I purchased a Waveshare Raspberry Pi Nightvision Camera about a week ago and have replaced my standard Raspberry Pi camera for use in a home monitoring system. The camera claims to be a drop in replacement for for the standard Raspberry Pi camera. I was using an older pi camera (which has now been upgraded to a higher resolution version). Overall the Waveshare has been great. I'll definitely keep using it for monitoring.
I use a raspberry pi and camera in my robot as part of a home monitoring system. It takes pictures and notifies me when it detects motion. The Pi camera I had been using takes surprisingly good pictures. The images are crisp and the color is great. But the picture quality comes at a cost. In low light conditions, the images are completely black. So when the Pi detects motion at night when the lights are turned off, all I see is a pitch black image. Not great for home monitoring.
That's where the Waveshare comes in. The Waveshare camera is sensitive to infrared light. There are a variety of these kinds of cameras available, including one here (which I haven't tried). Most of these rely on external infrared light, taking advantage of whatever infrared light happens to be in the environment. The Waveshare goes the additional step of providing infrared LEDs on-board. In other words, the camera provides it's own infrared light source. The LEDs turn on and off based on the light level as detected by two on board photoresistors. The light level at which which the LEDs turn on is controllable by two knobs you can turn with a small screwdriver.
The camera I got came in three pieces with four small bolts and nuts, along with an adhesive pad for sticking it to something. The camera is on one board and the infrared LEDs each come on their own. You assemble the camera by using the bolts and nuts to screw the LED boards onto the camera, one on each side. There are metallic patches where boards come into contact with each other when bolted. This appears to be the means by which the LEDs are powered. This arrangement was useful for mounting the camera onto my robot. Rather than using the bolts provided, I used some longer bolts that were the same diameter. This way, the bolts could each extend through the holes in the boards and connect them, but also connect the whole assembly to the robot. So the four bolts not only assembled the camera, but also bolted it to the robot. If you do this, you'll have to be careful that you are not bolting the camera onto a conductive surface (such as a metal plate) to avoid shorts. But in my situation that wasn't an issue.
The camera works just fine as a drop in replacement for my original camera. I didn't have to change my existing python software at all. The camera operated with the standard python libraries. I'm using a combination of some simple direct python access and code I've taken from the excellent pi-timolo project. (when I first started using pi-tomolo, I did have to update the firmware on the Pi as suggested in the documentation).
There are three things to note about the picture quality. First of all, it works as advertised. My robot can now see in the dark. I don't get a pitch black photo like I did with the original camera. Second, the color in the images are washed out, even during the day. The regular pi camera takes crisp, colorful images. The Waveshare images are color, but they aren't as rich as the regular camera. If you are using this as a security monitor, that's fine. The ability to take pictures at night compensates for the reduces color quality. But don't expect pictures you'll put in your family photo album. Third, the images have a "fisheye" look to them. It's wider field of vision adds maybe an extra 8 inches at about 10 feet away than the standard camera I was using before. That's a plus for a monitoring context.
The camera also comes with a focus. I haven't played around with that much, but I suspect I could get a sharper image if I worked with the focus. But without much work, the images are coming out good enough for a security camera.
When the IR LEDs are turned on, they emit a dull red light. Two other things about the LEDs - First, they take up power and they can't be turned off and on in software. So, for example, the lights are on all night when the device is powered whether or not it is taking photos. That's something to keep in mind if you are powering your device using a battery. Second, their range is limited. Taking pictures of things about 10 feet away works fine for me, but I doubt the LEDs will provide enough infrared light for a very large room.
In summary, my experiment with the Waveshare was a success. My old camera is now sitting in the parts box waiting for a new project to come along - maybe a Pi-based point-and-shoot. It's a good option for a non-battery operated home monitoring system. It's easy to use and will serve as a drop-in replacement for a regular raspberry pi camera. It can take pictures in the dark. It doesn't provide great color, but that's the trade-off you make for getting good night vision.
I use a raspberry pi and camera in my robot as part of a home monitoring system. It takes pictures and notifies me when it detects motion. The Pi camera I had been using takes surprisingly good pictures. The images are crisp and the color is great. But the picture quality comes at a cost. In low light conditions, the images are completely black. So when the Pi detects motion at night when the lights are turned off, all I see is a pitch black image. Not great for home monitoring.
That's where the Waveshare comes in. The Waveshare camera is sensitive to infrared light. There are a variety of these kinds of cameras available, including one here (which I haven't tried). Most of these rely on external infrared light, taking advantage of whatever infrared light happens to be in the environment. The Waveshare goes the additional step of providing infrared LEDs on-board. In other words, the camera provides it's own infrared light source. The LEDs turn on and off based on the light level as detected by two on board photoresistors. The light level at which which the LEDs turn on is controllable by two knobs you can turn with a small screwdriver.
The camera I got came in three pieces with four small bolts and nuts, along with an adhesive pad for sticking it to something. The camera is on one board and the infrared LEDs each come on their own. You assemble the camera by using the bolts and nuts to screw the LED boards onto the camera, one on each side. There are metallic patches where boards come into contact with each other when bolted. This appears to be the means by which the LEDs are powered. This arrangement was useful for mounting the camera onto my robot. Rather than using the bolts provided, I used some longer bolts that were the same diameter. This way, the bolts could each extend through the holes in the boards and connect them, but also connect the whole assembly to the robot. So the four bolts not only assembled the camera, but also bolted it to the robot. If you do this, you'll have to be careful that you are not bolting the camera onto a conductive surface (such as a metal plate) to avoid shorts. But in my situation that wasn't an issue.
The camera works just fine as a drop in replacement for my original camera. I didn't have to change my existing python software at all. The camera operated with the standard python libraries. I'm using a combination of some simple direct python access and code I've taken from the excellent pi-timolo project. (when I first started using pi-tomolo, I did have to update the firmware on the Pi as suggested in the documentation).
There are three things to note about the picture quality. First of all, it works as advertised. My robot can now see in the dark. I don't get a pitch black photo like I did with the original camera. Second, the color in the images are washed out, even during the day. The regular pi camera takes crisp, colorful images. The Waveshare images are color, but they aren't as rich as the regular camera. If you are using this as a security monitor, that's fine. The ability to take pictures at night compensates for the reduces color quality. But don't expect pictures you'll put in your family photo album. Third, the images have a "fisheye" look to them. It's wider field of vision adds maybe an extra 8 inches at about 10 feet away than the standard camera I was using before. That's a plus for a monitoring context.
The camera also comes with a focus. I haven't played around with that much, but I suspect I could get a sharper image if I worked with the focus. But without much work, the images are coming out good enough for a security camera.
When the IR LEDs are turned on, they emit a dull red light. Two other things about the LEDs - First, they take up power and they can't be turned off and on in software. So, for example, the lights are on all night when the device is powered whether or not it is taking photos. That's something to keep in mind if you are powering your device using a battery. Second, their range is limited. Taking pictures of things about 10 feet away works fine for me, but I doubt the LEDs will provide enough infrared light for a very large room.
In summary, my experiment with the Waveshare was a success. My old camera is now sitting in the parts box waiting for a new project to come along - maybe a Pi-based point-and-shoot. It's a good option for a non-battery operated home monitoring system. It's easy to use and will serve as a drop-in replacement for a regular raspberry pi camera. It can take pictures in the dark. It doesn't provide great color, but that's the trade-off you make for getting good night vision.
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