Raspberry Pi Gets an 8-megapixel Sony Camera Upgrade

Raspberry Pi – Various Restores, Camera Module Unchanged

Since its launch three years ago, though Raspberry Pi had undergone various restores, its first official accessory, a 5-megapixel OmniVision camera module tends to remain unchanged. That is owing to the Raspberry Pi Foundation together with its partners buying a massive amount of sensors that are not only keeping the price low but also permits it to have surplus of stock for the future. As per CEO Eben Upton, those reserves seem to be running low and it is time to show off the new merchandise, two new cameras powered a Sony IMX219 8-megapixel sensor.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation like several of the big smartphone and tablet makers has been using Sony’s mobile imaging smarts for its new visible-light as well as infrared cameras. The IMX219 tends to have a fixed focus sensor which has the potential of outputting 3280 x 2464 photos and 1080p HD video at 30fps. Upton has stated that it was chosen for its impressive image quality, low-light performance as well as colour fidelity that perform nicely with the Raspberry Pi’s VideoCore IV CPU. VideoCore IV comprises of a sophisticated image sensor pipeline – ISP.

YUV Format Output Images

This tends to cover raw Bayer-format RFB input images from the sensor into YUV format output images, while correcting for sensor as well as module artefacts like thermal and shot noise, faulty pixels, image distortion and lens shading. Tuning the ISP to function with a particular sensor seems to be time-consuming, specialist activity, where there are only some people with the required skills.

This was done after some specialist tuning by Naush Patuck, former Broadcom imaging engineer who had volunteered to take this on for IMX219. The purpose of auto white balance – AWB is to improve the true colours in a scene irrespective of the colour temperature of the light lighting it and filming a white object must result in white pixels in sunlight or under LED, florescent or incandescent lights. These pairs are seen before and after images which Naush had tuned, who has done a wonderful job under challenging situation.

Open Doors to Hyperspectral Imaging Hacks

The hardware tends to retain the same price prior to taxes as its predecessor, as is the normal case with any new Raspberry Pi launch. The sensorOmniVision OV5647used in the original camera module together with its infrared sensitive sibling had reached its limit towards the end of 2014 and hence a new sensor was found with Sony coming to the rescue. The Raspberry Pi Camera Module v2 and NoIR Camera Module v2 are said to be on sale from the usual Pi suppliers comprising of RS Components, Element14 and The Pi Hut and in spite of its upgrade, the cost of the camera is just $25.Being the first official accessory back in 2013, they have found their way in a bunch of fun projects comprising of telescopes, science lesion, kites as well as Naturebytes camera trap and have joined the Pi NoIR infrared-sensitive version that only enables to see in the dark though it also opens the door to hyperspectral imaging hacks. The object of auto