Create Your Own Affordable Digital Camera

We all walk around with pretty decent digital cameras on our smartphones at all times, but there is still a massive market for dedicated cameras. Most of that market is for photographers and videographers that need more quality and control than it is possible to ring out of the tiny image sensors on smartphones. But there are other reasons why you might want a dedicated camera that doesn't need to provide great quality. If that describes your situation, then you'll want to check out Jacob David C Cunningham's affordable Raspberry Pi-zero based digital camera.

Like a DSLR, this features an interchangeable lens system. It takes C/CS-mount lenses, which are usually only manufactured for CCTV purposes these days. But they're small and relatively affordable. You can also find lots of used lenses at prices that are dirt cheap compared to what you'd pay for something like a micro 4/3 or EF-M lens. And technically it is a mirrorless camera, which is very hot right now. Like many mirrorless cameras, it lacks a viewfinder and instead displays an image preview on a screen on the back.

That display is an OLED screen that connects to the Raspberry Pi Zero single-board computer that controls the whole camera. The image sensor is Raspberry Pi's HQ camera. Cunningham designed a basic 3D-printed enclosure for the camera, as well as 3D-printed shrouds for the lenses. Those shrouds make it easier to manipulate the focus and zoom rings, while also providing a bit of protection. A handful of buttons let the photographer adjust settings and snap photos.

Unlike most cameras, this doesn't have a shutter. Instead, it snaps a frame from a live view coming from the camera sensor. It can zoom, crop, and pan within that view. There are quality consequences when doing that, but this camera wasn't designed with high-quality photography in mind. It stores images on the Raspberry Pi's microSD card, which is externally accessible.

We're not sure what purpose Cunningham had in mind for this—it was likely just a fun thing to do in his spare time. But it is a neat little device that may be useful to some.