Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Sony’s higher-resolution sensor spices up Raspberry Pi’s camera module

Raspberry Pi 8MP Camera Module
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton said Monday that the camera board accessory for the Raspberry Pi now sports an 8-megapixel Sony IMX219 sensor, replacing the previous OmniVision OV5647 5MP sensor that reached the end of its lifespan back in 2014. The accessory board still costs a mere $25 despite the upgrade in the overall pixel count.

“In our testing, IMX219 has proven to be a fantastic choice,” Upton reports. “You can read all the gory details about IMX219 and the Exmor R back-illuminated sensor architecture on Sony’s website, but suffice to say this is more than just a resolution upgrade: it’s a leap forward in image quality, colour fidelity and low-light performance.”

Related: Someone turned a Game Boy into the ultimate arcade machine using Raspberry Pi

Built for smartphones and tablets, the new camera sensor features a high-speed video imaging function, a Lens Shading Correction function, and support for BME-HDR. According to the company, the sensor is capable of HD video recording at 120 frames per second on a 2MP setting and full field view, and 180 frames per second at a 1,280 x 720 resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

On a technical note, the specifications show that the new sensor has approximately 8.08 million active pixels (3,280 x 2,464). It uses a back-illuminated fabrication process for higher sensitivity, an I2C fast mode plus (1MHz) control communication interface, and a MIPI 4 2-lane output format. Other features include an input clock frequency of 6MHz to 27MHz, a signal processing function within the sensor, and more.

Related: Check out the Raspberry Pi family here

Sony says that BME-HDR is an image-processing technology used for subjects with a high contrast. The tech enables bright and dark areas to be seen at the same time by synthesizing different exposure conditions. Meanwhile, the Lens Shading Correction aspect not only corrects normal lens shading with four independent colors, but also corrects optical “unevenness.”

The new 8MP camera sensor accessory is backed by the Raspberry Pi 3’s VideoCore IV 3D graphics core (Model B). Upton says this core includes a sophisticated image sensor pipeline (ISP) that converts the camera sensor’s raw Bayer-format input images into YUV-format output images. It also corrects artifacts like image distortion and defective pixels.

“Tuning the ISP to work with a particular sensor is a time-consuming, specialist activity: there are only a handful of people with the necessary skills, and we’re very lucky that Naush Patuck, formerly of Broadcom’s imaging team, volunteered to take this on for IMX219,” Upton says in his blog.

The Raspberry Pi 3 was launched in February. It packs a quad-core ARMv8 64-bit processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of memory, Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity, four USB ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, a microSD card slot, and 40 GPIO pins. There’s also a camera interface, a display interface, and a composite video/audio jack.

The previous 5MP camera module accessory made its debut back in 2013. It was capable of 1080p capture at 30 frames per second and 720p capture at 60 frames per second. On a more technical note, it had an active array size of 2,592 x 1,944 pixels and used a two-lane MIPI interface. The module was used in a number of published Raspberry Pi projects spanning telescopes, kites, and the Naturebytes camera trap.

The new 8MP camera sensor board for the Raspberry Pi is offered in two flavors: visible light and infrared. The $25 modules are now available at RS Components and element14.

Editors' Recommendations

Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
Best color laser printers for 2024: tested and reviewed
A Brother printer on a counter in front of a brick wall.

The best color laser printers can be a great investment, saving you quite a bit of time and money. For shoppers worried about the long-term ink costs, you'll find color laser printers surprisingly affordable. Laser printers use toner, which lasts a very long time, delivering a low cost per page for monochrome documents and fast color prints. The best color laser printers offer quick performance and reliability to help keep your home office or small business productive.

If you need to scan documents for record-keeping and photo capture or want the convenience of a color copier, an all-in-one color laser printer is an essential tool for your small business or personal use. For a small added cost, you get expanded capabilities. That's why every model on this list is an all-in-one from the best printer brands.

Read more
The 5 best Wi-Fi adapters for PC in 2024
The Ugreen AC1300 Wi-Fi adapter in a desktop PC.

Whether you're designing it yourself or getting a pre-built PC, it can be easy to get a computer and realize that it doesn't have a native Wi-Fi adapter. Or, maybe it does, but you're internet speeds are getting faster, game downloads are getting bigger, you've already upgraded your router and need an adapter to match your newfound power requirements. No matter the situation, an external Wi-Fi adapter that you can add to your PC setup or even laptop setup will be worth your time. Here, we investigate the best Wi-Fi adapters for PC use. Most are incredibly affordable and just snap into a free USB port and start working.
The best Wi-Fi adapter for PC in 2024

Buy the

Read more
How to pin a website to the taskbar in Windows
A man sits, using a laptop running the Windows 11 operating system.

Windows includes many interesting tools, but if you’re like many people, more and more of your digital life is happening in your web browser and nowhere else. That being the case, you’ll want to keep your most important websites close at hand. The easiest way to access them in Windows is the Start menu and the taskbar, treating them more or less like programs in and of themselves.

Although easy overall, getting a website from your browser to your taskbar is slightly different depending on which browser you’re using.

Read more