Take HD photos and save to SD card

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

I would like to take some HD pictures and save them to a SD card with my arduino. Is that possible at all?
I've found this: Projects of max246: Take a picture with Arduino
This is what I'm looking for just I would like to get better images. I tried to find camera sensors with higher quality but couldn't find any.
I would love to have a sensor like in mobile phones, for example in my Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Do all cameras use the same protocol? Or what are the most common?

Thanks for all suggestions

2

You don't need an arduino to do this, just a digital camera :stuck_out_tongue:

3

and control the shutter with an Arduino ( for time lapsing etc)

4

This comes up frequently. The usual answer is the Arduino is challenged to do this by being so slow and not having enough memory. On some cameras, like the one you linked to, you can take a picture, and then busily read the image and store it directly to the SD card, but it can be rather slow.

So what can you do?

One approach is just to use a camera that writes to the SD card in the first place. With higher end cameras, you can have the Arduino simulate the camera's wired/wireless shutter release, and tell the camera to take a picture. For cheaper cameras, you could use a servo to press the shutter. Or if you didn't mind modding the camera, you could do it this way: http://www.instructables.com/id/Time-Lapse-Photography/step3/Press-my-buttons/.

One place that talks about modifying cameras to take pictures for a given trigger is: http://www.diytrailcams.com/

5

maybe I should have told a bit more about my idea..
I want to fit it all into a ball so you can throw the ball up and at the highest point it will take a photo..

6

Well, you won't know you are at the highest point until you are no longer at the highest point.

If you don't need more than 1920×1080 resolution, the simplest approach is probably put a pinhole video camera in the ball, and then use software to select the image at the highest point to get a 1920x1080 image (or 1280x720, etc. depending on your camera).

7

yes but I think I should get pretty close results :slight_smile:
the proof of the pudding is in the eating :wink:

that would maybe work, but I think it would be easier to just trigger the camera in the right moment

8

It all depends on the camera. If you are going to use an Arduino, you realistically can only take one picture (by the time the Arduino is done reading the bits, the ball presumably has landed). Many of the non-video cameras have the ability to take multiple shots, so you could take 3 shots or so when it is up there. I've seen other people do this by setting the camera delay (2 or 10 seconds), and just toss the camera up in the air.

9

yes maybe it's really easier to buy a camera and dissasemlbe it and then trigger it with arduino. I'm looking at some keychain cameras right now

10

no need to dissassemble, many HD cameras have a remote (wired or wireless) option, hacking the remote is easier.. and not so expensive when it fails :wink:

11

yes but as I plan to fit in a tennis ball sized jumping ball I will need to disassemble it for space reasons..

12

this one would be perfect:

but it can't take any pictures, video only