SparkFun Electronics - JPEG Color Camera

Products

Full catalog
(PDF)

Product Info

JPEG Color Camera - UART Interface

sku: SEN-09334

Replacement: None. This camera has been discontinued by the manufacturer. We have yet to find a suitable replacement for this product.

Description: This is a simple-to-use, UART controlled, color camera with on-board JPEG compression. Capable of resolutions up to 640x480, and a number of color types. Send the snapshot command, and this module will capture a single-frame picture, compress it, and send it back over a serial connection. The easy-t0-use and well defined command set is detailed in the User's Manual below.

Note: This is a last time buy for this camera. COMedia is discontinuing the C328 serial series cameras. They have announced plans for another serial camera but have no information or ETA at this time.

This module includes an OmniVision OV7640/8 VGA camera sensor, OV528 camera-to-serial bridge, program EEPROM and a 4-wire cable that mates with the camera module.

Features:

Low power: 3.3V, 60mA
4-pin interface: Vdd, GND, TX, RX
100uA current consumption in sleep mode
VGA resolution; built-in down-sampling to QVGA or CIF
TTL interface of up to 115.2kbps, auto baud detection
Simple, well-defined command set
JPEG codec for different resolutions
Built-in color conversion: 4 gray, 16 gray, 256 gray, 12-bit RGB, 16-bit RGB

Dimensions: 20x28x10mm

Documents:

Pricing

	out of stock

$54.95	price
$49.46	10-99 (10% off)
$43.96	100+ (20% off)

click on image to enlarge

Comments

40 comments

Log in to post comments.

	by Gintaras +2.6 \| Jul 31, 2009 at 3:12pm 0
Just 2 days ago I spent several hours looking for camera with serial output here and other sites with no luck, its like you guys know exactly what I want! I love sparkfun!

	by Nate \| Aug 3, 2009 at 9:15am
Thanks Gintaras! We've been looking for a long time as well. We're pretty happy with this solution. 640x480 isn't great quality, but it will give you photographic evidence that the cat is terrorizing the kitchen.

	by Has +3 \| Aug 17, 2009 at 2:15pm +0.19
Wanna know a secret? The datasheet states the maximum UART speed is 115,200 bps. It'll really operate at 921,600 bps. That's either a lot more pictures, or a lot less power consumption depending on your application.

	by Occam +6.1 \| Sep 18, 2009 at 9:38pm 0
OK ... how do you set it for 921.6K??

	by bluehash +2.9 \| Aug 1, 2009 at 5:19pm 0
Surveyor(http://surveyor.com/) used to use this camera for their older robots. The camera is pretty good if you dont want a high frame rate.

	by jps330 +1 \| Aug 5, 2009 at 7:32am 0
Can anyone point me in the direction on how one would bridge this serial connection to a pc using zigbee?

	by dantearmando +3.7 \| Aug 14, 2009 at 3:01pm +0.19
You can connect this camera directly to an Xbee module since they both operate at 3.3V, and hook up another Xbee to your PC with Sparkfun's Explorer Serial board, or the USB one.

	by Funkotron76 +2.9 \| Aug 17, 2009 at 2:47pm 0
Here is a program I created to talk to this camera with C# using 2 xBee modules. http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/C328R.aspx

	by Carbon-rod +3.7 \| Aug 9, 2009 at 6:36pm 0
Hi guys, Just wondering, the sample image on this page is 600x600 pixels is this an actual image taken from the camera or just a similar image? The resolution should be 640x480 I am guessing....

	by Nate \| Aug 14, 2009 at 12:28pm
Good point - That is a real image taken with the camera but I believe the image has been down sized to fit our system. Most of the big images have max of 600pix wide. I will see if we can get the original posted.

	by viliam \| Aug 17, 2009 at 2:29pm
The original image is posted now. It looks distorted in the preview but if you enlarge it you can see the original size.

	by sakko303 +1.4 \| Aug 14, 2009 at 2:09pm 0
This seems really cool but reading the instructions it would appear that it can only support .75fps for "video" (preview mode) ... so, less than 1 frame per second. I am looking for a wireless (hopefully wifi via wifly) solution to get video for a telerobotic project. I think this is maybe a bit too hopeful for arduino? Still a cool little device... Suggestions?

