Adafruit OV5640 Camera Breakout - 120 Degree Lens

by Adafruit

Hobby-level microcontrollers are finally getting big and powerful enough to start handling camera modules that historically would have required a full computer or FPGA to handle.

The RP2040 and ESP32-Sx series of chips, for example, have enough pins to communicate with the 8-bit data output, DMA to quickly grab a frame, and the necessary RAM to buffer a raw snapshot. Now all we need is a nice camera module to make interfacing easy!

This Adafruit OV5640 Camera Breakout with 120 Degree Lens has a nice quality OV5640 camera with a 5 Megapixel sensor element, 120-degree wide angle lens, and all the support circuitry you need. Adafruit looked at existing camera modules and while this breakout board is backwards compatible, we made some improvements:

  • Standard 2x9 header if you want it, but also a duplicated header strip 0.3" apart so you can plug it into a breadboard or perfboard
  • Selectable external or internal 24MHz "XCLK" clock generation - save one gpio pin, or just have a nice stable 24 MHz signal even if your microcontroller can't generate it for you.
  • Heat-sinking camera area with exposed ground pad, with lots of vias for good thermal transfer. Helpful for when doing continuous encoding and reducing thermal image drift.
  • Optional VMotor 3.3V power jumper on DATA1, for auto-focusing camera modules
  • 3.3V power-good LED on back that can be disabled

Technical Details

Product Dimensions: 35.7mm x 23.0mm x 17.5mm / 1.4" x 0.9" x 0.7"

Product Weight: 4.6g / 0.2oz

6 customer reviews

2 years ago
Works really well. Have to say that I might get some 1mm as the 0.5mm is quite thin for my needs (mainly wiring between a uC PCB and I2C devices with single core wire). I guess the 0.5mm would be more appropriate for soldering surface mount items.
by Jonathan about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
This solder is good if your joint location is not a large copper plane, in that case make sure to heat the surface adequately before applying the solder and you'll be fine.
by Sagar about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
I tried the 0.5mm but prefer this 1mm. What I do need is a new iron more suitable for lead free solder.... Another good product from Pimoroni.
by Mark about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Takes a bit of getting used to if you're used to lead solder. Dispatched in good time and worked well to solder a GPIO header on to a Raspberry Pi Zero.
by Kit about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
I hope other people will become aware of fair supply chains that can be developed within the ICT and electronics industries. Use of this product will be a small step towards a fairer supply chain.
by Dawn about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io

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