Mar. 17, 2025
After my articles and videos about 3D cameras ' one of the most popular questions was ' 'Which 2D camera should I choose for my project?'
This question is orders of magnitude more complicated than it seems. For most systems that I have seen, 'choosing a camera' is part of the final product ' as important and complicated as 'collecting a dataset' or 'training a neural network.'
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Why?
Today, it's pretty clear that expertise in VLM and Edge models differs. The same is true of cameras. When people develop low-power cameras for home use and cameras for astronomy, they will use different approaches and solutions.
So, I'll warn you right away ' this guide does not pretend to be comprehensive. I tried to focus on a few things:
Also, when preparing the article and video, I asked a few experts to criticize and add their point of view on these issues:
By the way. This article also has a video on YouTube. In this video I tell a few additional examples and share practice experience:
When choosing a camera, you need to evaluate several characteristics at a high level:
To estimate this, let's check all these characteristics on the camera
USB, CSI, and LAN are the primary interfaces that account for 95% of cameras. We will talk about them in detail later, and here are a few words about the rest. Partly, these are wrappers over existing ones:
Each interface has two main parameters: speed and signal delay. The slowest ones now are old cameras (USB 2.0, etc.). The fastest ones utilize several PCIe lines.
The further your camera is from your processing unit, the bigger the difference. The more intermediate processing your signal will go through ' the later you will output your result.
We can talk about optics endlessly. But let's focus on the main characteristics:
Main characteristics of the matrix:
Also, some cameras have their own light system; sometimes, you need to choose whether to build your system or use existing boxing.
Also, for some applications, it's super important to choose a shutter type. Global vs. Rolling Shutter. Global shutter allows you to have the same moment of exposure for all pixels. Also, for some cameras mechanical shutter, it's still an option(astronomy, for example). But it's quite rare.
Some cameras have an internal CPU/NPU/GPU for image processing, and for some, you need to use another device.
The first advantage is that preprocessing works on the camera. Some USB cameras can stream a raw image, but most cameras will stream already processed and compressed images. This allows you to utilize the channel width optimally.
The second advantage is that most USB cameras are 'plug and play.' They will work out of the box under Windows andmost Linux systems, MacOS, Android, etc.
The third advantage is availability. A USB camera will be sold in a nearby store. Of course, not every USB camera is so easy to buy, but this will be reasonable for most examples.
The fourth advantage is that USB 3 is a fairly fast protocol. Especially considering compression.
The first disadvantage is the limited cable length. The camera out of the box will most likely have:
The second minus. Simple cameras can have a large delay and it can be unstable.
The third minus. Sometimes, finding a ready-made camera with the target characteristics isn't easy.
The fourth minus is that drivers can be unstable. Recently, this part has improved. But 6'7 years ago, the driver could freeze on Jetson, requiring a system reboot.
In my opinion, USB cameras are super good for prototyping. They allow you to quickly connect something and minimize problems caused by drivers and codecs.
Very often, small-scale indoor solutions/factory solutions are made on USB cameras, where the camera's price is no longer a determining factor at $200-$300.
USB cameras are good for providing high FPS with high-quality images.
In general, USB is when it is 'Fast' and 'Good' but 'Expensive'.
Several examples of USB cameras that can be used in projects.
First option. Cheap, quick to buy, good quality for student projects, testing algorithms, etc. ' Logitech C270 (Logitech C920/C922 has a little bigger resolution and framerate)
Second option. Expensive, rich, good quality, lots of implemented interfaces, good drivers and lenses ' Basler cameras. We used them a lot back in '. They where super nice.
Third option. Good Chinese cameras ' Vision Datum. In general, covers most of what Basler can do. But the software is a little worse, the design is a little worse. Etc., etc.
Forth Option. Super Small USB Boards (1, 2). They are nice if you want build your own camera.
The most configurable protocol is CSI. You can use a different number of lines or a different approach to transmission. Both the fastest and the slowest cameras are made with CSI protocol.
Cameras transmit raw information ' this allows you to preprocess the image yourself. Also, it's one of the fastest protocols.
There are a lot of camera vendors. You can choose a camera that suits the task.
Also, there are a lot of different connectors based on the top of the CSI protocol.
Limited length. This can be partially fixed with coaxial connectors, but this increases the system's complexity and cost. People try to stay within the 30cm main range for most everyday applications. But it's hard to find something much longer then 10m.
If your board does not have a separate chip for image encoding, you must do it on the processor. Which will additionally load it
More development time if you go down to the lower level.
CSI cameras are different. They require mutual calibration of the camera and the board. If this is some 'arbitrary camera and arbitrary board,' ' they may not work out of the box.
