Low budget but good resolution camera for day and night time image capture

Other Hardware Home Automation
1

I am developing low-budget Arduino project to

  1. Find if any living object (dog, cat, anyone) is in-front of my door (4-5 meter radius) even in the dark night. I am just interested in the presence of any living object. I will be checking inputs once every 5 seconds.

  2. Good camera to capture image in day time (4-5 meter range from door) - I set up the OV7670 but the image quality is not good enough.

I am planning to use ESP32 and Arduino Uno (ATMEGA328P) for wifi to transfer images to my PC and then all heavy image computation/processing will happen on the PC.

I looked for options online, but most of them suggest Raspberry PI, and related camera and IR module which are costly. I am not able to convince myself for Pi as all image processing will happen on the PC.

Please suggest to Uno compatible

  1. Cheap but good resolution camera for day time - range 4-5 meters, 90 -180 degree, image will be taken once every five seconds
  2. IR module for night time process to find living objects in 4-5 meter range - image will be taken once every five seconds.

Thanks

2

Since the ESP32-CAM is so cheap, it is worth a try.

It is possible to remove the IR filter for use with IR illumination at night, and images can be directly transferred to the PC via WiFi.

3

Ah, good resolution, good in daylight, good at night and cheap.

Doubt you can have all of them.

But thats just guesswork on my part, I have no idea at all what you mean by 'low budget' or 'costly'.

4

Why? The Pi is capable of doing all the image processing. Then your PC isn't stuck watching for animals on the doorstep, all day and all night.

1 Like
5

+1 on the Pi.

The Pi is a very common choice for taking pictures from high altitude balloons, if there was a better and 'low budget' Arduino option, one wonders why that is not used instead.

6

You can try esp32 camera it can work

Also if you want to detect object with camera
You can also use ultrasonic sensor with the camera which will work great together

2 Likes
8

I am planning to use my existing AWS EC2 t4 once prototype is complete on PC (which just costed me $50 for 3 years and I using already it for one another purpose). PC will take rest after development :slight_smile:

9

Have fun!

10

thanks Krishna. Ultrasonic sensor is new to me. I was looking IR so far. With 10 minute googling, I can find that HC-SR04 is cheap and has 400 cm range (just bordor) and US-100 Ultrasonic Sensor has 450 cm. I will check for US-100.

11

Adafruit PIR sensor 6 meters, $10

1 Like
12

Pi is costing me around $100. I am looking for project under $40-50 itself and i have already purchased Arduino.

13

Post #2 , $11

14

Is this a security project which really need to fit on main door?

1 Like
15

So why does this need to be 'low budget', whatever that means ?

For most all hobby projects it makes a lot of sense to stick to known proven stuff that works, such as the Pi. The small extra cost here in not an issue for a one off project.

Is this a commercial project you are designing ?

16

Yes Krishna. I am planning to set it near main door.

17

I am planning to personal usecase and learning. But if like it, will like to move ahead for commercial project.

18

Great then

But if you are really looking for a great security project I would suggest you the following

If you are really great concern of security than I will suggest you two ideas

Gsm module with camera with ultrasonic sensor with esp32 with motion sensor

Cheaper one
Without gsm module

3 Likes
19

Well, good luck.

As has been mentioned a few times, the obvious candidtate for this type of application was the ESP32CAM.

Was the video quality of the ESP32CAM not good enough ?

20

I haven't tried ESP32CAM so far. I will try this.

21

Hi, is there any cheaper way for thermal imaging/camera for night time. MLX90614ESF Infrared IR Temperature Sensor Module is just ~$10, but it will just give temperature of near object than complete thermal image. MLX90640 IR Array Thermal Imaging Camera (~$90) and AMG8833 IR 8x8 Thermal Imager (~ $40) are costly. I am looking for something around $10-$15.