OctoCam Changelog
Starting with v2.0.0, all changes to OctoCam are logged on this page. Here's what's new with OctoCam!
  • build
    Version 2.8.17
    Released on July 10, 2024
    Version 2.8.17 introduces changes due to the new vertical orientation of the OctoCam sensor. Changes will be made in the coming days to the archive to deal with the new vertical video format.

    Changes:
    • - Any changes due to OctoCam going temporarily down have been reverted.
    • - New styles have been added to the homepage to deal with the new vertical video format.
    • - New options have been added to the admin page to deal with the new vertical video format.
  • build
    Version 2.8.16
    Released on May 30, 2024
    Version 2.8.16 introduces some temporary changes given that OctoCam is no longer capturing images in Worcester.

    Changes:
    • - The homepage is now the archive. Any links to / or /archive will point to the same page.
    • - All timelapses have been moved to the archive.
    • - The status page is temporarily unavailable.
    • - No more timelapses are being transferred into the long-term archive past where it stands now.
  • build
    Version 2.8.15
    Released on March 23, 2024
    Version 2.8.15 contains some reliability improvements to the capture script, and also contains some slight improvements to the frontend.

    New features:
    • - A next hour summary of the weather is now shown in the OctoCam Weather Conditions box.
    • - Updated the list of interesting things in the archive

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Additional reliability improvements in the capture script, especially when OctoCam cannot connect to the internet and get information about cloud cover during sunrise/sunset. This should eliminate sporadic image outages during these periods.
    • - Fixed a bug where if two or more alerts were visible in OctoCam Weather Conditions, the spacing between them was too much.
    • - Updated WeatherKitProvider to v1.1.9 - namely so that daily summaries going forward that include a snowfall total will now say, for instance, "Snow (~3 in.)", rather than "Snow (~3 in. of snow)".
    • - In preparation for the archive to have 1,000+ timelapses, added code to ensure that the timelapse count number has a comma in it.
  • build
    Version 2.8.14
    Released on February 1, 2024
    Version 2.8.14 switches the alerts to use the NWS API, which should be a lot more reliable compared to OpenWeatherMap.

    New features:
    • - Switches to the NWS API for weather alerts.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - None for this release
  • build
    Version 2.8.13
    Released on January 16, 2024
    Version 2.8.13 brings bug fixes to the alerts. Version 2.8.14 will switch to the NWS API to reliably get alerts going forward.

    New features:
    • - None for this release.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Fix an issue with alerts not showing up correctly.
    • - Revert weather refreshing with a 70 second offset to a usual 10 second offset.
    • - Fix styling with the icons.
  • build
    Version 2.8.12
    Released on January 4, 2024
    Happy 2024! Version 2.8.12 brings some minor improvements/fixes to OctoCam to improve the overall experience.

    New features:
    • - Adaptive iconography for alerts depending on alert severity.
    • - Added an option to the backend for letterboxing when dealing with 1600x1200 photos in long-spanning timelapses.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Prevent Hydrologic Outlook alerts from appearing in the weather alerts section.
  • build
    Version 2.8.11
    Released on September 24, 2023
    Version 2.8.11 makes minor resiliency changes to improve OctoCam's reliability.

    New features:
    • - None for this release.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Adds timeouts for any network requests OctoCam makes to avoid stalling the script and unintentionally causing image outages.
  • build
    Version 2.8.10
    Released on September 7, 2023
    Version 2.8.10 improves performance in OctoCam.

    New features:
    • - The timelapse library and archive now load WAY faster, as FPS/duration metadata for timelapses is being cached.
    • - Videos in the long-term archive now have FPS/duration metadata.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - None for this release.
  • build
    Version 2.8.9
    Released on September 7, 2023
    Version 2.8.9 fixes bugs with the archive.