	by svoisen +2.8 \| Aug 14, 2009 at 2:17pm +0.19
I wrote an Arduino-compatible library for communicating with this camera a few months ago for those who want to save some coding: http://gizmologi.st/2009/04/taking-pictures-with-arduino/

	by dantearmando +3.7 \| Aug 14, 2009 at 2:56pm 0
Finally!! I've been working with this camera for the past few months and I was wondering when you guys were gonna get something similar.

	by Skimask +2.8 \| Aug 15, 2009 at 11:26am 0
The datasheets say it'll output a raw image (RGB565 format and others). Anybody tried to use any of these 'non-JPEG' output modes?

	by jarv +4.2 \| Sep 6, 2009 at 11:17am 0
python script for testing it out using an ft232r breakout: http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?t=17119

	by davederevo +1 \| Sep 6, 2009 at 6:56pm 0
I'd like to use PC to communicate with this module. What kind of serial trasceiver should i use? Does Sparkfun sell one?

	by Marcel Sánchez +1.8 \| Sep 6, 2009 at 10:48pm 0
You need a MAX232 (or similar), some capacitors and a serial port (internal COM or USB like FT232r). It's used as a voltage converter. Does anyone have another picture taken with this camera? Thanks.

	by jarv +4.2 \| Sep 7, 2009 at 5:59pm +0.2
Marcel Sánchez and davederevo : see - http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?p=80390 for how to connect it to a PC to test it out and I also stuck an example picture at the end of the post

	by Marcel Sánchez +1.8 \| Sep 11, 2009 at 10:43pm 0
Thank you for publishing your photo. It seems to be well compressed, but it has only got 640x480 pixels :( I have ordered one camera and some components. When I get the package (at least one week), I will write a C linux code and a STM32 code for these modules.

	by jarv +4.2 \| Sep 21, 2009 at 10:58pm 0
i've had some success recently interfacing this module to an arduino using the gizmologi.st module as well as code for writing to an SD card. posted a summary over on the arduino forums if anyone is curious - http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1253595882/

	by Robert Roze +1.8 \| Oct 6, 2009 at 10:35am 0
The datasheet has a table that shows several different lens options. But when I try to order, there's no way to pick one. Which lens does it come with, and is there a way to pick a different one? - Thanks

	by Calif –0.21 \| Oct 19, 2009 at 4:33pm 0
Now if someone invented a composite frame capture -> UART, that would win a nobel prize.

	by Calif –0.21 \| Oct 26, 2009 at 12:03pm 0
We have notes & videos on using it for live video on aircraft. It's main problem is its very prone to malfunctioning. http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/secrets-of-the-c328

jsd

+1.4

| Nov 13, 2009 at 10:58am

I am a Senior Hardware Designer for a telematics company and I choose this camera for our camera sensor. I now understand that this camera is in it's "obsolescence" phase and I am wondering if I should look elsewhere for a camera or if the replacement will be a direct replacement for the C328? Over the coming year we will need 2000+ of these and I'm worried now. We interfaced this to an MSP430 5438 series using an RS485 interface to communicate between our telematics unit and the sensor. Any advanced notice of the replacement would be greatly appreciated.

Calif

–0.21

| Dec 8, 2009 at 12:06pm

It requires an exact baud rate & a clean UART signal to work reliably. Not 115478 or 115000 but 115200. Be sure to pick up a 14.7456Mhz crystal. Controlling it over a noisy radio connection doesn't work very well either. With an exact 115200 baud rate & a local microcontroller commanding it, it sends out continuous JPEGs from our aircraft on an XBee900 perfectly. 5 seconds per 320x240 frame.

