An Open Source Mirrorless Camera You’d Want To Use
Building a digital camera can range from a relatively simple project using a Raspberry Pi and a camera module to an ambitious, complex endeavor like Wenting Zhang’s open-source mirrorless digital camera. At the basic level, using pre-existing modules with a Pi and a 3D-printed case simplifies things, since the drivers and electronics have already been handled.
However, Zhang’s project takes camera development to a much more advanced level, starting from scratch to construct a full-frame CCD camera. This process, usually tackled by large engineering teams at camera companies, involved designing the CCD timing and acquisition circuitry. Inside the camera is a Kodak full-frame sensor paired with a Sony E-mount lens. The core of the system is a Xilinx Zynq ARM-and-FPGA, housed in a stack of boards that manage power, CCD, and image processing. It’s an extraordinary feat, considering the technical complexity involved in developing a functioning, custom-built digital camera. While the software might not be as refined as what you’d find in commercial cameras, the fact that it’s an open-source, self-designed system is remarkable in itself.
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