Who Cares About MCU with Camera?

In this video, we are going to have a vision test with two MCUs, Arduino Portenta Vision Shield and ES32-CAM(OV5640).
Unfortunately, acquiring and processing images from the camera module is a resource-intensive task. If you want high-quality images and fast FPS, you'd be better off using Single Board Computers like Raspberry Pi. Nonetheless, I want to try what is possible in the MCU's low power and lack of resource environment.
I hope this video will be helpful to anyone who wants to do a vision project.

*Timestamps
0:00 - Intro: Portenta H7 Vision Shield vs ESP32-CAM with OV5640
0:50 - Comparison: Portenta H7 Vision Shield vs ESP32-CAM with OV5640
2:30 - Test #1: Image on LCD
4:27 - Test #2: Image Quality (320x240)
6:05 - Test #3: Frame Buffer Acquisition Speed
6:33 - Test #4: Power Consumption
7:04 - Test #5: Person Detection (TinyML)
8:04 - Outro: Portenta Vision Shield, TinyML, LVGL

[Arduino Portenta H7 vs. ESP32-S3]

[OV5640 for ESP32 Camera (Compared to OV2640)]

[Auto Focus with OV5640 on ESP32 AI-Thinker Board]

[TF Lite Person Detection Model]

[ESP32-CAM AI-THINKER + FTDI USB to TTL Serial Converter]

[Waveshare OV5640 Camera Board(B) Image Sensor Module]

[ELECROW Raspberry Pi Monitor 7 Inch Touchscreen IPS 1024x600]

#Comparison #Vision #Camera #MCU #Portenta #Espressif #ESP32 #STM32H747 #ThatProject

[tinayoga]

The HM-01B0 camera is focused closer, near focus. The OV2640 is focused for far. If you want to get a better close image for the OV2640, unscrew the lens a little so the lens sits a little further from the sensor. If you look at the ceiling light in your current images you can see a clean edge for the OV2640, the HM-01B0 is blurry.

To close focus the lens needs to move out. For far focus move in.

[ficeto]

2640 would have done better at lower resolutions, just because how the sensor works and how it bins the image. Lenses make a difference as well of course. ESP32-S3 is much faster at parsing images (especially when OPI PSRAM is used). Maybe something to try next :)

[walterblanc]

Very informative. I am only just started using ESP32. I have an S2 too but not used it yet. I think the ESP32 will ably do every project I will be doing for the forseable future. I must say If I was a better coder I am sure the Arduino Uno would surfice for nearly everything I do even now. One of the main reasons I changed to esp32 was to standardize voltages to 3.3v. 5v + 3.3V caused to many problems and so much duff info out there, like yes you can, no you cant, do such and such. If I was going to splash out that much on a Microcontroller I would spend more and get an Nvidia!

[CompressedSoup]

Pretty impressive to get a Cortex-M7 to run slower than an ESP32

[ifzq]

A Cortex-M7 slower than an ESP32, there is something strange. Is the program optimized? The STM32H7 has DCMI interface, and hardware JPEG codec.

[Altirix_]

something that is just fast enough to transmit a video feed to a server would be a great open source cctv/smart doorbell alternative

[Andrew-rcvh]

This does not surprise me. Espressif have always been ahead of the game. The chap who runs it is super intelligent. By the way, they do a lot of good as a firm regarding social issues like environmental, educational and looking after their staff well. Developer support is also second to none.

[RonAdamsky]

Thank you !
Please test it ESP32 Cam with Wroover.
Is a difference with more memory?

[ictsmile]

hi! I tried the ESP32-CAM module with the OV5640 sensor, like you did . But i think there is a HUGE PROBLEM . The OV5640 sensor is OVERHEATING . (while the most common and cheaper OV2640 is ok) . . The high temperature causes a purple noise to show slowly on the image (starting from the outer part of the image to the center of it) . In low light conditions the image is completely destroyed by this purple noise to the point that ov2640 offers a better image than the ov5640 . You surely must have this problem, too ! It is even visble in the intro of your video around 22 seconds in. on the OV5640 side, you can see the white cloud around the center of the image, that is noise . if you blow some air to the sensor to cool it down it dissapears, but that means a (pretty big) heatsink must be used with the OV5640 . Can you please look into this ? Maybe it is something that can be fixed without a big heatsink . 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫.

[TT-itgg]

K210 can do better than H7 and ESP32 in these regards.
The Maix Nano with camera is much smaller and cheaper than H7. You can also attach ESP-01 to it if you need WiFi connection.
You can use Maixduino or Maix Dock if you need camera, LCD, and WiFi.
Further, you can run dual cores of K210 at 600Mhz and get very nice results.
2 cents~

[andrewdok]

I agree that Human detection was incorrect. You show how portena find in 0.5 second on picture 320*240. And in otherwise stm32 in 5 seconds on 5 Megapixels.
You should check it on same size, or even less megapixel camera to make camera buffer smaller and bit faster

[Gerald-izmv]

It would be interesting to compare with raspberry pi zero 2 w with a raspberry pi camera module 3.

[bsodmike]

Please let us know what are the smaller TFT displays you used? Where can we get them?

[bianchiricardo]

what function did you use to draw the grayscale image to screen on the esp32cam?

[pirulino]

Who Cares About Marvel Cinematic Universe with Camera?

[TufescuDragos]

Hi! I have ESP32 and ov7670 camera module no fifo. Can i do person recognition amd tensorflow lite with them? Or do i need thes esp32 cam?

[kaihatkeinenaccount]

I killed 2 ESP32 Cams due to overheating. They get verry hot and need to be cooled.