ESP32-CAM
DIRECT FROM
SHENZHEN
A programmable WiFi-enabled camera for under £7
By Ben Everard @ben_everardcheap, hackable, WiFi-enabled
camera is a holy grail for makers.
When we first heard about the ESP32-
CAM from AI-Thinker, we had to find
out if we had such a product for our
maker toolbox. We ordered one for
£6.66 (including delivery to the UK) from
YX Electronic Components on AliExpress.
It came in two parts. The main board
(which is an ESP32 module mounted on
a larger board) and a separate camera
module. The flex cable from the camera
slots into the main board. Although there’s
no specific mounting for the camera, it sits
nicely on top of the memory card slot, so with
a drop of glue or tape, you can secure it easily.
The board is based on an ESP32 module,
which is a programmable microcontroller with
built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, with an additional 4MB
of external RAM. Also on the board is a memory card
slot and a camera connector that can take an OV2640
or OV7670 camera module (the former was included
in the price of our board). In principle, this is a pretty
beefy unit. The ESP32 has plenty of processing
power, with two 120MHz 32-bit processing cores.
The memory card slot is listed as ‘TF’ (which
stands for TransFlash) on every spec sheet we’ve
seen. This is a little odd as this is the original name
for what has now become microSD. We’re not
sure why they’re listed using this name and not the
current microSD, but you can use microSD cards in
this port (though you will have to add support to them
in your software).
Let’s take a look at what it takes to get the board up
and running. There are a few ways of programming
the ESP32-CAM, but we’re most familiar with
the Arduino IDE, so we tried this. To install the
ESP32 boards, go to File > Preferences and addBelow
There’s no
mount for the
camera, but the
TF card port is
conveniently
positionedA
REGULAR
Direct From Shenzhen