    New features:
    • - None in this release

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Fixed an issue with the archive that prevented stepped timelapses from being accessed.
    • - All videos previously in the archive that were moved to long-term storage are now accessible.
    • - Removed download button for videos in the long-term archive.
  • build
    Version 2.8.8
    Released on August 31, 2023
    Version 2.8.8 adds support to view long-term archived videos.

    New features:
    • - The ability to view long-term archive videos is now possible, meaning most archive videos are now accessible.
    • - There is a known issue that stepped timelapses cannot be accessed by the archive, but this issue will be fixed at a later time.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Fixed an issue with the archive purge script that prevented it from running.
  • build
    Version 2.8.7
    Released on August 28, 2023
    Version 2.8.7 makes modifications to archive storage.

    New features:
    • - None for this release.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Due to storage constraints, the archive now only stores videos that are a year old or newer. Any older videos are automatically transferred to long-term storage.
    • - A solution for viewing videos in long-term storage will be released with v2.8.8.
  • build
    Version 2.8.6
    Released on June 4, 2023
    Version 2.8.6 makes a few changes to OctoCam as the camera module has been upgraded.

    New features:
    • - None for this release.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Refresh timings have been adjusted for the new camera module. Overall, night mode uploads are 4-6x faster, and daytime uploads are 2x faster thanks to how the Picamera2 library is structured & a larger aperture on the sensor resulting in lower nighttime shutter speeds.
    • - Explanations in both the status page & about page have been updated for the new camera module.
  • build
    Version 2.8.5
    Released on March 16, 2023
    Version 2.8.5 marks the switchover to WeatherKit in addition to other improvements.

    New features:
    • - The latest image will now refresh in more conditions in the background. We are using if the document is visible or not rather than in focus.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - OctoCam Weather Conditions now uses the Apple WeatherKit API. This now results in visibilities over 10 miles.
    • - Starting on March 9, timelapses in the library now use the WeatherKit API for summaries. This results in differently styled summaries, the maximum wind gust time being approximate to the hour, and other small changes.
    • - The OctoCam Pi has been switched over to the WeatherKit API.
  • build
    Version 2.8.4
    Released on February 8, 2023
    Version 2.8.4 includes some small updates to make the OctoCam experience even better.

    New features:
    • - None for this release

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - The archive now paginates with 50 timelapses for improved loading times.
  • build
    Version 2.8.3
    Released on January 11, 2023
    Version 2.8.3 includes a nice fix for the Pi-side logic so it's a bit more reliable.

    New features:
    • - None for this release

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - The Pi will now no longer reboot due to 3 sustained MMAL errors if the system uptime is under 10 minutes, rather than using when OctoCam's code last rebooted the system.
    • - Updated copyright to 2023.
  • build
    Version 2.8.2
    Released on December 15, 2022
    Version 2.8.2 makes some fixes to the entire stack to make things more reliable.

    New features:
    • - OctoCam now logs image sizes in the status page.
    • - Snowflakes are next to timelapses that include snow.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Fix the once again broken automatic reporting of MMAL issues from the Pi.
    • - Other very cool fixes that happened
  • build
    Version 2.8.1
    Released on November 17, 2022
    Version 2.8.1 features numerous fixes to the navbar, along with a number of overall fixes to the OctoCam experience. For the time being, this will be the last update to OctoCam with major feature updates until v3 of the frontend, coming sometime in 2023.

    New features:
    • - The page you're currently on is now highlighted in the navbar.
    • - A new about page has been created. This page includes a blurb about OctoCam, and is where the technical information & privacy policy that used to be on the homepage now live.
    • - The status and image delays page have been merged into one status page.
    • - Error pages (including unauthorized errors for the admin panel & 404 not found errors) have been improved with the new navbar.
    • - The archive has a new section at the bottom of the page with a list of interesting things OctoCam has captured.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - An octopus emoji now lives in the navbar.
    • - Increased the window to click the "Allow Background Refresh" button in the latest image box from 750ms to 1500ms.
    • - The timelapse library autorefresh now has a 4 minute delay from the top of every 3 hours. This is to account for timelapses with precipitation producing larger file sizes that take longer to encode/upload.
    • - The changelog page has been condensed into one box.
    • - Page titles are now consistent across all OctoCam pages.
    • - Other minor changes to make the OctoCam experience better.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.8.0
    Released on November 11, 2022
    Version 2.8.0 is the last major update to OctoCam on the v2.x frontend. This release brings along a persistent navigation bar across the entire website. Keep an eye out for v2.8.1 and v2.8.2 that will iron out the navbar experience.

