{"id":657780,"date":"2013-05-14T05:58:15","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T09:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betanews.com\/?p=150213"},"modified":"2013-05-14T05:58:15","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T09:58:15","slug":"raspberry-pis-camera-board-now-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/657780","title":{"rendered":"Raspberry Pi\u2019s camera board now available"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Raspberry Pi, the popular credit card-sized ARM GNU\/Linux computer, now has a camera add-on. A year in the making, the camera board consists of a small lens on a chip around the size of a postage stamp, attached to a flex cable.<\/p>\n

Connecting the module is just a matter of opening the camera port on the Raspberry Pi (it\u2019s situated between the Ethernet and HDMI ports) and inserting the flex. The process is a little fiddly, but easy enough.<\/p>\n

The camera module is very sensitive to static electricity so you\u2019ll need to be careful when getting it out of the box and handling it in general.<\/p>\n

Once connected, fire up the Pi, make sure you\u2019re running the latest firmware, and access the configuration settings by entering: “sudo raspi-config”.<\/p>\n

Navigate to \u201cCamera\u201d in the menu and enable the board.<\/p>\n

Naturally, taking shots with the camera isn\u2019t as easy as simply pressing a button. There are three applications provided: raspistill, raspivid and raspistillyuv and to use them you have to enter some commands. For example, “raspistill -o image.jpg” will capture an image, while “raspivid -o video.h264 -t 10000” will record a ten second video (without sound).<\/p>\n

The camera can stream video over a network on Linux, Windows and OS X.<\/p>\n

Although the module is a 5-megapixel camera capable of capturing 1080p video, the quality of the shots generally aren\u2019t amazing, but you can improve the results by tweaking elements like sharpness, contrast, brightness, saturation, and ISO, all using commands. You can also turn off the Automatic White Balance and choose a mode like Sun (for shooting on sunny days), Cloud, Shade, and Fluorescent.<\/p>\n

There are various effects available too, such as Posterize, Watercolor, Oilpaint and Sketch.<\/p>\n

To encourage creativity, and show other users what\u2019s possible, there\u2019s a Photography Competition available to enter<\/a> now.<\/p>\n

You can order the board from RS Components<\/a> or Premier Farnell\/Element14<\/a> in the UK, and it\u2019s priced at \u00a316.56 plus postage. At the moment it’s showing as out of stock, but more should be arriving soon. US customers should keep an eye on the Allied Electronics site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you own a Raspberry Pi do you plan on getting the new camera module?<\/p>\n