Chris Laplante Looks to Add Remote Zoom, Focus to the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera Module

Maker Chris Laplante is working on making the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera Module a little less needy by adding remote control of the traditionally-manual focus and zoom features available on its lenses — using 3D-printed parts and stepper motors.

"Here’s a brief overview of what I’ve accomplished so far," Laplante writes of the project, which began in September of last year as a means of turning the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera Module into a low-cost bird camera with remotely-adjustable focus and zoom. "Created Fusion 360 models for the telephoto lens and High Quality camera. Designed 3D printed spur gears that fit around the zoom and focus wheels of the lens, and 3D printed worm gears to drive the spurs.

"Designed a small PCB with QRE1113 infrared reflectance sensors – the intention is for these to encode the position of the spur gears (which would have some black lines drawn on them using a Sharpie). Designed an assembly that mounts the High Quality camera, lens, stepper motors (NEMA-8 size), and optical sensor PCBs."

The idea behind the project: Adjusting both the focus and the zoom of a manual CCTV lens attached to the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera Module in software, interfacing stepper motors with the lens through 3D-printed parts. "I have not decided yet whether to try and control all of this from a Raspberry Pi, vs. have another microcontroller in the middle that handles some tasks such as position encoding," Laplante notes. "I see benefits with both approaches."

More details on the project can be found on Laplante's blog, though he warns that his initial aim for the project is no more: "Four months into the project I got impatient," he admits, "and ended up buying an off-the-shelf camera."