    New features:
    • - Persistent navbar across the UI! It's also mobile friendly too.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Rewrote quite a few long text sections on the OctoCam website for better readability.
    • - Video borders are now present in the archive
  • build
    Version 2.7.2
    Released on November 10, 2022
    Version 2.7.2 introduces changes to the archive page to make the experience better.

    New features:
    • - The archive page features a timelapse from one year ago on page 1 (or when visiting the archive without a page number).
    • - Reorganized the archive page to move the large chunk of text describing available timelapses to the bottom of the page.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Vastly improved the pagination in the archive. You can now go to a specific page!
    • - Other small bug fixes to make OctoCam's experience even better (tm)
  • build
    Version 2.7.1
    Released on November 7, 2022
    Version 2.7.1 introduces some minor changes to make the OctoCam experience better.

    New features:
    • - Messages on the OctoCam homepage indicating times are in EST now only show when your UTC offset does not match OctoCam's UTC offset.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Improved styling of videos in the timelapse library.
    • - Improved readiability of the status page. Outage intervals now have fully spelled out hours, minutes, seconds, etc.
    • - Reduced filesize of timelapse JavaScript code.
    • - Any pages that rely on the backend being up now time out and show an error after waiting 10 seconds for consistency.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.7.0
    Released on November 4, 2022
    Version 2.7.0 introduces automatic refresh of the timelapse library! This means that the OctoCam frontpage can standalone without any client refreshes.

    New features:
    • - As mentioned above, the timelapse library will now automatically refresh every 3 hours.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Added a warning to the partial timelapse saying it will disappear at the next library refresh
  • build
    Version 2.6.6
    Released on October 24, 2022
    Version 2.6.6 fixes a variety of bugs.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Using more ffmpeg flags on the backend when encoding, should hopefully improve compatibility of videos on the site
    • - Updated the archive to reflect changes to how early night mode timings changed after 10/4/22
    • - Trying to view the status and delays page when the backend is down should now show an error page (rather than a 500/infinite timeout)
    • - Fixed the private page which was broken
  • build
    Version 2.6.5
    Released on October 12, 2022
    Version 2.6.5 adds extra functionality to the status page.

    New features:
    • - Added a box to the status page to show if there's an active outage ongoing.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Code on the status page to switch text when there's an ongoing outage is working properly.
    • - Refined how numbers for uptime percentage and outage duration are shown on the status page
  • build
    Version 2.6.4
    Released on October 10, 2022
    Version 2.6.4 adds extra functionality to the delay page, and reworks the automatic reboot system for OctoCam itself.

    New features:
    • - The delay diagnostics now shows a summary of delays in the last 5, 15, and 60 minutes.
    • - The reboot mechanism for OctoCam now has bootloop protection.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Fixed some minor styling issues on the delay page.
  • build
    Version 2.6.3
    Released on October 10, 2022
    Version 2.6.3 adds some extra fixes to the status pages and delay pages.

    New features:
    • - The delay diagnostics page now auto-updates data every 60 seconds.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - The status page (should) show when an outage is ongoing and update the wording to reflect this. Testing of this feature will occur soon.
  • build
    Version 2.6.2
    Released on October 4, 2022
    Version 2.6.2 refines the user experience and makes modifications to how images are captured.

