Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera opens new doors for DIY projects

Tiny, super-affordable Raspberry Pi computers have always been ideal for home improvement projects, but with the addition of a new high-quality camera this week, they’re becoming a better foundation for projects like home security and wildlife surveillance in the backyard.

The previous 8 megapixel camera option was nothing special, but the new one $ 50 Raspberry Pi high quality camera uses a Sony IMX477 image sensor with 12 megapixels and more than twice the light collection surface for better image quality. You have to buy lenses separately, e.g. B. the models with 25 6 mm or 50 16 mm, but standard is used C and CS mount lenses of surveillance cameras for more options.

As with Raspberry Pi itself, there is no shortage of possible projects. They are not for everyone. However, Raspberry Pi computers can be great for getting creative, learning how things work, and getting hands-on knowledge of hardware and software development.

Here are some ideas listed in the appendix Raspberry Pi Camera Guide, available as a book or as a free download:

• A time-lapse camera that takes periodic pictures that can later be converted into video so you can speed up slow real events like blooming flowers or flowers Sourdough yeast rises.
• A backyard wildlife camera that tries to identify the contents of a video using Google image processing and automatically tweets a clip.
• A high-speed camera that records videos at 120 frames per second and is triggered when an infrared beam is interrupted.
• A stop motion camera for step-by-step animations.
• A spy camera activated by an infrared light motion detector.
• An infrared bird box camera for tracking birds’ domestic life.

Some people are already working on projects like a Raspberry Pi handheld camera, Attaching professional SLR camera lenses and Streaming backyard birds on YouTube. Another idea: one automatic dartboard game scorer.

The top-class Raspberry Pi computer costs $ 55

The current Raspberry Pi 4 Models cost around $ 35 for a model with 2 GB of storage and $ 55 for 4 GB. However, there are other older and cheaper alternatives. These are bare credit card-sized boards powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Broadcom BCM2711 processor and accompanied by useful electronics: four USB ports, two mini-HDMI ports for connecting displays and an SD card slot for storage, an Ethernet socket, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. They usually run that Raspbian version of Linux.

Enclosures, power supplies, keyboards, mice and other accessories cost extra. You can also add a variety of HAT devices (short for “hardware on top”), e.g. As sensors, buttons, LEDs or other devices that are connected to the array of the Pi input / output pins.

The computers were developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK nonprofit that works to ensure that students and others who may not be able to afford the latest MacBook bring computers to life. It also encourages people to take out their soldering irons, 3D printers, and other hardware for Raspberry Pi-based projects like Cat tachometer, Hamster feeder and even Miniature supercomputer clusters. From 2019 more than 30 million Raspberry Pi computers have been sold.

You can buy Raspberry Pi computers and accessories at a number of locations, including Adafruit Industries, PiShop, the Pi hat and Avnet daughter Newark Electronics. Some products are currently out of stock.

“Over the next few weeks, tens of thousands more will hit the market,” said Liz Upton, spokeswoman for the Raspberry Pi Foundation an online comment. “We didn’t really expect to sell through on the first day – they were popular!”