Raspberry Pi Zero is a PRO HQ webcam for less than $100!

How does the HQ Camera stack up against other high quality webcams? WAIT, you can use a Raspberry Pi AS A WEBCAM?

In this video, I'll show you now to set up a Raspberry Pi Zero with the HQ Camera and the 6mm lens as a high-quality webcam to rival the quality of other cameras costing even more (if you can find them this year!).

And I'm not going to make you dive into the guts of your Raspberry Pi and compile code or anything like that—it's just one automated job that runs to set everything up for you, on any Raspberry Pi! (Right now it's only working correctly on the Pi Zero though!).

Mentioned in the video:

All the parts used to build the webcam:

And a few mounting options (affiliate links):

#RaspberryPi #PiWebcam

Contents:

00:00 - The Raspberry Pi Webcam
00:35 - Existing webcam problems
02:19 - Parts needed
03:40 - Existing solutions for Pi Webcams
04:45 - Easy Pi Webcam software setup
06:05 - Camera assembly
09:01 - How well does it work?
09:33 - Downsides: AF, mic, resolution
11:17 - Teasers and Bloopers

[colemickens]

This is the highest form of YouTube videos. 10/10 excellent. Thanks for making the project and recording this video.

[stamasd]

Thank you, what a perfect timing! I am actually in the process of trying to do exactly that. I have 3 pi zeros which I plan on using like that. Literally one of them and a camera module are on my bench as a WIP right now. :D

[patw]

Jeff, thanks for doing all the hard work on this project. I just finished building the webcam, and it works like a charm. I can't believe that the image is that clear. Can't wait to mount it to my telescope. Thanks again.

[Aionaddict]

I love the outtakes. This is literally me trying to make a YouTube video. Ordering all parts, can't wait to review this build!

[backacheache]

I think it serving a webpage for you to control exposure, white balance etc would be great, also as most people want 1080p the 4k sensor could also give a virtual pan and tilt

[junkyardgaming]

I had some issues running this off of the zero w but with the new zero w2 it runs perfectly

[Chris.Wiley.]

Just assembled my pi-zero camera and I can confirm it works! One thing I did differently is I started with the Raspberry Pi OS Lite that is command-line only, but it works equally well. Thanks, Jeff, for the tutorial and github files!

[tipprich]

Did this project back in December and I've been using the Pi webcam for all of my online college classes. I couldn't fine the plastic piece at the time so I used cardboard and zip-ties. Super sketch but hey, it works. Thanks for an awesome project! I'm looking forward to making your Pi NAS pretty soon.

[Buzzygirl]

Excellent tutorial. I am planning to get a Pi Zero W and looking for an easy project, and I just so happen to need a webcam for one of my computers!

[hongy]

I just setup my own Pi Webcam this weekend and I am very happy with the result. Awesome project! And thank you Jeff for the detailed instructions

[Latchfpv]

For someone who's yet to purchase a pi, I'm ever so delighted I subbed to your channel. Always such good content. Definitely will be making quite a few purchases in the future...

[hercion]

unbelievable your channel has only 81 thousand viewers.. This USB RaspiCam project is *amazing* ! great work !

[diggleboy]

Love this Jeff! DIY Webcam is something I've been looking for and this solves that problem.

[konserv]

That's awesome. I replaced 4 cameras for last years and always experienced problems with quality of mount, quality of cables, autofocus, etc. And the majority of those cameras costed me about $100 each.
My next webcam would be rpi-based! I can replace USB cable, I can manually focus it. That's great!

[wd]

"John microphone"....that was funny Jeff. I literally laughed out loud.

[drjasontimothyjones]

I cant beleave how awesome this works, its one of the best projects I have done with my Pi and something I have been looking for for will be beer money sent I can assure you

[jaysilence]

Thank you for this excellent tutorial and Ansible playbook!

For anyone wanting to directly output the video to the HDMI output the solution is simple:
* Use raspi-config to autologin to the CLI
* place 'raspivid -t 0' as the last command into the .bashrc file in the home directory of the pi user.
Can not be used as a webcam then.
The output goes either to USB or to HDMI, not both at the same time.

[JamesWebster]

Great video, made perfect by the outtakes at the end. Thanks Jeff!

[ThBeowulf]

An excellent, real-world use-case for a Raspberry Pi Zero (W) *AND* an excellent, real-world use-case for Ansible all in one. This is fantastic!

[raymondlines]

I tried this and love the result. Jeff made it very easy. With a 6mm lens I can use this on Zoom to show a white board with enough resolution to have people read what I write over Zoom. Adjusting the HQ camera ring allows me to adjust to a very close focus to show details of small things (say, a small magnetic floating over a cooled super conductor). This is a great project. Thanks so much for making this video.