Digital Camera using Arduino!

Projects General Guidance
1

I was just thinking to make a digital camera with picture and video capabilities using an Classic Arduino (or an ESP32-CAM/RPi Pico). Obviously it would not be equal to the professional DSLR cameras but atleast come a bit close to it.

I know that a RPi is better suited for this purpose but I want to keep the price point as low as possible.

I was thinking to use OV7670 but that has a very bad resolution. ESP-32 CaM I think has a better resolution.

I want to take a picture with flash when I click a button. Or start recording a video when I click a push button. I am not that strong at programming, can you help me program the board also when I buy and setup all the hardware?
I also want flash. How can I add a Flash? Will a white LED serve the purpose?

I would also save the pic/video to a SD card.... I also want to display the video to a TFT display. I think this is a bit hard for a microcontroller, but I think nothing is impossible.

Can you give me your suggestions/advice on this project?

2

the ESP32Cam sounds like it is just what you need

BTW - I have a demo sketch you may like to have a look at - GitHub - alanesq/esp32cam-demo: esp32cam module demo / shows how you can easily use the esp32cam including reading raw rgb data, streaming, displaying the image etc.(ArduinoIDE or PlatformIO)

3

Really? :roll_eyes:

4

I would try to get as close as possible...That's why I want your suggestions :slight_smile:

Just a doubt: What are the differences between these two camera modules:

image
image1000×1000 41.7 KB
VS.
image
image1000×1000 50.6 KB

I also want to keep the price point below $15. :thinking:

5

I might be able to get a reasonable digital camera for less than $100. You want to approximate this with $15? :roll_eyes:

Of course this depends on what you mean by a "digital camera". My $99 "tablet" computer does have two cameras which are of course, the same sort of thing as those you illustrate here as modules.

6

I'm pretty sure you can download the specs. For what you're doing, you would want to go into more detail than what people would post here.

7

I read the specs but they seem very similar to me when I read it.... Both are 0.3MP CMOS VGA...

8

Then you answered your own question.

9

Sorry but I couldn't understand what are you trying to say in your first paragraph...

I'm still a school student so I can't go above 20$ max.

Regarding your tablet, does it have 0.3MP cameras? I presume this is what you told in the 2nd para

Regards.

10

Not likely. Not since about 10 years ago. Even the most humble ticky-tack web cam is now much better than that. Those are at best, security cameras.

11

Yes I know that, today some mobiles are available that has a whopping 108MP camera...

Regards.

12

So, is this project for you, or are you trying to make a product?

13

Obviously for personal use, why would I make a product?

14

Ask Canon or Nikon? If I were making one for myself, I would want it to make pictures I could actually use.

15

Also, this is never going to happen on this forum. It's a self help place. If you get your hardware and write something for it, you can post your actual project and get help with it.

16

The way to approach this, is to build each part of the project and test it separately. For example, get an SD card, download and test a library for it, then the TFT, and so on... then put it all together. It will give you something to do while you think about the entire design.