DIRECT FROM
(^) SHENZHEN
One thing that has made the ESP8266 and ESP32
products easy to use is a community that’s built
firmware to make it easy to flash new features
onto your device. Just take a look at the range of
community options for the Sonoff smart relays
for examples.
We’ve come across a couple of other firmwares for
the ESP32-CAM:
- ESPHome, which helps you set up a smart
home system using ESP devices (see
esphome.io for more details). - AutoCamera, which creates a wireless network
on the device and when you connect to this
network, your browser will automatically show
the video stream. This uses the same method
that some WiFi networks use to force you to
a login screen as soon as you connect. See
hsmag.cc/VAFmHQ for details.
The ESP32-CAM is fairly new – it came out in early
2019 – and it’s quite possible that more firmware will
be available in the future. We’ll be keeping an eye on
this, as there’s lots of potential for a device that can
do more than a standard streaming camera.
The AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM comes in at a
fantastic price, and if you’re looking for a WiFi
webcam that you can link in with your smart
home system, then this is a great option.
You’ll need to do a little work to program
it and create a mount, but this is all fairly
straightforward. The soldered headers
and lack of mounting holes make this a
slightly more complex task than it might
otherwise be, but it’s nothing a bit of
hot glue can’t fix. The external antenna port on the
board is a great addition if you’re looking to place this
at the far reaches of your WiFi network.
If you want to go deeper and integrate a camera
into your projects, you can do quite a bit with the
ESP32-CAM, provided you’ve got the programming
skills to make it work. Casual users who want features
beyond basic streaming webcams may wish to check
what additional code is available for them to build off
before making a purchase, but for under £7 you may
prefer to take the plunge and see how you get on.You’ll need to do a little
work to program it and
create a mount, but this is
all fairly straightforward”
”
Right
The AI-Thinker
ESP32 module
provides brains
and connectivityFIELD TEST