When you need to maximize control over the system, when you need to achieve the minimum production cost but do not want to lay out your own matrix yet, or when the final device should be small (this can be achieved with USB, but with CSI, the choice will be greater).
Also, if you are still developing your own board ' using CSI is a fairly logical step.
Of course, there are a few classic examples that everyone uses
RPi camera ' (works on a lot of boards)
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On the Nvidia website, you can find a lot of cameras that work with Jetson.
And here is, for example, another extensive list of different cameras.
A clear protocol that will work with all devices. Problems arise much less often than with USB. Lots of goodies out of the box: the camera can be on the other side of the world. Multicast.
There are many cameras on the market. You can find good lenses, good lighting, and competent filters right out of the box.
You can find good cases. Dust and moisture are protected with heating and anti-fogging.
You can find full control: rotation, zoom, pointing, and sharpness.
High latency ' much higher than USB/CSI. Usually much more expensive than USB and CSI. Cheap models have almost no settings and may not have a good picture.
You are essentially buying a box. No ability to configure internal algorithms. Unless you are developing a camera.
You need a network infrastructure. Most likely, you will need a router and lay networks.
When latency is not important to you. When there are many users. When you have already installed the camera and the algorithm needs to be run on a ready camera. When you have a central computer where you want to calculate everything. When the working conditions are challenging.
From expensive cameras, Moxa and Axis are worth mentioning.
Middle class ' HikVision and Dahua.
You can go to Aliexpress for cheap cameras. But remember that for some, even receiving a stream is a problem. The cameras I chose 2'3 years ago are already out of stock. Different cameras from the same vendor may not work, etc.
There is no straightforward solution to the question, 'What camera should I choose?' Even top companies experiment a lot.
So, the best approach is to schedule an additional amount of time to research this question for your case as well. After this:
While you wait for the camera of your dreams, take some simple USB/LAN cameras for experiments.
At SLIMDESIGN we know one of the most critical parts of the product development process is the selection of the right components for your product. This is why we already start with pre-selecting components in an early stage, right after all product requirements and features are determined. The selection of parts doesn't just determine critical factors in your product's final specifications and price, e.g. a faster but more expensive motor makes your car go faster, but additionally has a huge impact on product design, supply chain management, and level of innovation.
Selecting components just based on the requirements will always lead to contradicting outcomes. We all want the highest specifications, in the smallest form factor, for the lowest price. To combat these contradictions, we work with our design methodology. In which we have developed an integrated, lean, development process that allows design, mechanical, software, and electrical engineering to be seamlessly interwoven.
Selecting the right components is a custom job, and unique to each product design process. To give you a bit more insight into some of the aspects that come into play when selecting your components, we've taken the design of a camera as an example. In this article, we'll show you which components you would need, and what tradeoffs they cause in your final product.
Camera development is an example of a project in which you'll need a dedicated project team. This ensures you can be more efficient, flexible, and faster than traditional methods, without the loss of information during the process. To streamline this, we make use of the specification loop, to review and validate which requirements are a priority and how they affect each other. With this method, we protect the project against surprises that are difficult to change or solve at a later stage.
Every IoT device needs a combination of processor, memory, video encoder/decoder, and additional chips. ); These are technically spoken the brains of your device. Here is where the first decision on requirements has to be made. You can develop and source these components separate or select everything combined in a SOM (system on a module), SOC (system on a chip), or SIP (system in a package).
So when to choose which? The SOM is interchangeable, easier, and faster to integrate on a PCB. But, more expensive and larger. The SIP is a package of modules with everything packed and stacked together where the SOC is a one-level chip with all components integrated that can be soldered directly to the PCB
For most of the packages from the larger companies like Qualcomm or Ambarella, you need large order quantities (100K) to even be able to order and get the right amount of development support. If your order quantities don't suffice, it might be easier to get third-party systems including their SDK (software developer kit). This lowers the development time and cost but comes at a higher part price.
Most important for the selection of each of these is the availability of a complete SDK and an evaluation kit, in combination with the right level of documentation. Especially at the beginning of your project, when a lot of the requirements might still be undefined. It helps to kickstart the development because you can start testing and reviewing these requirements directly with working prototypes, instead of losing time and resources with designing, developing, and producing a PCB and accompanying software from scratch.
The requirements for the image quality can be defined depending on the use-case for the camera you are designing. Making sure these requirements are determined and set beforehand ensures you won't lose time in the process later on. Image quality is a collective term and consists of image resolution, frame rate, possibly night vision, field of view, and lens distortion. These choices made on these also have a big impact on the other hardware like; chipset, memory, power consumption, and cost.
So to determine these requirements, ask yourself the following questions.