    New features:
    • - Rearranged the public homepage to move important links and versioning up to the top, before the timelapse library.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - OctoCam will now reboot after 3 consecutive MMAL errors in 60 seconds, which should nip any lingering MMAL issues from occurring down the road.
    • - OctoCam now reports every failed capture automatically for better insight into what's going on.
    • - The timing to go into early night mode (if there's high cloud cover) was pushed back by 5 minutes to avoid images being blown out.
    • - Proper tense when hovering over the early/late night mode tags in current weather.
    • - Overall status percentage goes out to 4 decimal places now.
    • - Other smaller fixes to make the OctoCam experience smoother!
  • build
    Version 2.6.1
    Released on October 3, 2022
    Version 2.6.1 updates the status page with a new user experience.

    New features:
    • - The status page now shows outages by the time range that they occurred in, rather than listing every image that failed to capture.
    • - The outage page now shows outage durations for each interval.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - A colored status indicator is next to each day on the status for a quick status reference.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.6.0
    Released on October 1, 2022
    Version 2.6.0 introduces a new auto-refresh system for weather data, and makes improvements to the image refresh system.

    Expect Version 2.6.1 to come out shortly with some extra fixes to the auto-refresh system, and improvements to how the Pi captures images.

    New features:
    • - The weather box now has an auto-refresh system similar to that of the latest image autorefresh system.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Both the latest image and weather data will not auto-refresh when tabbing in, unless a refresh is needed.
    • - Fixed an issue where image autorefresh was accidentally taking up 2x the bandwidth (due to 2 calls being made)
    • - Fixed issues with the monthly stepped timelapse not generating automatically
    • - Added new visibility reference point
  • build
    Version 2.5.2
    Released on September 23, 2022
    Version 2.5.2 restores the fullscreen image option, and includes a couple of bug fixes.

    New features:
    • - The fullscreen image button is back. With this, the latest image box has a new header design.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Fixed a couple potential bugs with the autorefresh system.
  • build
    Version 2.5.1
    Released on September 22, 2022
    Version 2.5.1 includes a rewrite of the auto refresh system on the backend, which should be way more reliable for determining when to next update an image.

    New features:
    • - The latest image no longer refreshes when the OctoCam tab isn't active to save bandwidth. However, you can disable this by tabbing back in and clicking a button to allow OctoCam to refresh the latest image even when the tab isn't in focus.
    • - The new auto refresh system is live on the admin panel

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Once again, vastly improved the logic for auto-refresh. It's now using a system based on UNIX timestamps to determine when to auto refresh next.
    • - New system should resolve 99% of weird edge cases where auto-refresh would show a time of 20+ seconds.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.5.0
    Released on September 20, 2022
    Version 2.5.0 includes a brand new image auto-refresh system! This will make the updating process more verbose to the user, stop auto-refreshes on slow connections, and overall looks better!

    New features:
    • - When loading OctoCam for the first time, you'll be greeted with a loading wheel until the first image can be fully retrieved
    • - The updating timer has been moved to the bottom right of the latest image
    • - A progress wheel will be shown when the latest image is updating (along with the text Updating...)
    • - If repeated image update attempts result in a load time of 5 seconds or more, auto-refresh will be disabled with a button to manually update the image.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Vastly improved the logic behind auto-refresh on page view
    • - Fixed a bug where loading or tabbing into OctoCam during a certain timeframe would cause too high of a wait for an automatic refresh.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.4.0
    Released on September 16, 2022
    Version 2.4.0 includes new changes to make the OctoCam experience faster, and more consistent, and better prepared for 24/7/365 operations in my apartment.

    New features:
    • - The archive page is now paginated with 100 timelapses per page. Loading times are about 2 seconds per page, which is an improvement!
    • - Videos are now automatically moved from the public page to the archive page if they're older than 30 days. This should keep loading times down on the public page.
    • - Every month at 12:07 AM, a stepped timelapse is generated for the previous month (30 FPS with 10 minute steps). This comes after the daily timelapse for the last day in the month.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Fixed remaining issues with the system to track if OctoCam goes into night mode early or leaves night mode late, it should be stable now
    • - OctoCam will properly route URLs with or without a forward slash (e.g. /archive and /archive/ are now valid for the archive)
  • build
    Version 2.3.2
    Released on September 10, 2022
    Version 2.3.2 includes better dynamic timing for night mode.

