Camera-M is another ESP32 camera module that uses the same pinout as Camera-1, with the same GPIO ports exposed (although their positions differ). The firmware is interchangeable between the two. The key difference is that Camera-M has a simplified design and is half the size of the latter. The USB serial port, SD card slot, and charging management features provided in Camera-1 are available through an optional Basic expansion board.
When using the ESP32 camera, leveraging the ESP32 chip’s performance to implement application logic, such as controlling external devices and executing remote commands, can reduce both coding and hardware complexity, without the need for additional controllers. In such cases, the more features integrated into the module, the more system resources are consumed, which may limit its applications, for example, due to a lack of sufficient I/O pins. Therefore, Camera-M adopts the “less is more” approach, exposing as many resources as possible and leaving decision-making in the user’s hands.
An additional benefit of the simplified design is that Camera-M is smaller and better suited for applications with size and weight constraints, such as small quadcopter drones. At the same time, Camera-M maintains a breadboard-compatible pin layout for easy circuit prototyping.
The optional Basic expansion board can be stacked with Camera-M to provide a USB serial port for programming and debugging, an SD card slot for storing offline photos, and charging management for lithium battery power. The expansion board can also function as a standalone module.
Schematic
https://github.com/nodematrix/Node-Matrix_Camera-M
Firmware
https://github.com/nodematrix/ESP32CameraDemo
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Programming ESP32 Camera Using Arduino IDE 2.0
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Camera-M