Based on the requirements you've selected above, you can now investigate what kind of image sensor would fit your needs. Nowadays, most consumer products use CMOS sensors. These are available from 3 main brands Sony, Omnivision, and Onsemicon (formally known as Aptina). The challenge here is to find a sensor that fits your application. The number of pixels, framerate, and pixel size are the most important criteria. In our experience, the sensors from Onsemicon suit most of our applications for a reasonable price.
With the sensor size, resolution, and FOV the lens selected, you can now focus on the optics part of your camera. These days it's very common to buy camera modules, which are a combination of the sensor and optics in one module. But your project might have specific needs. You might need an ultra-wide-angle or a very low total length. We always select a couple of lenses from different suppliers and test them with the first working prototype. To make this work; hardware, mechanical, and software engineers need to work seamlessly together. But seeing the first image from a prototype pop-up on your screen always gives a great sense of accomplishment!
When night vision is required, IR LEDs and an IR-Cut switch are good possible solutions. Because of the IR-cut filter, you have colorful images during the day and high contrast low color images in low light situations. Another possibility for night vision is to select a very light-sensitive sensor with backside illumination and a high dynamic range. This gives quite nice colorful footage also during low light situations but with less contrast compared to IR LEDs.
Recording high-quality footage to the internal memory or sd-card is a standard function of most of the camera solutions we develop. But often there is a request to stream the video via wifi or the cellular network to the cloud and/or other devices. In other use-cases, Bluetooth connectivity might be required. As stated at the beginning of this article, sometimes these features are integrated into the processing module, but often you need separate wifi and or cellular module to add these functionalities. These modules are widely available in plenty of variations. To decrease development time and risk it is important to select pre-certified modules which preferably come with a developer kit and/or an SDK.
Every different radio/wireless connection needs one or more antennas. Depending on the frequencies and technology these are very small ceramic components on the PCB or large rubber antennas on top of the device. There are a couple of main rules when designing with antennas; bigger is better and make sure they are positioned as far as possible from each other, and highly sensitive and high-speed components. Often the antenna's integration starts late in the design process which might result in low antenna and connectivity performance. This will lead to higher transmitting and battery power usage and lowers user experience. That's why you should try to integrate all the antenna's from an early stage. At SLIMDESIGN we simulate and prototype the antenna's together with our antenna specialists in the design to validate the locations before we make the first integrated working prototype. To make sure the performance suits the requirements.
When all functions of a 4g live streaming camera are activated it consumes up to 5 watts of power and creates a lot of heat. For some components, it is no problem to run at 60+ °c but others need to stay as cold as possible. For example, the CMOS image sensor will create a lot of noise when the temperature rises above 40 °c, and the lifetime of lipo batteries degrades much faster at higher temperatures. Additionally to these technical aspects of temperature, users who touch temperatures above 48 °c on metal surfaces experience pain.
To manage the temperature inside of you can do a thermal analysis of the camera, and based on this optimize the materials and design to minimize the risk of overheating. When you use thermal flow analyses software, all optimizations can directly be compared simultaneously to reduce the development time.
Water-resistance sometimes seems to be just another requirement but the impact on the design and engineering are significant. When you want to make a device watertight, the first step is to determine how watertight does the product need to be. The most common way of rating water-tightness is the IP-ratings table as shown in the images. Starting at the lowest level of IP-x1, every step closer to IP-x9 becomes increasingly difficult from an engineering point of view. The impact of each higher level of water-tightness on the enclosure with all connections, buttons, and seals becomes more challenging. Even though there are multiple proven methods for creating waterthight seals, you will always need to prototype and test these solutions. To make sure the device passes the IP certification we normally use our test methods at the studio. When we are confident in the solution proposed, we use a unified body test lab for the certification.
Every physical product needs to be as safe as possible for the user and environment. Before you start with the development, discuss and define the target market to make sure you don't miss important legal requirements. This is not the fun part of product development but the impact on getting your product to market as quickly as possible when you don't do this is high! Depending on the target market and the used technologies there are specific regulations you must comply to. Some are based on the region like the CE for Europe and FCC for the USA. Others are based on technology requirements. When you have a radio with antennas in the device you need FCC certification and when you want to use for example the BlueTooth or WiFi icon you need dedicated certification. There are also many certifications based on customer preferences like IP water resistance, military mil-spec, or Atex explosion-proof.
As you can see in the article stated above, choosing the right component for a product like a camera will always be a trade-off. Especially in these days of chip shortage, which will increase the lead time and price on many of your desired components, finding a component that fits your requirements, budget and schedule is a very specific job. This will require you to choose between these factors based on the amount of risk they are for your project. Even with our years of experience, a global network of trusted suppliers, and component-based design methodology, it sometimes still is hard to find the ideal component.
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