You will still have to write a lot of code, just to get a series of still images (not video, by any definition).
I know that's the only way expect to buy a kit. But if I buy a kit, it is just ready, I want to work on it because I get bored every weekend, my project is not something that needs to be done quickly, it has no deadline.
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Have fun!
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Thanks, you too.
The ESP32CAM comes with and uses an Ov2640 Camera.
See here for using LoRa details;
However, using a LoRa device with an ESP32CAM is not so easy if you also want to use the SD card, for saving images for instance, though it is possible. The problem here is that you have to mix the available spare pins which are used by the SD card with those needed by the LoRa device.
Much easier to use the SEEED ESP32S3 Sense, which also has the OV2640 camera and SD card, but still has plenty of spare IO pins even when the camera and SD card are in use.
Okay, I am going to get the LoRa module and the SEEED ESP32S3 Sense (because it is smaller and like you said still has plenty of spare IO pins even when the camera and SD card are in use)
Looks like I am going to try it after 3-2 weeks because Aliexpress takes forever to ship... "sigh"
Thanks for your advice and everyone else.
The SEEED ESP32S3 Sense board does have one drawback, the RESET and BOOT buttons are very small and a bit fiddly to access.
However SEEED do publish the schematic of the board so you could replicate all the device connections on a breadboard using a standard, and much bigger, ESP32S3 development board.
There are breakout boards for the OV2640 camera connector and 3.3V logic level SD modules are easy to find. The OV2640 camera does need 1.3V and 2.8V supplies from regulators.
so like do I get the esp32 cam or the SEEED ESP32S3
That depends.
The ESP32CAM is chronically short of spare IO pins, if your absolutly sure you wont need additional IOs in the future then it can work with LoRa modeuls or an NRF24 if someone wrote the code.
Edit:
An additional caveat is whether you might want to use the SD card on the ESP32CAM. I found that, for image transfer applications, running the SD card in SPI mode and also the LoRa device in SPI mode was not that reliable, the SD card would fail at some point.
As default the ESP32CAM uses the SD card in MMC mode which uses a fixed pin hardware interface on the ESP32, maybe the developers of the ESP32CAM went MMC mode for a reason.
I think I am going to stay with the esp32 cam because I only need to connect it to the LoRa and I don't need the SD card. If I want to save a picture to the SD card, is that possible, or is it read-only?
The ESP32CAM by default uses the SD card in MMC mode and whilst its possible to mix that with an SPI radio module its not straight forward.
Not tried the ESP32CAM SD card in SPI mode, but if it works and is reliable there is just, and only just, enough pins to also use an SPI radio module.
I am going to go with the esp32 cam. I don't need to use the SD card reader. And if I get the LoRa, what is the code gonna be?
Maybe take a look at the link provided earlier .........
I checked the link but it didnt give out any code for transmitting the image/stream.
I am working on a similiar project like you, if you still hadn't bought the LoRa module, you can check out this video which shows the transmission of video at a good speed wirelessly between esp32 and esp32-cam. I don't know if it is begin transmitted by a server or something else, but you can learn more by this and save money
Hello @zombie_crumble, thank you for sending the video.
But the problem is that it needs wifi, and my project that I made is all using radio technology, so if I go somewhere to use my project and there is no internet, the camera won't work. But I am going to use the WiFi solution for now. Also, I haven't bought the LoRa module.
But how can I use a smaller display, I have the ST7735 1.8" Color TFT Display, it looks very similar to the 3.2 inch TFT display used in the video.
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