THE GADGETMAN
www.icenimagazine.co.uk
Issue 85 2020
Build Your Own Action Cam With A Raspberry Pi Zero We've been locked down for some weeks now and although I have been very busy with family, my business and gadget reviews, there was still time for me to have a play with another project which was building my own Action Cam. I have been a fan of the Raspberry Pi computer since its launch back in 2012. For those of you who don't know what it is, the Raspberry is a single board computer built to promote computer programming in schools and developing countries. These are very small computers which have both HDMI and USB Ports to allow you to connect to a Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor. After downloading the operating system from their website and writing it to a MicroSD, you power it up using a USB cable and you are away!
The Pi comes in different shapes and sizes, the high-end Raspberry Pi 4 being the most powerful and expensive at about £50. For my project, I have used the Raspberry Zero W which is £9.80 and includes WiFi and Bluetooth. The Zero is very small indeed at 66.0mm x 30.5mm x 5.0mm in size. This is a fully functional computer which will run a Chrome web browser and play 1080p HD video! As well as the Pi computer, there is also a massive range of addon peripherals which connect via various ports, such as a dedicated camera port which I will be using for my project. I specifically need a camera module. I could just plug in a USB webcam, but it will be too bulky, so I have bought an official Pi Camera Version 1.3 which will record Full HD at 30fps and take 5MP stills. This cost me £10 and comes with
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