<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif" lang="EN-US">Hi, <br>I have some usecases where
I would need a lot of cheap webcams.<span></span></span>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif" lang="EN-US">One application is 3D
scanning. The project</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"> 3DScan uses 100 Raspberry Pi cams:<br>
</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black"><a href="http://www.pi3dscan.com/" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.pi3dscan.com/</span></a></span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><br>
Here you find the costs of the hardware: <a href="http://www.pi3dscan.com/index.php/cost" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">http://www.pi3dscan.com/index.php/cost</a><br>
So I am thinking how we could make this cheaper.<br>
<br>
<b>MIP CSI2</b><br>
The raspberry PI cams and all the cams used in mobile phones don’t use an USB
interface. They use CSI-2 (<i>Camera</i> Serial Interface Type 2</span><span class="gmail-m_4910933883802211730gmail-st"><span lang="EN-US">) </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US">with a 15 pin
ZIF 15 socket.<br>
A widely adopted, simple, high-speed protocol primarily intended for
point-to-point image and video transmission between cameras and host devices<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.mipi.org/specifications/csi-2" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://www.mipi.org/specifications/csi-2</a><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><br>
<b>USB Webcams?</b><br>
An alternative to the <span> </span>would be to use
USB-Webcams and don’t have 100 hundred decentralized CPUs (Raspberries). The
challenge is you need a multi-port USB interface like this: <a href="https://plugable.com/products/usb3c-hub97xxx/" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://plugable.com/products/usb3c-hub97xxx/</a><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US">One problem
with this approach is that there are no multi-port solutions available.<br>
Due to high demand the above product is unfortunately sold out indefinitely.<br>
I assume that there would be also a bandwidth-problem on the PC side.<br>
<br>
<b>Use Raspberry PI Zero?</b><br>
Using a Raspberry PI Zero would save some money:<br>
</span><u><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:blue"><a href="https://www.pi3dscan.com/index.php/blog2/45-raspberry-pi-zero-v2" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">https://www.pi3dscan.com/index.php/blog2/45-raspberry-pi-zero-v2</span></a></span></u><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif" lang="EN-US"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><a href="https://electronics.semaf.at/Raspberry-Pi-Zero-W-Camera-Kit" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://electronics.semaf.at/Raspberry-Pi-Zero-W-Camera-Kit</a><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US">Use an ESP32-PICO?<br>
</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Jq0G17WgQ" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Jq0G17WgQ</a><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><font size="4">Maybe it would not work with a cam which has more than 2 MPixels resolution. <br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><span></span></span></font></p><font size="4">

</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-US"><span> </span></span></font></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US">Summary</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><br>
For me the best would be to have a module where the cam-module already sits on
the PCB. This would save connectors, cables (15pin!) and adaptors.<br>
Also I would prefer to have a waterproof case for outdoor usage.<br><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;color:black" lang="EN-US"><b>Any Ideas???</b><br></span></p>

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