The Raspberry Pi camera guide can be broken down into 8 dimensions:

determine what you need; determine if you already own any potentially compatible camera; define the automatic functions of your camera; the compatibility between camera and your Raspberry Pi model; how to interface the camera to the prototyping board; accessories for cameras; what type of camera has the best performance; documentation to setup and build applications;

All these eight key factors should help you figure out which is the best digital camera for your DIY project.

The Raspberry Pi camera guide: best practices

1. Determine what you need

You should be demanding when looking to buy a camera. After all, you together with the Pi and this little gadget are going to do many things, from capturing hundreds of photos to detect objects or build a point and shoot camera.

To avoid getting sucked into buying a camera beyond what you really need, here are a few questions to ask yourself before shopping:

What do you need the camera for?

Whether you choose the cheapest or the most expensive camera to use it with the Pi board, there are plenty of applications to build.

Any of these tiny cameras allows you to build a stream live feed, doing macro filming and photography, reading a barcode, process images captured by a robot, detect the motion, build a face detection and recognition application, and why not build your homemade point and shoot camera.

What conditions will you largely use the camera?

Do you plan to use the camera in low or bright light? Indoor or outdoor? The Pi is a prototyping board focused on robotics, automation and aerial applications. So you can use this little computer anywhere and in different conditions.

Night vision captures

If you plan to build an application to take a capture in night vision conditions, you need a special camera with infrared capabilities.

What is your budget?

Are you interested in purchasing a digital camera and you’re not sure which is the best one for your budget?

With cameras ranging from $6.00 to $69.00, the decision boils down to different specifications, work without additional accessories such as a power hub and price.

2. Do you already own any potentially compatible digital camera?

If you don’t use until now the Pi for video and image captures, is unlikely to have in the drawers any specially designed camera for Raspberry Pi.

Rather than using a dedicated camera module for this tiny prototyping board, you can use a standard USB webcam to capture images and videos on the Raspberry Pi memory. Here is a long list with USB webcams compatible with Raspberry Pi.

3. Automatic functions

Understanding the automatic modes of a camera can make a real difference to the quality of your images. But from these eight cameras explored in this article, only three of these are featured with automatic functions: Raspberry Pi NoIR, Raspberry Pi Camera Module and Logitech Webcam C525.

The Raspberry Pi Camera Module and NoIR shares the same automatic image control functions including the automatic exposure control (AEC), automatic white balance (AWB), automatic band filter (ABF), automatic 50/60 Hz luminance detection and automatic black level calibration (ABLC).

The Logitech webcam C525 is featured with an ultra-smooth autofocus and auto light correction for dim and harsh lighting.

4. Is the digital camera compatible with your Raspberry Pi model?

Before digging deep into what makes the cameras a compatible product, I’ll show you the Raspberry Pi family tree:

Raspberry Pi B Raspberry Pi A Raspberry Pi B+ Raspberry Pi A+ Raspberry Pi 2 Model B

If there is no doubt that the Raspberry Pi Camera Module and SainSmart Infrared Night Vision Camera are compatible with all Pi versions (B, A, B, A, 2 Model B), the Pi NoIR Camera Board is compatible only with the first versions of the Pi: Model A and Model B.

As you might expect, all the USB webcams are compatible with any Raspberry Pi model, but these four media gadgets were tested on the Raspbian and Debian Wheezy operating systems with versions no older than 2014. So, in the worst case if you run an old version of Raspbian or Debian Wheezy, you have to update your operating system with an up-to-date version.

5. Interface

Using the CSI connector to interface a camera module has advantages and disadvantages. To install a camera via the CSI interface is very simple and allows you to capture images in minutes. Simply plug the ribbon cable into the CSI interfaces and setup the camera using the standard Pi program.

With only one CSI connector on the board, the biggest disadvantage is that the Raspberry Pi can host only one digital camera. The Pi NoIR, SainSmart surveillance camera, and the official hardware add-on for the Raspberry Pi use the dedicated CSI connector.

The Pixy camera is different and support SPI, I2C, UART, USB or analog/digital output.

But if you were able to use one of the general-purpose USB-connected cameras, the Pi can handle any number of USB cameras.

6. Accessory

Every time when Raspberry Pi introduces a new model, we all faced with a series of questions about compatibility. The Raspberry Pi camera it’s itself an accessory for the prototyping board and this accessory needs other accessories.

If you work outdoors, you need a protective camera case and a wall mountable support that holds the Pi and digital camera firmly in place.

Another great accessory is an adjustable mount bracket designed to hold the camera in multiple positions.

You can have a much wider perspective of the world if you take a step back and view the Raspberry Pi images through a wide-angle lens. The Pi camera is engineered with a fixed focus lens and a wide-angle camera lens increase the viewing angle of the camera.

A Raspberry Pi or a NoIR camera module comes with a 15 centimeters flat cable. Depending on the project specifications, sometimes you have to move the camera where you want. Because the fruit named computer is so small, this should not be a problem. However, in case that this small and flexible cable is not enough, you can use a long flexible cable to increase the distance between Pi and camera.

If all these accessories are designed for dedicated Raspberry Pi cameras, the list of accessories for the USB webcams is very short, almost doesn’t exist.

7. Performance

When working with robotics and you need high performances to run computer vision applications, you need GPU and CPU performances.

In this case, we have two camera types: camera board or USB camera. Because the Pi camera board connects directly to the GPU, it has only a little impact over the CPU performance, leaving it available for other processes and applications. In other words, the dedicated cameras are faster and provide a higher resolution than any other USB cameras.

8. Documentation

Once you have the hardware components, you need documentation to put these together. In other words, you need documentation to setup the camera and capture images/videos.

All dedicated cameras that use the CSI connector comes with good online documentation to interface and build applications with your camera.

On the other side, the USB cameras or Pixy comes with good documentation for their core applications, but almost nothing in the DIY area. In this case, you have to find the necessary software and commands to turn any USB webcam into a digital eye for the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi camera list

Different features are the essence of all these cameras. In today’s world of infinite gadgets and smartphones that can be integrated with a Raspberry Pi computer, you must understand what makes these cameras different and why you have to use one of these and not any other digital camera. In the following, I’ll tell you the key characteristics for all digital cameras presented in this guide.

Because the world of cameras that encodes digital images and videos digitally with the Raspberry Pi computer is small compared with compact cameras or DSLRs, in just a few words I’ll do a short description of the eight best digital cameras compatible with the Raspberry Pi board.