Arducam Mega - The SPI Camera for Any Microcontroller That Offers Unlimited Possibilities

 These SPI cameras advertise the most significant degree of interoperability and come in three-megapixel fixed-focus and five-megapixel autofocus varieties.

A crowdfunding campaign for the Arducam Mega, a camera that connects to "any microcontroller" through the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus, has been started by computer vision expert Arducam.

The SDK now supports the Arduino UNO and Mega2560 boards, ESP32/ESP8266 boards, Raspberry Pi Pico and other boards based on RP2040 MCU, BBC Micro:bit V2, STM32, and MSP430 platform, as well as ArduCam Mega, a 3MP or 5MP camera mainly made for microcontrollers with an SPI interface.

Both cameras have many similar features, including the same size, although the 3MP model has fixed focus while the 5MP model has autofocus. Apps like remote meter reading, asset monitoring, wildfire monitoring, and TinyML applications might be used.

Arducam has also created a multi-camera adaptor board for individuals who require more than one camera sensor. A single MCU may accommodate more than four cameras, according to research and development engineer Kai Cheung. Then, they simultaneously capture with sequential readout.

For all of the platforms it supports, including the Raspberry Pi RP2040, Arduino 8-bit AVR, STM32, MSP430, ESP32, ESP8266, and others, ArduCam offers a C/C++ SDK with documentation. You can also find a number of demonstrations on their YouTube channel. Another GUI tool is accessible exclusively through Windows.

A Pico4ML Pro multi-camera adaptor board from Arducam enables the connection of up to four ArduCam Mega cameras to a single MCU. It is a development of the Pico4ML made for TinyML applications and based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller.

With hardware costs of HK$117 for the three-megapixel fixed-focus variant and HK$164 for the five-megapixel autofocus model (about $15 and $21, minus shipping and taxes), the Arducam Mega is presently being funded on Kickstarter. In April 2023, all hardware is anticipated to ship.