CamTest: PiCowbell Camera Breakout Demo

Last updated July 07, 2024

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A frame-capture demo with Pi Pico, OV5640 camera, and CircuitPython.

This is a simple camera demo project to capture a 240x240 px grayscale frame every 2 seconds, convert the 8-bit pixel data to 1-bit, then print pixels to the serial console with Unicode Block Element characters.

Hardware

Angled shot of black, rectangular prototyping board with two 2x20 socket headers.

Adafruit Proto Under Plate PiCowBell for Pico

The Adafruit Proto Under Plate PiCowBell is intended to be treated like a mini solder-less proto...

$4.50 each

In Stock

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Top view of Raspberry Pi Pico with two 20-pin male headers.

Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 with Loose Unsoldered Headers

The Raspberry Pi foundation changed single-board computing when they...

Out of Stock

Angled shot of two 20-pin stacking headers.

Stacking Headers for Raspberry Pi Pico - 2 x 20 Pin

These two Stacking Headers alone are, well, lonely. But pair them with...

$1.50 each

In Stock

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Angled shot of long, rectangular camera breakout board.

Adafruit PiCowbell Camera Breakout - Autofocus 72 Degree Lens

Ding dong! Hear that? It's the PiCowbell ringing, letting you know that the new Adafruit PiCowbell OV5640...

$14.95 each

In Stock

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Getting Started

To begin, solder the headers, assemble the stack of boards, install CircuitPython, then copy the project bundle code to your CIRCUITPY drive (check out the "Download Project Bundle" button below). Once that's all done, code.py will begin capturing camera frames and printing them to the serial console. If you want to keep a frame, press the shutter button to stop the camera. To restart the camera, type Ctrl-C then Ctrl-D in your serial terminal emulator.

It helps to use a serial terminal emulator that can run at a fast baud rate, like 115200. On macOS, I use screen -fn /dev/tty.usbmodem2201 115200 in a Terminal window (Ctrl-A, then k, then y to exit when you're done).

If you point the camera at a browser window with the qr-code Learn guide, the output should look similar to this (if you make your terminal's font size really small):

CircuitPython Code

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# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright 2024 Sam Blenny
#
# CamTest: A simple demo of Pi Pico + Adafruit PiCowbell Camera Breakout
#
# Related Docs and Code:
# - https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-picowbell-camera-breakout
# - https://docs.circuitpython.org/projects/ov5640/en/latest/
# - https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_OV5640/blob/main/adafruit_ov5640/__init__.py
#
from board import (
    GP0, GP1, GP2, GP3, GP4, GP5, GP6, GP7, GP8, GP9, GP10,
    GP11, GP12, GP13, GP14, GP18, GP19, GP22,
)
from busio import I2C, SPI
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Pull
from displayio import Bitmap
from gc import collect, mem_free
from time import sleep

import adafruit_bus_device
from adafruit_ov5640 import (
    OV5640, OV5640_SIZE_96X96, OV5640_SIZE_240X240, OV5640_COLOR_GRAYSCALE
)

def gcCol():
    collect()
    print("mem_free", mem_free())

def ttyPrint(pxBuf):
    # Print pixel buffer using Unicode Block Element characters
    blocks = [' ', '▀', '▄', '█']
    for y in range(pxBuf.height >> 1):
        y0 = y << 1
        y1 = y0 + 1
        s = []
        for x in range(pxBuf.width):
            s.append(blocks[
                ((pxBuf[x,y1]>> 7) << 1) | (pxBuf[x,y0] >> 7) ])
        print(''.join(s))

def main():
    # Make a buffer to hold captured pixel data
    gcCol()
    pxBuf = Bitmap(240, 240, 256)
    # Configure the camera
    spi = SPI(clock=GP18, MOSI=GP19)
    i2c = I2C(GP5, GP4)  # I2C(SCL, SDA)
    shutter = DigitalInOut(GP22)
    shutter.switch_to_input(Pull.UP)  # active low
    cam = OV5640(
        i2c,
        vsync=GP0,
        href=GP2,
        clock=GP3,
        shutdown=DigitalInOut(GP1),
        data_pins=(GP6, GP7, GP8, GP9, GP10, GP11, GP12, GP13),
        reset=DigitalInOut(GP14),
        mclk=None,
        size=OV5640_SIZE_240X240,
    )
    cam.flip_x = True
    cam.colorspace = OV5640_COLOR_GRAYSCALE
    gcCol()
    # Capture and print a frame every 2 seconds. Press shutter button to stop
    # capturing frames (I use this for making screenshots).
    stop = False
    while True:
        for _ in range(20):
            sleep(0.1)
            if not shutter.value:
                stop = True
                break
        if stop:
            break
        cam.capture(pxBuf)
        ttyPrint(pxBuf)
        gcCol()
    while True:
        pass


main()

# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright 2024 Sam Blenny
#
# CamTest: A simple demo of Pi Pico + Adafruit PiCowbell Camera Breakout
#
# Related Docs and Code:
# - https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-picowbell-camera-breakout
# - https://docs.circuitpython.org/projects/ov5640/en/latest/
# - https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_OV5640/blob/main/adafruit_ov5640/__init__.py
#
from board import (
    GP0, GP1, GP2, GP3, GP4, GP5, GP6, GP7, GP8, GP9, GP10,
    GP11, GP12, GP13, GP14, GP18, GP19, GP22,
)
from busio import I2C, SPI
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Pull
from displayio import Bitmap
from gc import collect, mem_free
from time import sleep

import adafruit_bus_device
from adafruit_ov5640 import (
    OV5640, OV5640_SIZE_96X96, OV5640_SIZE_240X240, OV5640_COLOR_GRAYSCALE
)

def gcCol():
    collect()
    print("mem_free", mem_free())

def ttyPrint(pxBuf):
    # Print pixel buffer using Unicode Block Element characters
    blocks = [' ', '▀', '▄', '█']
    for y in range(pxBuf.height >> 1):
        y0 = y << 1
        y1 = y0 + 1
        s = []
        for x in range(pxBuf.width):
            s.append(blocks[
                ((pxBuf[x,y1]>> 7) << 1) | (pxBuf[x,y0] >> 7) ])
        print(''.join(s))

def main():
    # Make a buffer to hold captured pixel data
    gcCol()
    pxBuf = Bitmap(240, 240, 256)
    # Configure the camera
    spi = SPI(clock=GP18, MOSI=GP19)
    i2c = I2C(GP5, GP4)  # I2C(SCL, SDA)
    shutter = DigitalInOut(GP22)
    shutter.switch_to_input(Pull.UP)  # active low
    cam = OV5640(
        i2c,
        vsync=GP0,
        href=GP2,
        clock=GP3,
        shutdown=DigitalInOut(GP1),
        data_pins=(GP6, GP7, GP8, GP9, GP10, GP11, GP12, GP13),
        reset=DigitalInOut(GP14),
        mclk=None,
        size=OV5640_SIZE_240X240,
    )
    cam.flip_x = True
    cam.colorspace = OV5640_COLOR_GRAYSCALE
    gcCol()
    # Capture and print a frame every 2 seconds. Press shutter button to stop
    # capturing frames (I use this for making screenshots).
    stop = False
    while True:
        for _ in range(20):
            sleep(0.1)
            if not shutter.value:
                stop = True
                break
        if stop:
            break
        cam.capture(pxBuf)
        ttyPrint(pxBuf)
        gcCol()
    while True:
        pass


main()

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This page (CamTest: PiCowbell Camera Breakout Demo) was last updated on July 07, 2024.