    New features:
    • - OctoCam can now delay exiting night mode on sunrise when the cloud cover is too high.
    • - Live weather and daily timelapse weather now indicates if night mode was turned off late, or turned on early.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Fixed issues with OctoCam not being able to fetch current weather when needed for entering night mode early - this has been resolved.
    • - Updated technical explanation for the latest details on how night mode works
  • build
    Version 2.3.1
    Released on August 31, 2022
    Version 2.3.1 of OctoCam makes timezone-specific fixes.

    New features:
    • - OctoCam's local time is now shown in the weather conditions box.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - OctoCam Weather Conditions now uses OctoCam's local timezone rather than your browsers timezone - this is to keep things consistent with the video library & archive library which uses OctoCam's local timezone.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.3.0
    Released on August 9, 2022
    Version 2.3.0 of OctoCam makes lots of improvements to lesser used areas of the OctoCam website for more unified and consistent experience, while making lots of notable improvements to OctoCam's systems.

    New features:
    • - OctoCam can now intelligently turn on night mode earlier at sunset if it's cloudy! Conditions are checked right at sunset, and if the cloud cover exceeds 80%, then early night mode is enabled.
    • - The OctoCam frontend has been updated so that OctoCam itself can inform the frontend when it goes into night mode early, updating the "Night mode ends at" time in current & historical weather on the fly.
    • - The status page has been entirely reworked to show 30 days of status with better formatting, and now shows what times images weren't captured at.
    • - The status page now loads a lot faster, thanks to refactoring of methods on the backend.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - OctoCam now turns off Full Night Mode 50 minutes before sunrise and Transition Night Mode 35 minutes before sunrise, as images were constantly getting blown out as the timings weren't low enough for sunrise.
    • - The status page now loads much, much faster (within about 2 seconds even with 30 seconds of data)
    • - A placeholder image is shown when the latest image couldn't be fetched by the backend.
    • - The backend is now checking for images of zero size hourly, which has been the cause of some timelapses being shortened on the website.
    • - The video compilation from Faraday Hall is now available in the archive.
    • - Other small changes and improvements.
  • build
    Version 2.2.1
    Released on July 4, 2022
    Version 2.2.1 rewrites the MMAL error detection system to hopefully reduce the number of bootloops.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Rewrote the MMAL error detection system to use a rolling average system to prevent erroneous reboots (and bootloops, during system upgrades OctoCam would repeatedly bootloop). Hopefully this makes things more reliable.
    • - Small fixes and changes with moving to the new location.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.2.0
    Released on May 17, 2022
    Version 2.2.0 of OctoCam introduces some new feaures, fixes some bugs, and makes numerous location-based adjustments to the system.

    New features:
    • - Automatic refreshing of the latest image has been vastly improved. Intervals for refreshing now adjust to which mode the camera is in for the fastest possible updates.
    • - Night Mode has been redone and features a new Transition Night Mode (TNM) and Full Night Mode (FNM). TNM is the default 1s shutter speed at ISO 200, lasting 25-40 minutes before sunrise/after sunset.
    • - Full Night Mode has been added with a 2s shutter speed at ISO 200 as the new location allows this. This vastly improves visibility of low-lying clouds, allows you to see Venus rise in the morning(!), and is active up until 40 minutes before sunrise, and 40 minutes after sunset.
    • - A basic image status page has been added for more insight into OctoCam's workings.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - Exposure compensation has been fully disabled from the new location.
    • - Fixed spacing issues in the timelapse library box
    • - Reorganized links in the about area (at some point I'll probably add a navbar to the site)
    • - OctoCam now reboots whenever there's an MMAL error and cannot capture images, and notifies admins accordingly. This should hopefully improve reliablity.
    • - All Spring 2022 timelapses now reside in the archive. Additionally, the top box on the archive has more detailed info about timelapses in the archive.
    • - Other small changes
  • build
    Version 2.1.2
    Released on March 14, 2022
    Version 2.1.2 of OctoCam fixes issues relating to an unstable internet connection which has been causing issues throughout the stack.

