This is really helpful!

On a fully charged battery, how long can a Go Pro hero 8 record a drive lapse? Could you reach at least around 2 hours of recording?

Any other camera you recommend? I've looked at so many of them but Go Pro seems to deliver the best looking colors and the smoothest video.

It lasts around 50 minutes when continuously shooting in 2.7 or 4K at high frame rates, but you can stretch that out to around 2 hours for lower resolution footage or TimeWarp video.

Another decent competitor is the Akaso Brave camera. When I was researching action cameras the GoPro Hero 8 Black had the best reviews and features for the price.

 

[PhilDavid]

It lasts around 50 minutes when continuously shooting in 2.7 or 4K at high frame rates, but you can stretch that out to around 2 hours for lower resolution footage or TimeWarp video.

Another decent competitor is the Akaso Brave camera. When I was researching action cameras the GoPro Hero 8 Black had the best reviews and features for the price.

Thanks! What's the recording duration difference between 4K/60 and a Time Warp video? I'm hoping Time Warp with GPS and the display turned off will stretch the battery life further. What's the longest Time Warp video you have managed with a fully charged battery while turning off all nonessential features such as GPS and the display?

 

[Uncle Paul]

Kind of interesting that your Tesla battery can last longer, going down the highway than a go pro can do, just taking pictures.

 

[PhilDavid]

Kind of interesting that your Tesla battery can last longer, going down the highway than a go pro can do, just taking pictures.

Haha and the Tesla takes pictures along the way too!

 

[israndy]

And you can edit all the angles together to tell a better story than you can with the one camera out the front

 

[PhilDavid]

Wish TeslaCam had a Road Trip Mode where it would save all the video clips.

The thing is we already have it with the 1 hour "overwriting buffer"

I wish rather than maintaining an hour long "recent buffer" It would allow you an option to save all trips in their entirety and then delete the oldest trip when storage space is needed.

So all your drives will always be saved in a separate folder the format with a separate folder for each time you drive the car.

<Date>_<Time Started>_<Origination City>_<Destination City>

2020-08-18_08:20_Philadelphia_New-York

 

[gigawatt1010]

Not sure what the concern about the wire. I did this when we went on a cross country trip on our Model X. NY-San Fran to do the Fremont Factory Tour. The wire is not going to be visible if you use the rear USB ports.

Enjoy Mohonk, it’s amazing there. Fun fact - there’s a show on Amazon Prime called Upload that is filmed there. The refer to the place as Heaven. Couldn’t agree more. Weird show but in a good way.

 

[DCEV]

Not sure what the concern about the wire. I did this when we went on a cross country trip on our Model X. NY-San Fran to do the Fremont Factory Tour. The wire is not going to be visible if you use the rear USB ports.

Enjoy Mohonk, it’s amazing there. Fun fact - there’s a show on Amazon Prime called Upload that is filmed there. The refer to the place as Heaven. Couldn’t agree more. Weird show but in a good way.

If I power the Go Pro using the rear USB ports, can the go pro keep recording for hours? Did you use Time Warp or the time lapse feature?

Thanks! I have wanted to visit Mohonk for 20+ years so very excited about the trip. Also recently watched Upload. Can't wait for Season 2!

 

[PhilDavid]

Is Go Pro the best camera for creating a several hour drive lapse?

 

[animorph]

Brinno was the standard camera for time lapse a few years ago. Ours is battery operated, with a battery life of a few days depending on usage. Very nice, time lapse specialized. I've made one recording with it while we were traveling in our Model X and it was pretty cool. I just set it on the dash, but a small flexible tripod mount might hold it near a headrest or somewhere more convenient or useful to you. Haven't checked to see what's available now.

 

[CyberGus]

Is Go Pro the best camera for creating a several hour drive lapse?

The GoPro hyperlapse is particularly impressive. It takes a frame every X seconds BUT it will algorithmically choose a frame that closely matches the previous frame, so as to smooth the resulting video.

There an online estimator for time-lapse videos:

Photography Time Lapse Calculator & Solar Power Calculator | GoPro Power Consumption Calculator

 

[airborne spoon]

I used a GoPro to take a picture every minute of my drive across the country. I kept the camera plugged into the cars USB port the whole time to keep it charged and had no issues.
Check out my video

 

[israndy]

I think a frame every minute is too jerky, perhaps every 10 seconds would be smoother and you could have a higher frame rate to get the same length of video.

 

[PhilDavid]

I used a GoPro to take a picture every minute of my drive across the country. I kept the camera plugged into the cars USB port the whole time to keep it charged and had no issues.
Check out my video

I think I'm going to setup a Go Pro like this for all my longer drives. Probably going to use TimeWarp though as that seems the smoothest.

Good to know I can power the video recording almost indefinitely with rear USB.