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Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

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Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#31

Post by crossbody »

rlt wrote: post #30
crossbody wrote: post #29

Sounds like a fun project. Honest question: why would one switch from a much more capable "carry everywhere" smartphone camera to this? Especially since phone is truly carry always & everywhere and that computational processing squeezes out insane amount of photo quality from already excellent phone cameras.

It would be great for kids who you don’t want to give a phone to. I got something similar for my young kids and they love it. But also there doesn’t always need to be a “why” beyond it being fun for the creator to create.

True, makes total sense for kids

Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#32

Post by rlt »

beezlewax wrote: post #27
Fwirt wrote: post #3

It's a shame that, being based on a full-blown Linux SBPC, it has an absolutely unacceptable boot time for a camera. 22 seconds. I can have my iPhone camera out and ready to capture an ephemeral moment of child's play in under 3 seconds, most commercial cameras boot in seconds as well. A film camera can be ready to go the second the lens cap is off. 22 seconds is an eternity in the world of photography. It's a shame…

Cameras shouldn't need to boot at all.

Pretty much everything has a boot sequence of some kind, it just might be very quick.

Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#33

Post by aviperl »

crossbody wrote: post #29

Sounds like a fun project. Honest question: why would one switch from a much more capable "carry everywhere" smartphone camera to this? Especially since phone is truly carry always & everywhere and that computational processing squeezes out insane amount of photo quality from already excellent phone cameras.

I have a box full of film gear and development equipment because, one day, I want to hang a picture of my kids on the wall that I _made_. My photo, on film I developed, printed manually by my hand, hung in a frame I built. I'll get to it some day!

The idea of building a camera like this tickles me the same way. It's fun!

Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#34

Post by numpad0 »

MoonWalk wrote: post #16

No disrespect to the project here, of course, but I'm wondering why there's no truly high-quality camera for Pis. I have the so-called "high-quality camera" and it still blows. I use it to monitor my 3-D printer with OctoPi, and that's about what it's good for.

Interfacing is too complicated and manufacturers are too secretive with secret sauces to make sensors not just behave but to look not potato.

Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#36

Post by interloxia »

Fwirt wrote: post #3

It's a shame that, being based on a full-blown Linux SBPC, it has an absolutely unacceptable boot time for a camera. 22 seconds. I can have my iPhone camera out and ready to capture an ephemeral moment of child's play in under 3 seconds, most commercial cameras boot in seconds as well. A film camera can be ready to go the second the lens cap is off. 22 seconds is an eternity in the world of photography. It's a shame…

My kid has a Fisher-Price Kid Tough camera. It's excellent for us but the pictures are so bad even the kid is disappointed.

It would be fun to repace the guts with something like this project but a long boot time is a deal breaker.

Perhaps the software can be optimised or a DIY friendly pi pico project is the way.

Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#37

Post by ex-aws-dude »

crossbody wrote: post #29

Sounds like a fun project. Honest question: why would one switch from a much more capable "carry everywhere" smartphone camera to this? Especially since phone is truly carry always & everywhere and that computational processing squeezes out insane amount of photo quality from already excellent phone cameras.

Oh my god if you’re asking that question you’re on the wrong site

Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#38

Post by utopiah »

aviperl wrote: post #33
crossbody wrote: post #29

Sounds like a fun project. Honest question: why would one switch from a much more capable "carry everywhere" smartphone camera to this? Especially since phone is truly carry always & everywhere and that computational processing squeezes out insane amount of photo quality from already excellent phone cameras.

I have a box full of film gear and development equipment because, one day, I want to hang a picture of my kids on the wall that I _made_. My photo, on film I developed, printed manually by my hand, hung in a frame I built. I'll get to it some day! The idea of building a camera like this tickles me the same way. It's fun!

I've done that and I recommend it.

In fact I recommend doing that for EVERYTHING you can! You don't need to do it more than once in your life but it's worth going through the actual process to learn.

That being said I also have a FujiFilm Insta to print polaroid size photos for the fridge or to give to guests.

Those though are 2 different processes, one is about learning the other about convenient usage.

Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#39

Post by a96 »

Fwirt wrote: post #3

It's a shame that, being based on a full-blown Linux SBPC, it has an absolutely unacceptable boot time for a camera. 22 seconds. I can have my iPhone camera out and ready to capture an ephemeral moment of child's play in under 3 seconds, most commercial cameras boot in seconds as well. A film camera can be ready to go the second the lens cap is off. 22 seconds is an eternity in the world of photography. It's a shame…

Comparing that to a real camera: I can "quick draw" pick up a Nikon DSLR that's off, flick the power switch and hit the shutter button one handed in one motion as fast as I can move and there's a good picture on the screen as soon as I let go of the trigger. Double click trash can and it's gone. Either will take less than half a second. Battery life is so long I usually forget to charge it. I suspect the power switch is just a "key lock" that prevents triggering anything because there's no delay. Either that or it's a wakeup in the microcontroller range of timing.

(You can easily get jank by filling up the buffer or slow memory card or autofocusing on something impossible, possibly in the dark etc, of course.)

Re: Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components

#40

Post by saltmate »

DrewADesign wrote: post #14
ktpsns wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's unfair to compare an idling deep sleep device with a cold boot. However, there is a shortcut: Just don't boot a full OS (thinking of custom firmware which boots in fractions of seconds, standard in the Microcontroller world). Or boot an optimized Linux user space. I am confident with a bit fiddling one can bring down a standard SBC Linux to a few seconds from cold to ready.

Functional comparisons among devices within a category are always fair. Pointing out a device’s perceived shortcomings is not an attack on the people that made it. One crucial role designers play (ideally) in product development is seeking out honest feedback, filtering it, and figuring out if that feedback can help make the product better for end users. The FOSS landscape needs a lot more of that.

> Functional comparisons among devices within a category are always fair

When they have the same prerequisites, yes. But then you need to count in the time the iPhone needs to boot as well, which will probably mean you are at a similar range.

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