Pi Camera
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
Paquicamus " richardbowman commented 5 days ago @kgradow1, thank you for your information and link. I will try and follow the directions. At the moment, I am ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
richardbowman "@kgradow1, you're dead right - the pitch of the pixels on the camera module (v2) is 1.12um so the fine particles do show up as little dots. Fun fa..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
kgradow1 "Paquicamus, there are a number of adapters that are available through Thingiverse to connect the Raspberry Pi camera to a stereo microscope, for in..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
kgradow1 "That's really helpful, thank you! I feel like I need to reread and synthesize this a bit, since I still have a very rudimentary idea of how micro..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
stevie "Wow that's great information. Thanks for posting! " | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "Hi @Holger -- hope things are going well. We'd still love to see your work republished here if you're interested. Especially interested in stage co..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
richardbowman "Hey, nice work! I thought I'd chime in with some information about tube length in case it's helpful. You're right that most RMS microscope object..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "I got this running -- it was pretty simple to change a couple files in the boot drive. But I found that it wasn't easy to just connect via a web br..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "We found that for WiFi networks with no password, you can get it to log into any open network with: network={ key_mgmt=NONE priority=-999 ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
Paquicamus "Hi there, what a great project! I have a question, in a certain way related to your article. Would it be possible to connect or adapt your work to ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
stevie "Just built it - So awesome! This kit is really fun. Love it. I might suggest a piece of double sided sticky tape to stick the Rasberry Pi to the b..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
wmacfarl "@warren @kgradow1 @bmela It wouldn't be hard to print out adapters for the v1.3 camera instead of the v2 camera -- the way the OpenFlexure project ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "@wmacfarl @kgradow1 @bmela " | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "Hi, we're trying to use Raspberry Pi's v1.3 cameras, and the lens adapters don't fit the placement of cables and components on those, but it looks ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
stevie "Hi! I noticed on your last photo you also have a rubber band across the bottom of the scope. What does that one do? Oh nice add-on with the magnet..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
stevie "This is so great. I don't even have one in front of me, and I can follow along. Nice work! if you're switching out the objectives, do you have tho..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
cedarlodge "It would use the USB port. The zero is wired to draw power through it as well as data. I've just enabled it on the Pi zero i'm using at work. You ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "OMG I know what you mean, @wmacfarl and I have been talking about how one tiny thing can ruin your whole day when working with Raspberry Pis. And I..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "Awesome!!! We're going to start distributing these with buttons and low-profile batteries soon at http://store.publiclab.org so including a button ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
cedarlodge "Have got it to work before in a pi zero (no WiFi). Key thing is to make sure the micro usb you use is also a data cable. That’s one very frustratin..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
cedarlodge "Here’s a basic guide to adding a tactile button to the GPIO pins: https://www.modmypi.com/blog/tutorial-tactile-switch For a neater package, i’d ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "Hi @Holger -- actually that would be super to see them -- we're particularly interested in the lego one, but any of your microscope projects would ..." | Read more » almost 7 years ago
Holger "Hi there, my apologies, but I have not been here for a while. If you like, any of my projects published on instructables could be reposted as activ..." | Read more » almost 7 years ago
warren "Just copying the files in here as a backup! hackteria_modified_for_cut.pdf hacktera_modified_exported.svg Hackteria_Microscope_Modified_for_p..." | Read more » almost 7 years ago