This is the source code for a dedicated PIC camera controller.

http://api.ning.com/files/A30NMaHgpipbvzTjzJzJ*Kgt1MsHBhUgu*i4NK13eFsl5AfpzFjHnx9d3RhnPShSKMnNotwPklcOzGMN7YrYPl39IWJR4R6W/video.tar.bz2

	by clearsky +6.2 \| Apr 22, 2010 at 8:08am 0
I used an xmega128 with just internal RC oscillator, it works fine with this camera. My UART speed is 28k and maybe 5% of the time the checksum indicates there is an error in UART transmission. If it happens, I just request the same data packet to be resent again and it works out fine.

	by GTBecker +5.2 \| Dec 9, 2009 at 2:00pm 0
Can the IR-block filter in this camera be removed?

	by RoHS \| Dec 9, 2009 at 2:43pm
oohh, good question, I'd be interested to know as well. Perhaps I'll pop one open and check.

	by GTBecker +5.2 \| Dec 9, 2009 at 7:33pm 0
The documents suggest that the IR filter is on the back of each lens. That should be easy to test. Remove the lens and illuminate the sensor with an IR remote. If the field washes out, the filter is probably on the lens, I think. I found the same family at Electronics123.com, BTW, where the mono IR versions are available.

	by GTBecker +5.2 \| Dec 12, 2009 at 8:22pm 0
Or does the filter look like this: http://www.beyondlogic.org/imaging/camera1.htm ?

	by GTBecker +5.2 \| Dec 16, 2009 at 12:46pm 0
I found the COMedia C328 evaluation application at : http://www.rfdesign.co.za/files/5645456/Download-Library/Comedia/c328ap.zip .

	by tz +8.5 \| Jan 19, 2010 at 9:16pm 0
I updated some python code to include a shift to 921600 baud and to show the image using GTK (just under 1fps). http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?p=91261#91261

	by jlcsa +0.33 \| Mar 6, 2010 at 7:21pm 0
Has anybody successfully interfaced the c328 with an MSP430? I'm trying to adapt the gizmologi API but it's heavily Arduino-specific.

	by tz +8.5 \| Mar 10, 2010 at 1:28pm 0
Something similar, probably the same controller with clearer documentation: http://www.4dsystems.com.au/prod.php?id=75

Rampagesmr

+1.2

| Mar 24, 2010 at 6:56am

Unfortunately, 4D System's µCAM-TTL camera module will also be discontinued. When I emailed 4D Systems about Comedia's Serial JPEG camera being discountinued, I told them it is because the Omnivision OV528 chip on the modules are discontinued. Omnivision upgraded their chip to the OV529 chip. Unfortunately, they are not the same footprint. The new one is a BGA! So both Comedia and 4D Systems must redesign their Serial Camera Modules. There is no word from both Comedia and 4D Systems when they plan to release a replacement module. 4D Systems told me that they are looking for an alternative, but may use the OV529 after all. IMHO, both Comedia and 4D Systems should have already designed their replacement camera module because the discontinuation of the OV528 has been known for about a year now.

	by fsphil +2.3 \| Apr 17, 2010 at 1:18pm 0
One of these cameras was flown to 31km altitude as part of a high-altitude balloon project I was involved with. The data was being transmitted live and the images are incomplete, but the camera worked perfectly in the very low pressure and temperatures up there: http://projectcirrus.wordpress.com/payload/hadie/

clearsky

+6.2

| Apr 22, 2010 at 8:17am

I ordered one of these and it's working as it supposed to. I use UART speed of 28k and get reliable images. You need to check the checksum at the end of the packet to make sure data is sent/received right.

It spend most of the time transmitting the image data. That's what slows it down, even it transmits at 90k in UART, it's still kinda slow. I do like the auto-baud rate configuration. Just send SYNC command until it configure itself and the rest of the communication is easy enough. I would like to see and SPI based interface to speed up the transmission.

The image quality belongs to typical pinhole camera class. Enough for most cases but not for any serious application.

	by Victoroza +1.3 \| Jun 23, 2010 at 8:17am 0
Hi, I was wondering when will this camera be in stock. Thanks.

	by Chiel +4.2 \| Jun 24, 2010 at 4:56am 0
its discontinued so it wont get back in to stock. they are searching for a different cam but that can take a little while