CircuitPython 7 adds support for capturing images from “parallel cameras” on select boards, and libraries are available to configure the popular OV7670 and OV2640 cameras.
While not up to standards we’re used to from a current smartphone or laptop, it’s nicely balanced to the capabilities of recent 32-bit microcontrollers.
The imagecapture module, available on select boards in CircuitPython 7, can capture images taken by these camera modules. The images can be displayed on an SPI TFT using displayio, or the pixel data can be accessed from Python and ulab. You can even stream them to your terminal in staggering 3-bit lo-fi ASCII art!
Check out the new guide; we’ll show you how to set up the camera modules on the Espressif Kaluga, Raspberry Pi Pico, and Adafruit GrandCentral boards.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
