Pi Camera
activity:pi-camera

This page collects different ways to use Raspberry Pi computer boards (and related boards) to make small, cheap, lightweight cameras for different purposes, including #aerial-mapping, #balloon-mapping, #kite-mapping, #timelapse and #spectrometry. ## Raspberry Pi Simple Camera Kit We've [been working on some software](https://github.com/publiclab/image-builder-rpi/) for this widely used mini camera-and-computer in a tiny box (especially the lightweight "Zero W" model) to make it available with a **pre-flashed SD card** that turns this into a **ready-to-use WiFi enabled camera**. This gets over many of the barriers of using the regular Raspberry Pi kit and having to do a lot of programming/installing to get it running. We've managed to get a **plug and play** version running! Just plug it in using a Micro USB cable (or battery pack) and it'll create a WiFi network called "00PiCamera" -- password "publiclab" -- which you can log into from your phone or laptop. You'll quickly see streaming video, be able to take photos, timelapses, or videos, do motion triggered capture, and more: * [Pi Camera Kit](https://store.publiclab.org/products/raspberry-pi-camera) * [Infragram Pi Camera Kit](https://store.publiclab.org/products/infragram-pi-camera) * our [Microscope Pi kits](https://store.publiclab.org/collections/microscopes) use this as well * [Pre-flashed SD cards for Raspberry Pi cameras](https://store.publiclab.org/products/pi-builder-cards) * combine with (maybe?) [CR123a lithium battery](https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=cr123a) (and tell us how that goes!) For more on the open source Pi Builder software that made this possible, [see this blog post](/notes/icarito/10-21-2018/introducing-pi-builder) and [troubleshoot on this wiki page](/pi-builder) [notes:grid:activity:pi-camera-setup] **** ## Questions Questions can be either frequently asked questions, or "next step" challenges we're looking to solve. [questions:pi-camera] ## Activities Activities show how to use this project, step by step. [activities:pi-camera] **** ### Resources * Camera module http://m.e-cantonfair.com/#/product/552106 * Focus tricks https://raspi.tv/2013/adapt-your-raspberry-pi-camera-for-close-up-use * Very detailed documentation https://elinux.org/Rpi_Camera_Module * Datasheets and very detailed documentation on v1 camera: https://github.com/techyian/MMALSharp/wiki/OmniVision-OV5647-Camera-Module * Datasheets and very detailed documentation on v2 camera: https://github.com/techyian/MMALSharp/wiki/Sony-IMX219-Camera-Module...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
mcmseves "hi all! I downloaded the image successfully and get to connect to the wifi. the problem is that neither the popup nor the browser are allowing me t..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
liz "Great to hear from you @thechan ! Please do share your experiences....maybe give that "I did this" blue button up there a click! " | Read more » almost 4 years ago
thechan "I just flashed the latest image onto a Pi Zero W and the browser livestream works as advertised. That's super cool and exciting. I'll be sending it..." | Read more » almost 4 years ago
Grigory "Hi, сolleagues. Does this camera need to remove the IR unit? " | Read more » about 4 years ago
hengrumay "Hi -- Went through the assembly instructions, briefly got it to work by securing the ribbons with the black bars (instructions not clear) but don't..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
Teja123 "-Really like the interface, just fine tuning its application. -After a little experimentation, the interface can capture/load large format images i..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
MaggPi "@icarito Thx for the information! -Really like the interface, just fine tuning its application. -After a little experimentation, the interface ca..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
warren "Looks like it worked well! " | Read more » over 4 years ago
icarito "Oh also I was looking for references and found here that you could also try gpu_mem=256. " | Read more » over 4 years ago
icarito "Hi! Pi Builder itself is the recipe for building the customized Operating System image that we distribute, a version of which bundles the RPi-Cam-W..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
js7520047 "Perfect Article! Got to Understand The Topic Very Well, Glad You Shared it. you are doing a great job Thank You! You can check out the Best Hublot ..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
MaggPi "Hi, I am trying to download high resolution PI camera V1.3 images but Pi Builder locks up or produces files with no data. Is there a setting for..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
warren "Hi Sairam, this could be the camera cable getting disconnected, can you try checking all the ribbon cables? " | Read more » over 4 years ago
warren "Ok, I'm sorry this is taking so long. I found some command line instructions for Mac OS, the basic issue is that the partition is in a format (ext ..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
liz "I did this! Here's what i changed: - the cord on the battery was so short i had to velcro it directly on top of the flap that the camera was velcro..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
molangmuir10 "I'm OS Mojave 10.14, this is what comes up on the SD card... " | Read more » over 4 years ago
silentsairam "I could see only 1 partition on my Laptop. OS: Windows 7. Will test with Linux tomorrow and update. " | Read more » over 4 years ago
warren "Oh hm..... maybe there's an issue with the drive format! Ugh... i think there should be 2 partitions that show up. But maybe your computer can't re..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
molangmuir10 "Hi @silentsairam I did all of those steps but it didn't work! I think @warren is right - although it is strange that when I test ran it I could dow..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
silentsairam "Hi @warren When I recently tried connecting to Camera Module with RPi, I shows the below message as in image. Is the fault in Camera module or sho..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
silentsairam "Hi @warren @molangmuir10 Connect to the Network as the same with Rpi. Click on Download Images and Videos from SD card. I used San Disk 16GB A1 ..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
warren "Hi, sorry I missed this one too, but glad it worked! I've usually seen it take about five minutes so I was surprised to hear 30m. But also, we copi..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
warren "Hi! Ok not sure what's happening but it's some issue with the camera software we chose. I'll try to take a look later today but the easiest thing a..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
molangmuir10 "Hey @warren! I did a test using the r-pi to take photos in my room, downloaded the images and it worked fine. I then did a mapping with a school la..." | Read more » over 4 years ago