The Raspberry Pi Foundation has introduced a new camera module for its small, low-power computers. The new High Quality Camera features a 12.3MP Sony IMX477 image sensor, adjustable focus, and a 1.55 μm × 1.55 μm pixel size.

It’s the best official Raspberry Pi camera module to date… which helps explain why it’s also the most expensive, with a $50 price tag.

But it also has another trick up its sleeve — support for interchangeable lenses.

At launch, there will be two changeable lenses available:

  • 6mm CS-mount lens for $25
  • 16mm C-mount lens for $50

We could see other lenses in the future — the foundation says the new camera will remain in production until at least January, 2027. That means there’s plenty of time for an ecosystem to grow up around the platform. And you can use third-party lenses as long as they’re C-mount or CS-mount lenses.

Raspberry Pi has been offering camera modules for its tiny, low-power computers since 2013. These little cameras attach to a CSI connector on the single-board computers, leaving all of the USB ports free. But up until now they’ve been pretty basic cameras with limited capabilities.

The new High Quality Camera should be capable of shooting higher-quality images thanks to the improved image sensor technology. And with support for a tripod mount and interchangeable lenses, you could use a Raspberry Pi + camera module for a range of activities including setting up a stop-motion camera, security camera, autonomous wildlife camera, or making into a portable telescope or microscope.

For more ideas, you can check out the new official 132-page Raspberry Pi camera guide (available as free download or a £10 purchase if you want a printed copy).

The foundation says the new camera is compatible with any Raspberry Pi computer that has a CSI camera connector.

via Raspberry Pi

 

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5 replies on “Raspberry Pi’s new 12.3MP camera supports interchangeable lenses”

  1. If anyone is interested in lenses they are offering, the 6mm and 16mm converted to a 35mm equivalent would be 32mm and 86mm respectively on this 7.9mm sensor.

    The 6mm is going to be a wide angle, similar to a standard smartphone camera focal length. The 16mm is probably far too long of a focal length for most people, but I’m sure well see some creative uses

  2. Ive been looking for something like this for a while. I’d love to use it for an astrophotography setup. There are existing adapters to connect C-mount to telescopes.

  3. Any idea when this will become available? The UK is showing as having no retailers at the moment.

  4. RPi4 with Google Coral USB performs similar to the Google Coral Dev Board.
    https://www.hackster.io/news/benchmarking-tensorflow-lite-on-the-new-raspberry-pi-4-model-b-3fd859d05b98
    RPi4 without an AI accelerator does pretty well too on Tensor Flow Lite
    https://www.hackster.io/news/benchmarking-machine-learning-on-the-new-raspberry-pi-4-model-b-88db9304ce4

    So when the Pi Foundation adds a high quality camera, it makes the RPi even more attractive as an AI platform.

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