The Amazingly Cheap Pi Zero Gains a Camera Connector and is Available Now!


RaspberryPiZeroCameraWhat? The Raspberry Pi Foundation has done something else, cheaper than ever before? We're of course used to the already affordable $20-$35 Pis, which have been slightly upgraded over the past few years. Yet, some of you may still not know about the Raspberry Pi Zero, the $5 computer announced late last year, sporting the same computing capabilities (actually running about 40% faster), but lacking a few of the ports of the original Pi. This was when Raspberry Pi Foundation founder Eben Upton exclaimed that this was the lowest they could go; $5 is as cheap as it can make a computer.

We won’t hold it against them. Basically, the Raspberry Pi we all know and love, as tiny as it is, never ceases to be on the up and up. When it comes to improvements, what could they think of next? Well here it is. As of late, there is now a hardware upgrade for the $5 Pi Zero by adding a camera connector. This “frequently demanded feature addition” for the Zero means great new capabilities for hobbyists and photographers alike, says Upton.

RaspberryPiZeroCamera1As a refresher of what the Pi Zero features, it measures a mere 2.5 inches long and barely over 1 inch wide, and somehow fits a Broadcom BCM2835 application processor, and 1GHz ARM11 core within the tiny walls of its circuit board. The board also holds 512MB of RAM, a microSD card slot for its OS, a mini-HDMI socket for 1080p video output, as well as micro-USB sockets for data and power. Of course, it is also expandable via a 40-pin GPIO header, as are its predecessors (PC World).

Take all of that, and apparently the Pi Zero isn’t packing too much punch to cram in yet another feature, a port for adding a camera connector. The module is sold separately, but features a 5MP fixed-focus camera featuring 1080p video recording, which PC Mag says, would be “handy for home security systems and wildlife cameras, among other uses”. Upton made an official statement that 30,000 Pi Zero 1.3s, as they’re officially being called, are available now that “the Pi bakery is going to keep churning them out until users’ appetites are sated”. Pi bakery, how adorable.

Topics: Technology News Gadgets & Peripherals Inventions & Innovations Mini / Nano PCs Raspberry Pi

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