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Raspberry Pi 3 + camera + screen: is this possible?


ejp1684

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First, I know very little about electronics, so would value advice on the following.

I was browsing though the thingiverse website and found this which set me thinking.

Would it be possible to use a Raspberry Pi 3, an 8MP camera (uses Sony IMX219 image sensor), and an LCD screen (example), and use it for casual viewing or outreach? The screen could be mounted somewhere on the scope/mount, and would avoid using a laptop. The camera produces photos and videos, so could the Pi be programmed to stack photos as well, something like SharpCap's Live Stacking?

I may be in fantasy land here, but it's just an idea.

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Yes, it could be used, have a look at Octopi\Octoprint that uses one of Pi cameras for a web-cam. Don't install the full Octopi, just the web-cam elements that are just an add on anyway.....

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  • 4 months later...

I like the idea as well. My RPi on Dob is responsible for tracking the objects, will do GoTo job soon, but I hope could also do at least capturing the pics. I have MS LifeCam Studio amended for astrophoto, so I won't consider another camera. 

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Care that your ambition doesn't overtake the technology. It will probably work at an entry level but it is not remotely future proof. 

I believe that a Raspberry Pi can't handle 802.11ac wireless or USB3.0. It will splutter and choke if you put too high a data demand upon it.  If adopting an 8MP camera I reckon you might be better served by an Intel Compute Stick or Intel NUC (I employ the latter).  

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13 hours ago, noah4x4 said:

I believe that a Raspberry Pi can't handle 802.11ac wireless or USB3.0. It will splutter and choke if you put too high a data demand upon it.  If adopting an 8MP camera I reckon you might be better served by an Intel Compute Stick or Intel NUC (I employ the latter).

100% correct but add  - this all comes at a cost (10x RPI3 cost) - so the old saying "you get what you pay for "  - well mostly LOL ?

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Fundamentally I see no reason why it wouldn't work, though I don't know about the sensitivity of that camera -- you may find it just works better with a camera designed for astro use.  Some cameras don't allow sufficient control of gain and exposure (for example) that you might want for imaging.

Alongside oacapture (which does work on the RPi though I've never tried with their dedicated camera) I have been bumbling along with a live stacking application which should also run on the RPi.  It doesn't have a lot of functionality yet, but it's not a huge amount of work to push it on further.  That would probably do for the software side of things.

James

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James is right about the insufficient control over the camera. I have an RPi compatible Arducam module which is also Sony IMX219 based. I don't think it can do more than about 6 second exposures. Also controlling exposure, gain and white balance etc is a bit convoluted to say the least.

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I've been using the RPi 3B for DSO astro imaging with an ASI1600MM-Cool with no problems.  Software/firmware is KStars/Ekos/INDI.  Admittedly it wants something faster for planetary or Ha solar such as the Rock64.

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