Raspberry Pi now has a global shutter camera for $50

The new Raspberry Pi Global Shutter Camera is a specialised 1.6-megapixel camera that is able to capture rapid motion without introducing artefacts.

Okay, so it doesn’t have the specs of most cheap kit you can order off of any number of photography websites, and it also has substantially fewer pixels than even Raspberry Pi’s normal camera models that are up around the 8-12 megapixel range, but hell, it’s a global shutter camera that you can hook up to a Raspberry Pi computer and that’s cool all on its own.

The Raspberry Pi Global Shutter Camera is based on a 1.6MP Sony IMX296 sensor, and it has the same C/CS-mount lens assembly as the already widely available Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera, which therefore offers buyers useful compatibility with the same broad variety of lenses. As the company says, in common with other global shutter sensors, the IMX296 has a lower resolution than similarly sized rolling shutter sensors; a low pixel count is appropriate for machine vision applications, where high-resolution images are challenging to process in real time.

With a large pixel size of 3.45μm × 3.45μm providing high light sensitivity, the Global Shutter Camera can operate with short exposure times (as low as 30μs with adequate lighting), a definite advantage for high-speed photography. And that’s probably very much the niche where it belongs to be honest, as the High Quality Camera is only around $10 more and vastly more capable in many areas.

However, if it’s high speed you want, this is where you want to be. The Raspberry Pi Global Shutter Camera includes a C- to CS-mount adapter, a screwdriver, and a 150mm ribbon cable, as well as a removable plastic back cover for protection. It is compatible with any Raspberry Pi computer that has a CSI connector. And, as we said, it’s available for $50.