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Raspberry Pi Launches Higher Resolution Camera Module, Now With Autofocus (theverge.com) 38

Raspberry Pi is launching a new camera module for use with its diminutive DIY computers -- the Camera Module 3. Its upgraded Sony IMX708 sensor is higher resolution, but perhaps more important is that the new module supports high dynamic range photography and autofocus. Alongside it, Raspberry Pi is also releasing a new camera board for use with M12-mount lenses. From a report: Combined, the new features mean the Camera Module 3 should be able to take more detailed photographs (especially in low light), and can focus on objects as little as 5cm away. The autofocus uses a Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) system, with Contrast Detection Autofocus used as a backup. In contrast, previous versions of the camera module had fixed-focus lenses, which Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton writes were "optimized to focus at infinity" and could only take a "reasonably sharp image" of objects around a meter away.

The new module's sensor has a resolution of 11.9 megapixels (compared to 8.1 megapixels for the last version), and has a higher horizontal resolution that should allow it to film HD video. HDR support means the Camera Module 3 can take several exposures of the same scene, and combine them so that both darker and lighter parts of an image are properly exposed (at the expense of some resolution) -- a trick commonly performed by just about every smartphone. Prices start at $25 for the Camera Module 3 with a standard field-of-view, while the ultra-wide angle version with a 102-degree field of view is $35.

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Raspberry Pi Launches Higher Resolution Camera Module, Now With Autofocus

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  • Feature Request (Score:3, Informative)

    by mrex ( 25183 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @03:22PM (#63192992)

    I'd like to request a feature: produce and ship the units in volume sufficient to prevent me from having to compete with scalper gangs raiding all the stores so they can turn around and resell a danged 0GB RPI4 Compute Module for like $200?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 )

      I'd like to request a feature: produce and ship the units in volume sufficient to prevent me from having to compete with scalper gangs raiding all the stores so they can turn around and resell a danged 0GB RPI4 Compute Module for like $200?

      Request noted and will be addressed sometime FY 2025. In the meantime, they'll gladly continue to drive profit through artificial scarcity. After all the Supreme Generation is dumb enough to pay whatever idiotic price every time, with a FOMO-infected wallet.

      Why should suppliers care about limited supply (real or otherwise) when Hype is in charge of marketing and winning like Charlie Sheen on a tiger blood bender.

      • by mrex ( 25183 )

        The cut of your jib, it gives me light. :D

        • The cut of your jib, it gives me light. :D

          Thanks. It's a cool blue light. I call it the Hue of Honesty and Humility.

          • by mrex ( 25183 )

            Rarified commodities if there ever were any. Cheers my friend, here's hoping it rubs off on me a bit! :)

      • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        The Raspberry Pi Foundation, who makes the Pi, is a charity. It also hasn't raised its prices.

      • they'll gladly continue to drive profit through artificial scarcity.

        The Raspberry Pi foundation doesn't generate extra profit when someone else scalps their stuff. Their prices are fixed and haven't raised at all during the supply crisis.

        Please read a basic economics textbook before posting on Slashdot in the future. It will spare you some serious humiliation.

    • I don't get why people buy one when they cost the same (or more) then a small form PC of similar specs. It's it just to tinker with, there are other brands out their with better specs at the same cost that scalpers are charging for a RPI

      • These are vastly different devices you're talking about. The Pi is useful because it has GPIO pins. There are also plenty of Pi knockoff brands you can buy. You can get a RISC-V board that is pin and footprint compatible with the Pi zero for example.

        • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

          These are vastly different devices you're talking about. The Pi is useful because it has GPIO pins. There are also plenty of Pi knockoff brands you can buy. You can get a RISC-V board that is pin and footprint compatible with the Pi zero for example.

          At this point, there are even ARM boards that outperform the Raspberry Pi 4 and are pin-compatible for less than the scalper prices. Mind you, you'll bang your head against a wall because the hardware support stinks.

          I'm really looking forward to the Banana Pi M6 becoming available. It is about as close as you can get to a drop-in replacement, but they aren't selling them yet.

      • by mrex ( 25183 )

        I don't get why people buy one when they cost the same (or more) then a small form PC of similar specs.

        They aren't supposed to cost that much! The whole idea of an RPI is to provide minimalist hardware for education, hobbyists, IOT and other low-power and one-off applications, rapid prototyping, and the like, eschewing full-blown hardware where it isn't needed to achieve low cost per unit.

        The whole concept is broken when the most basic units, offering roughly equivalent performance to a 10 year old cell pho

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Cool (Score:4, Funny)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @03:41PM (#63193050)

    Great, I'll attach it to the fusion-powered raspberry pi 4 that's in my flying car.

  • Cool! (Score:2, Informative)

    Does it still use a proprietary connector that is only good for attaching it to unicorns, leprechauns, sasquatches, and Raspberry Pi boards that don't exist?

  • They should just have a pinhole camera. f66 or so that has a depth of field from 1 inch to infinity and does not need to be focused because everything is always in focus. You do need a Carbon Arc lamp for a flash however.

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      All of the Raspberry Pi cameras have removable lenses. You can put whatever you want on them.

  • I guess there are some older Pi 2's on Amazon. What are people searching their closets for them?
    • At this price it's pointless.
      Buy an older laptop like this DELL https://www.amazon.com/Latitud... [amazon.com] for $130.
      Comes with: touchscreen, camera, battery, charger, storage and it's more powerful. Strip the case if you do not like it - likely the CPU board is smaller than the rest.
      Granted, no GPIOs - would need to add usb io extender for these.

      • Get a nodeMCU (or some Arduino if you can do without the WiFi) for like 5 bucks and use that instead. I'd be surprised if at that point nobody bothered to create a firmware that turns it into a fully featured GPIO-over-WiFi system.

        • Get a nodeMCU (or some Arduino if you can do without the WiFi) for like 5 bucks and use that instead. I'd be surprised if at that point nobody bothered to create a firmware that turns it into a fully featured GPIO-over-WiFi system.

          Tasmota? [github.io]

          • Never heard of it, but if it returns some of the functionality the maker of that hardware deliberately crippled in their API, I'm certainly interested. It's getting kinda messy to use a ten year old SDK just because important functions don't exist anymore because they can be "abused".

  • Which I will be using for all future projects, since raspberry pis don't actually exist. This has to be the stupidest corporate suicide I have ever seen. Nobody will be using Raspberry Pis anymore.
    • Yes it will, it has a CSI interface.

      This has to be the stupidest corporate suicide I have ever seen.

      How is continuing development while your partner is unable to provide CPUs corporate suicide? Or do you think the RPi Foundation are intentionally not shipping boards for ... *normally I write "reasons" here but honestly there's no reason I can think of that wouldn't be incredibly stupid*.

      Nobody will be using Raspberry Pis anymore.

      And why not? The world doesn't abandon one of the most widely used and tinkerer friendly platforms due to a temporary supply crisis. Sure a desperate person may buy an Orange Pi right no

    • This is pretty much the crucial problem for them now.

      RasPis are in great demand for a simple reason: Everyone and their dog made projects for them in the past. And other $fruit Pis are not necessarily 100% compatible, so they can't always be used as drop-in replacements, at least not by people who don't know anything about actually programming these things. They work along the cookbook and if the recipe doesn't work out, they are stuck, curse and bite the bullet to get that RasPi from a scalper.

      With RasPis

  • What does it connect to?

    Oh...

    Right...

  • Nice of them to upgrade the camera, but they're a bit useless if we can't get our hand on Raspberry Pi's. Does this module work with the Libre Computer Boards, Orange Pi modules or any other system?

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