CircuitPython Powering Adafruit's MEMENTO Camera Board Makes Programming Vision Apps a Snap
Compact board with a five-megapixel image sensor, an ESP32-S3, and loads of sensor options.
Adafruit's latest development platform focuses on camera and vision. The MEMENTO Camera Board lets you experiment with an all-in-one, CircuitPython-enabled five-megapixel camera board with a rich set of peripherals, like those you might find on an IoT device. Plus, it fits in the palm of your hand!
The centerpiece of MEMENTO's 63.6 x 63.3 x 13 millimeter printed circuit board is an OV5640 camera module. This 5MP still image sensor supports manual and auto-focus. An Espressif ESP32-S3 system-on-chip (SoC) module powers the camera board.
A 1.54-inch 240 x 240 pixel TFT color display shows live preview and stored images. Three six-user buttons default to functions like selecting filters and navigating images on the microSD card. Additionally, there is a dedicated shutter button, one to reset the ESP-32 (for bootloader mode), and an on/off power switch. You can power the device from either USB-C or a LiPo battery.
While you could just use the MEMENTO Camera Board as a hand-sized digital camera, it has so much more potential functionality. First, there are plenty of other peripherals and I/O options.
For example, there is a LIS3DH three-axis accelerometer, LiPo socket (and charger), a buzzer, and an analog microphone. However, MEMENTO is a still-image camera, so the microphone is not for recording audio with video. There are two three-pin Stemma ports for basic additions like buttons, LEDs, and analog sensors. A Stemma-QT port provides access to a wide range of I2C-based accessories and digital sensors.
You can use the Arduino IDE to program the ESP32-S3 module directly. However, Adafruit does warn that the compile times are very high since there are so many libraries to support the rich set of peripherals. Instead, if you want to add features or change functionality, Adafruit recommends programming with CircuitPython!
Adafruit's learning guide for the MEMENTO Camera Board demonstrates how to download the appropriate library bundle. Then, it contains examples like getting images, changing resolution, and applying effects within CircuitPython. One example even walks through how to make low-frame rate GIFs!
The "bare board" version of MEMENTO is the fully populated PCB and is available now from Adafruit for $34.95 before shipping. Adafruit plans to offer an enclosure kit with panels for the top and bottom for $9.95. The panel on the sensor side includes eight RGBW NeoPixels for illumination effects or to act as a ring light.