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dragon

Oct 31, 2022
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heres a picture of an esp32 cam.

campic.png

Can u just get the camera sensor (the lens) without the microcontroller (the esp32) and use it without the microcontroller?

Is there some pinout somewhere for it? and does anyone know in general how they operate?

It has a big parallel input into it, are the most the "wires" there to put the camera pixels out in parallel?
 
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Harald Kapp

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The camera is easily available, e.g. here. Use it without microcontroller: no. You'll need some kind of controller to set up the camera and read the data. The ESP32CAM module really makes this easy. See e.g. here for a video streaming application.
A datasheet can be found e.g. here under "documentations" incl. a description of the interface.
 

dragon

Oct 31, 2022
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Thanks for the link!!!

Would an arduino be able to read from the the little pins on the camera the same as any other microcontroller?
 

Bluejets

Oct 5, 2014
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Probably best to say just what it is you have in mind to use the camera for.

There are heaps of miniature cameras around , for example the ones used in r/c aircraft etc which are cheap enough to experiment with, will adapt to tx rx systems fairly easily.
 

dragon

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I can put the esp32 wholey in the system, but I dont want to do it if I dont have to, because there is too much space takeup, and getting the cameras for 3 bucks each is better than 30 bucks. so I need to know what the lines going into the camera are, so I can directly link to it instead.

There was a thing from Mike's electric stuff where he showed an I/O diagram of the camera module itself, and it looks like u just feed an oscillator into it, and then the colours spit out of another wire, but thats all I know at this stage.

The cameras purpose is a hand sized drone... so I need it nice and small without a big load of features I dont need plugged onto it for no reason.
 
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dragon

Oct 31, 2022
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just found something more what im looking for, its alot cheaper with less features.
(external oscillator and microcontroller.)

OV 7670 Colour Camera and how I got it working with MikroC Pro for Pic32​


youtube code-> gp0FxbEmRSw
 
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kellys_eye

Jun 25, 2010
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I've had success with camera modules from old laptops - they are invariably USB (4-wires).
 

dragon

Oct 31, 2022
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Oh cool.
So could you describe a procedure you went through to get one functioning, and what are the 4 wires? if u have the time?
 

dragon

Oct 31, 2022
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So the camera only has a single data wire and it just spits it out as soon as u add power?
 

kellys_eye

Jun 25, 2010
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The data is as per the USB standard (whatever the camera is built as i.e. USB 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 etc) - information on the USB standard is pretty widely available as are USB-to-Wifi modules if you want to transmit the signal.
 

HANKMARS

Jul 28, 2019
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Since we are on camera topic, I still desire to have a device that will readily recognize and display thermal regions. I was at Seeds and they do sell thermal imaging cameras. Is there that much difference in the photo sensor chip (plate?) that a minor modification could not take a visible light sensor and extract IR data? I actually do not need camera capabilities. Just a viewing visor would be fine. Practical uses of mine are to observe exterior house walls to evaluate heat loss. Another is to observe the heating of exhaust headers on gasoline engines. Simple tasks, I had thot. I am truly amazed by my hundred dollar fuji digital, 15 year old camera. I made a quick calc the other day and came up with a figure of no less than 10,000 photos have streamed out of my fuji. Not until just a couple years ago did I discover that there can be data recorded that I will not see unless photo data is manipulated in a photo editor. In example; I was editing a photo of a lunar eclipse when suddenly the background was flooded with starlight. At that level, the moon image was whited and distorted but that can be easily remedied. So how can I get 2000 dollar thermal images from a salvaged generic security camera. Sacrifice some unused batteries to the shutter god? Maybe it can not be done but it's worth a look. During initial attempt, I had imagined that I could somehow sort out thermal signatures and subsequentially write a program that made visual ID practical. I am still nurturing that notion a little. No biggie. I am indeed trying to bypass the expense of new product purchases, which as of yet is not criminal.
 

kellys_eye

Jun 25, 2010
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The thermal infra red that true 'night vision' (the likes that FLiR manufacture) is beyond the spectrum of the receptors in most ordinarly digital cameras. True, such ordinary cameras are sensitive to IR but in a very limited sense. What makes it more complicated is that the lenses also have to be 'thermally transparent' and much of the cost is down to having to use special glass to make the lenses.

Improving light sensitivity by extending the shutter opening time is old hat and [practised by many astro photographers - I was modifying webcams decades ago for such functionality - but since the inception of astro photography purpose-made cameras now flood the market and you'd be hard pressed to manufacture one yourself that can equal or exceed their potential.

The cheaper thermal imaging cameras have very basic sensors - some as low as 32x32 pixels whilst, as you'll be aware, decent detailed images will require 640x480 as a minimum. Scale up that 32x32 sensor that sets you back $100 to 640x480 and you can also see where the costs are.

I'm sure, like all technology, they'll come down in price eventually but the market is currently limited and the progress is slow. Indeed, I want a PTZ FLiR-type CCTV camera to see what's going on in the woods surrounding me (and to follow my cats!) but even second hand they are in the £1,000's range. One day maybe......
 

dragon

Oct 31, 2022
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Is there a usb camera module arduino driver program that u can download somewhere?
 

HANKMARS

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Is there a usb camera module arduino driver program that u can download somewhere?
Guido is a host for live webinarDR DUINO 2.1.pngs (?).for a Dr. Duino. He deals with arduino devices I think. Personally, I do not know.
 
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bertus

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Hello,

There seem to be several cameras for arduino.
The following page shows you a kind of top 10:

Bertus
 

kellys_eye

Jun 25, 2010
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If there is an Arduino routine for dealing with raw video (CVBS) then look for a car reversing camera or similar. These cameras are about 12mm diameter/long and operate from 12V delivering a reasonable quality signal for 'pennies'. You can get a complete system with video display for [imath]25 or a camera on its own for under[/imath]10.
 

dragon

Oct 31, 2022
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thankyou. looks like im in luck then, and i should get a nice compact solution much more compact than the esp32cam.
 
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