Okay, so I took the pictures that threaded them together with Windows Movie Maker since I botched the ability of the camera to make the video for me (I deleted some of the first pictures in the set since they were just of soil with noting happening, but the camera still looked for these pictures and I just gave up).
This video is housed on my domain so it's safe. Both Firefox and IE will prompt you to either save or open the file. Do either you wish - if you lack trust in your fellow gardener (me), you can save the file, scan it, then watch it.
Anyway, here it is:
<REMOVED VIDEO AND REPLACED WITH FINAL VIDEO IN SEPARATE THREAD>
Note that this video is around 5Mb. The size just depends on the quality you want to save it as and I picked a medium quality video so I could share it.
I'm going to get another week of the cucumbers and then I'll probably move the camera to a more overview type shot.
And here are some tips for anyone who gets one based on the month or so I've had this one:
The camera allows several different resolutions, but will only convert the video in a medium format. If you want better image quality, you'll need to set it to the highest resolution then splice the pics into a video yourself using a program like the one I used above. The camera is only a 4 megapixel camera, so most of you know what that means - it ain't the best picture quality. It was easy with windows movie maker as it allows you to select all photos and drag them to the storyboard in one fell swoop. You kinda need to know what you are doing and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me or ask here.
The camera itself allows you to convert the photos while on the camera memory to video. The camera memory is limited (16Mb), so I got a 2Gb SD card since that's the max it'll take. At medium setting, that'll get you around 2500 pictures. I feel this is a necessity. I also ordered the power cord since it takes a while to convert the videos if you use the camera to do it. That is what kills the batteries as well as setting the camera to take a picture every 30 seconds or every minute. The camera shuts itself off between pictures, and while set to take a photo every half hour, it's been running for around 2 weeks now. I typically plug it in when I'm transferring files or converting to video using the camera. If you have a card reader attached to your computer, it's a bit easier as you can just pop the card out, transfer the files and delete them from the card, and pop it back in while the camera is sleeping.
Speaking of sleeping, you can set a range of time for it to operate as well. Mine is set to start taking photos at 7am and to stop at 8pm since that is just about 30 minutes after dawn and 30 minutes before dusk. It does not do well in low light as you might see in the video.
While the camera does allow you to convert to video, the number of photos it'll do in a single batch is limited. So if you fill it up, it won't convert them all into a single video. You'll have to convert whatever the number of max pictures is (It's around 150-180, from memory), then do the next batch, and so on then copy all the videos over to your computer and stitch them together anyway if you want one fluid video of the entire photo set. 2500 pictures this way will take you an entire night. Converting the max number of pictures to video with the camera takes nearly 10 minutes.
The camera also allows you to take video using the same photo timing settings. I think it's somewhat of a waste, but knock yourself out. If you set it to take a video clip every 30 seconds, you just end up with a string of 5 second videos rather than pictures that you have to move to your computer and splice yourself anyway - why bother? The camera won't convert video clips to a longer video.
I'm still learning as I go how to use it to it's max potential, so I really don't know it all - just sharing what I've encountered thus far. You'll want a good stake to mount it on, I used a broken broom handle driven about a foot into the ground. Regular survey type stakes will work if you get the narrow ones (3/4"x1.5") as the opening of the clamp is limited in size. There is a cutout on the inside of the clamp that is designed to be clamped to a round pole it seems. The kit also comes with some long thin bungees that you can use to hang it on a tree or fence or something like that. I haven't used them. It'll also mount to a universal tripod, but a camera sitting on a tripod in my backyard, in my opinion, is a thief magnet. I keep it low and on a busted up broom handle because my camera likes to remain incognito.
Finally, I think the video conversion from the camera runs a bit faster between frames than the one I posted above. I used .25 seconds per picture when I created the video. Windows Movie Maker will go lower if you want it to, speeding up the video framerate. Windows Movie Maker, I THINK, is standard on most PC's. It was on mine when I bought it.
