Raspberry Pi Drops the Module, Releases the Teeny-Tiny Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 Sensor Assembly
New product targets those looking to integrate the Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 into their projects while minimizing the bulk.
Raspberry Pi has announced that the sensor assemblies at the heart of its Camera Module 3 are now available without the rest of the module — starting at just $15 in single-unit quantities.
"Since its launch two-and-a-half years ago, our 12-megapixel autofocus Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 has found a home in countless enthusiast projects, and in a wide range of industrial and embedded applications," says Raspberry Pi's Mike Buffham. "But we've found that some of our embedded customers want to integrate our camera technology into smaller form factors than our 25×24mm [around 0.98×0.94"] module footprint can support. To help these customers, we’re pleased to announce that the Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 Sensor Assemblies are now available to purchase as stand-alone products, priced from just $15."
The Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 launched in January 2023 as a major upgrade from its predecessor, dramatically improving the quality of image possible while retaining a pre-installed lens — in contrast with the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera Module (HQ Camera Module), which uses a bare sensor with swappable lenses. As well as a higher-resolution near-12-megapixel Sony IMX708 sensor, the upgraded module boasts a voice coil-driven motorized auto-focus system — and even brings support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) capture.
The new stand-alone Raspberry Pi 3 Camera Module 3 Sensor Assemblies are exactly what you'd find attached to the Camera Module 3 itself — if you popped one off. The standard and "NoIR" variants, the latter dropping the infrared cut filter for night-vision use, are priced at $15; wide-angle versions of both, which increase the field of view from 75° diagonal to 120°, are priced at $25.
The sensors themselves aren't much use without the supporting electronics found on the rest of the Camera Module, though, which is why Raspberry Pi has also launched schematics for a reference design (PDF) and a bill of materials (BOM) (PDF) — created with the intention of seeing projects integrating the sensor into a larger board without the need for a separate PCB, rather than building a clone of the Camera Module that already exists.
The Raspberry Pi 3 Camera Module 3 Sensor Assembly variants have already been listed at official Raspberry PI resellers, though at the time of writing were all showing as out of stock. More information is available on the official product page.