The following panoramic time lapse video shows an arching view across the sky above Fairfax County, Virginia USA on 27 April 2026. The video was recorded using my GoPro HERO4 Black action camera mounted on an inexpensive "Orbit" two-hour mechanical hose watering timer. The camera was set for "Video" mode / "Time Lapse Video" submode at a resolution of 4K and an interval of two (2) seconds.
The camera pans from the western horizon to the southern horizon, passing near the zenith at the apex of the arc.
I thought the camera view would auto-rotate after the camera passed the apex of the arc. It didn't, as you can see in the video. I was fooled because the camera view auto-rotates during Preview, as expected. As it turns out the GoPro locks the camera orientation at the beginning of a time lapse video, as well as regular video.
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| GoPro "Sky Arch" rig, in situ. |
Did you notice part of the mount for the "Orbit" timer is visible at the end of the video? I was concerned that might be a problem. Perhaps it would have helped to mount the "Sky Arch" camera rig vertically, as shown in the following photo.
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| GoPro "Sky Arch" rig, mounted vertically. |
The following screenshots from the GoPro "Quik" app show the settings I selected for Auto-Rotation.
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| Settings | Camera Preferences |
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| Settings | Camera Preferences | Auto-Rotation |
Related Resources: Blog posts with label "two-hour 'Orbit' timer."
Copyright © 2026 by Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
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