    New features:
    • - Diagnostic image upload delay data is now logged to troubleshoot issues.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - When fetching data from Dark Sky, OctoCam will retry multiple times before finally failing, increasing reliability.
    • - OctoCam can now recognize sunrise/sunset data that is not up to date, and use the timing data on future days even though it's not accurate. Basically, OctoCam can't get stuck in night mode (hopefully)
  • build
    Version 2.1.1
    Released on March 4, 2022
    Version 2.1.1 of OctoCam improves the timelapse weather feature with new data points.

    New features:
    • - Daily timelapse weather now features wind data for the day - including average wind speed, wind direction, maximum wind gust, and when that gust occurred.
    • - Daily timelapse weather includes snowfall accumulation data if there is data.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - You can mouse over or tap the wind direction icon to show detailed data about where the wind is coming from.
    • - Changelog now has icons denoting types of releases of OctoCam
    • - In the admin panel, the Delete and Download buttons are reversed for better usability.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.1.0
    Released on March 2, 2022
    Version 2.1.0 of OctoCam vastly improves the image & video pipelines, and makes fixes to the frontend.

    New features:
    • - Weather alerts are now shown 4 hours before their issue time as (Weather Alert) in effect starting (time)

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - OctoCam is now compressing images on the device! This will reduce the bandwidth impact of OctoCam. Upload times shouldn't be affected, and I'll watch the auto-refresh algorithm to see if changes need to be made.
    • - Vastly improved how videos are getting from the backend to the frontend.
    • - Public timelapses generated via the admin panel now have weather data automatically generated.
    • - Minor improvements across the UI.
  • build
    Version 2.0.1
    Released on February 26, 2022
    Version 2.0.1 of OctoCam makes lots of fixes to the current weather system.

    Improvements/bug fixes:
    • - OctoCam is now hiding weather alerts that haven't started yet.
    • - Dynamic rain icons depending on the precip rate
    • - Precip Rate text changes to Sleet Rate/Snowfall Rate depending on precip type.
    • - Added meta tags for rich embeds.
    • - Other small changes to refine the OctoCam website.
  • new_releases
    Version 2.0.0
    Released on February 21, 2022
    Version 2.0.0 of OctoCam introduces some of the biggest changes to the frontend since OctoCam started, vastly improving the user experience.

    New features:
    • - OctoCam now has current weather conditions! You can see the live conditions what OctoCam is seeing. Weather conditions also includes when night mode turns on/off for the day, any active weather alerts, and precipitation rates with appropriate snow/sleet liquid ratios. Data is updated every 5 minutes.
    • - Weather conditions are now attached to timelapses! Each timelapse has the condition summary for the day visible, with more detailed weather data available when you open up the collapsible.
    • - You can now download timelapses from the public/archived pages.
    • - A changelog page now shows all the changes to OctoCam (since there's quite a lot).
    • - Added separate data retention policy box on the homepage.

    Improvements/changes:
    • - Image retention policy has changed. 60 days of all images are now retained, 120 days of images on the 1 minute are retained. Images taken every hour are permanently retained.
    • - More consistent time formatting is now being applied across the entire website.
    • - The admin page will now be able to fully manage timelapses that are on the public page. Finally.
    • - The admin page now requires confirmation to delete a timelapse.
    • - About/technical details are more concise

    Deprecated/removed features:
    • - Auto-generated timelapses on the admin page are no longer being generated.