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4.1.1 Camera

Introduction

Here we will make a camera with a shutter, when you press the button, the camera shoots while the LED flashes.

Required Components

In this project, we need the following components.

It’s definitely convenient to buy a whole kit, here’s the link:

Name	ITEMS IN THIS KIT	LINK
Raphael Kit	337	Raphael Kit

You can also buy them separately from the links below.

COMPONENT INTRODUCTION	PURCHASE LINK
GPIO Extension Board	BUY
Breadboard	BUY
Jumper Wires	BUY
Resistor	BUY
LED	BUY
Button	BUY
Camera Module	BUY

Schematic Diagram

T-Board Name	physical	wiringPi	BCM
GPIO17	Pin 11	0	17
GPIO18	Pin 12	1	18

Experimental Procedures

Step 1: Build the circuit.

Step 2: To connect the camera module and complete the configuration, please refer to: Camera Module.

Step 3: Go into the Raspberry Pi Desktop. You may need a screen for a better experience, refer to: Connect your Raspberry Pi. Or access the Raspberry Pi desktop remotely, for a detailed tutorial please refer to Remote Desktop Access for Raspberry Pi.

Step 4: Open a Terminal and get into the folder of the code.

cd ~/raphael-kit/python/

Step 5: Run.

sudo python3 4.1.1_Camera.py

After the code runs, press the button, the Raspberry Pi will flash the LED and take a picture. The photo will be named my_photo.jpg and stored in the ~ directory.

Note

You can also open 4.1.1_Camera.py in the ~/raphael-kit/python/ path with a Python IDE, click Run button to run, and stop the code with Stop button.

If you want to download the photo to your PC, please refer to Filezilla Software.

Code

Note

You can Modify/Reset/Copy/Run/Stop the code below. But before that, you need to go to source code path like raphael-kit/python. After modifying the code, you can run it directly to see the effect.

    #!/usr/bin/env python3

    from picamera import PiCamera
    import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
    import time
import os
user = os.getlogin()
user_home = os.path.expanduser(f'~{user}')


    camera = PiCamera()

    LedPin = 17 # Set GPIO17 as LED pin
    BtnPin = 18 # Set GPIO18 as button pin

    status = False

    def setup():
            GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
            GPIO.setup(LedPin, GPIO.OUT, initial=GPIO.HIGH)
            GPIO.setup(BtnPin, GPIO.IN)
            camera.start_preview(alpha=200)

    def takePhotos(pin):
            global status
            status = True

    def main():
            global status
            GPIO.add_event_detect(BtnPin, GPIO.FALLING, callback=takePhotos)
            while True:
                    if status:
                            for i in range(5):
                                    GPIO.output(LedPin, GPIO.LOW)
                                    time.sleep(0.1)
                                    GPIO.output(LedPin, GPIO.HIGH)
                                    time.sleep(0.1)
                            camera.capture(f'{user_home}/my_photo.jpg')
                            print ('Take a photo!')
                            status = False
                    else:
                            GPIO.output(LedPin, GPIO.HIGH)
                    time.sleep(1)

    def destroy():
            camera.stop_preview()
            GPIO.output(LedPin, GPIO.HIGH)
            GPIO.cleanup()

    if __name__ == '__main__':
            setup()
            try:
                    main()
            except KeyboardInterrupt:
                    destroy()

Code Explanation

GPIO.add_event_detect(BtnPin, GPIO.FALLING, callback=takePhotos)

Set the event of BtnPin, when the button is pressed (the level signal changes from high to low) , call the function takePhotos().

def takePhotos(pin):
    global status
    status = True

When takePhotos() is called, modify the status to True.

if status:
    for i in range(5):
        GPIO.output(LedPin, GPIO.LOW)
        time.sleep(0.1)
        GPIO.output(LedPin, GPIO.HIGH)
        time.sleep(0.1)
    camera.capture(f'{user_home}/my_photo.jpg')
    print ('Take a photo!')
    status = False
else:
    GPIO.output(LedPin, GPIO.HIGH)
time.sleep(1)

When status is True, the Raspberry Pi will flash the LED and take a picture. The photo will be named my_photo.jpg and stored in the ~ directory.

Phenomenon Picture