Pi Camera Module v3

The latest version of Pi's mainstream camera module has autofocus, HDR and wide angle, proclaims Les Pounder!

- Les Pounder

There's no new Pi model this year but here's the Camera Module 3 at £25 for standard or £35 for the wide-angle version. The new module brings more pixels, rivalling the High-Quality Camera's 12MP while keeping the smaller sensor-on-a-board form factor. What's new about this tiny camera is autofocus. This is the first official Raspberry Pi camera with autofocus, although Arducam's (see LXF289) high-resolution camera delivered that functionality last year.

The Camera v3 updates the original's sensor-on-aboard form factor to pack a 12MP Sony IMX708 sensor and autofocus. It also comes in four versions: standard, wide angle, NOIR and NOIR wide angle.

At the time of writing, there are two main ways to control the camera. The libcamera library (which replaced raspistill and raspivid) and Picamera2 (an in-house update to the long-running community-created Picamera). With our Raspberry Pi 4 powered off, we inserted the camera cable and locked it into place. As the camera uses the same connector as previous models, it means it can be used with the full range of Raspberry Pi boards, including the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W via an adapter cable.