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Is taking photos with a phone not satisfying enough, and carrying a DSLR too heavy?
Try making a Raspberry Pi retro camera that allows you to write your own processing algorithms —
with a cost of less than 700 yuan.
That’s right, it looks great, and the photos taken can also impress:
You can also quickly get started making one.
How to Make a Raspberry Pi Retro Camera
Currently, the camera’s code, hardware list, STL files (for 3D printing), and circuit diagram are all open source.
First, let’s look at the hardware part.
The hardware list for this retro camera is as follows:
Raspberry Pi Zero W (with microSD card), Raspberry Pi HD lens module, 16mm 10-megapixel telephoto lens, 2.2-inch TFT display, TP4056 micro USB battery charger, MT3608, 2000mAh lithium battery, power switch, shutter button, Dupont wires, 3D printed camera shell, black leather patch (optional)
As for the 3D printed camera shell, the author has already open-sourced the required STL files for immediate printing.
Once you have all the materials, you can quickly get started making it~
The internal circuit diagram looks like this:
The specific pinout is as follows:
Once set up, the overall circuit looks like this:
With the 3D shell (sprayed with silver paint) and lens added, a simple Raspberry Pi retro camera is completed.
As for the software part, it is also very simple.
First, burn the Raspberry Pi operating system onto the microSD card and add the following code to the configuration file.
//Add the following code to config.txt
gpu_mem=256
dtoverlay=rpi-display
display_rotate=2
Second, after the Raspberry Pi camera starts, execute the following script:
from gpiozero import Button
from picamera import PiCamera
import time
button = Button(26)
with PiCamera() as camera:
camera.resolution = (4056, 3040)
camera.framerate = 5
frame = int(time.time())
camera.start_preview()
while True:
button.wait_for_press()
camera.capture('/home/pi/Pictures/%03d.jpg' % frame)
frame += 1
That’s it for this part.
Of course, you can further modify the code to add other modules you want, including custom image processing algorithms, WiFi image auto-transfer, etc.
So, what is the use of such a retro camera?
“With Raspberry Pi, Anything Can Be Made”
The author’s reasoning is simple: he never waited for the same camera to come out.
Last year, the official Raspberry Pi released a new Pi HQ Camera lens module, which he found very appealing.
However, half a year passed, and no one used it to DIY a camera, so he had to do it himself.
Once the retro camera came out, it unexpectedly became quite popular.
A netizen expressed some interest. This camera just solves his problem of not being able to take good photos with his phone while not wanting to carry a mirrorless/DSLR camera.
But he also raised a few questions:
First, the Raspberry Pi’s startup time is too long, which may cause him to miss what he wants to shoot; second, does the 2000mAh battery last long enough?
However, immediately a netizen pointed out: this is a programmable camera!
This means that a faster startup can be achieved through buildroot (a framework for building embedded Linux systems).
As for battery capacity, it can also be replaced with a larger one at any time.
In addition to taking photos, netizens have also come up with creative ideas, thinking of using the Raspberry Pi camera to make an “automatic homework scanner.”
If you take a random photo with the camera, and the Raspberry Pi is equipped with an AI model, it can automatically adjust the paper’s brightness, remove shadows, etc. Wouldn’t that be very convenient?
Moreover, this Raspberry Pi retro camera has also sparked hardcore DIY enthusiasts for astrophotography.
This netizen posted his astronomy camera made from a Raspberry Pi, star sensors, and optical devices:
Although the appearance of the device is plain, the results are unexpectedly good:
With Raspberry Pi, indeed, anything can be made.
About the Author
The author of the Raspberry Pi retro camera, Penk Chen, currently resides in Tokyo and describes himself as a “popular engineer” who enjoys DIY projects with various small parts.
This camera, named RUHAcam, is a small gift he made for his girlfriend Ruha Cheng, named after her.
Are you feeling a bit tempted? Hurry up and give it a try~
RUHAcam project address:https://github.com/penk/ruha.camera
References:[1]https://penk.medium.com/ [2]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26859058 [3]https://terramex.neocities.org/astro/ [4]https://ruha.camera/
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