StereoPi v2 Camera Kit Guide
Contents
Basic assembly
Following this section of the guide, you can assemble the basic camera setup without a screen and a button. This assembly is useful for the OpenCV experiments.
Camera mounting plate preparation
1. Prepare the camera mount plate, four nuts, and four 10mm spacers
2. Install the spacer to the hole in each corner and secure it with the nut
3. You should get this assembly as a result:
Installation of the cameras
Please prepare two cameras, eight nuts, and eight bolts. You will also need the front camera plate assembled in the previous step.
Each camera has two metal nuts on the backside of the PCB. Put the camera onto the mounting plate keeping these bolts inside the hole:
Secure the camera using 4 nuts and 4 bolts:
Install the second camera the same way. You should get this assembly as a result:
CM4 installation
- Disconnect all external equipment and power.
- Put the board upside down so that the USB C port is facing to the left.
- Take the CM4 module so that the triangle PCB antenna and the power circuit (a group of 5 black components) are faced to the left.
- Put the CM4 module on the connectors and gently press the bottom until you hear a click. After that, do the same with the top part of the CM4.
After this step you should get this result:
StereoPi v2 power jumper installation
Install a jumper to the pins near the USB C connector.
Connecting cameras to StereoPi v2
For the next step you'll need all items you've just assembled, and also four 20mm spacers.
While connecting camera ribbons, the first step is gently PULLING black the fixator up 4-5 mm. After that insert camera ribbon by BLUE side to BLACK fixator. Check that the cable is fully inserted at a 90-degree angle. After that push the black fixator down to secure the ribbon.
After this step you should get this result:
StereoPi v2 installation
You can use camera ribbon cables of different lengths, so this step may vary.
Choose the most appropriate ribbon cables' position for your assembly, and put StereoPi v2 board to the spacers, attached to the camera mount plate. Here is how we did it for the 10cm cables:
After that, secure the board using four 20mm stand-offs. Here is the result of this step:
Back plate installation
Please prepare the assembly from the previous step, backplate, and four nylon bolts:
Attach the backplate to the stand-offs using four bolts. The result should look like this:
Tripod mount installation
Prepare the GoPro mount add-on and the black acrylic circle from the kit.
Install the acrylic circle near the metal part of the GoPro mount first:
Install the StereoPi assembly keeping the cameras facing the metal part of the GoPro mount, and secure the assembly using the metal screw included.
Advanced assembly
In this section, we'll review a few cameras installation options, as well as 2" IPS screen installation and a shot button. This assembly is suitable for the SLP2 image and stereoscopic photo/video capture.
Elevated installation of the cameras
In the first section of the assembly guide, we considered the simple approach of the camera mounting:
If you are planning to experiment with different cameras and want to be able to replace them without the full disassembly, it is better to use the "elevated" camera installation, like this one:
To do this assembly, use four 6mm spacers and four bolts.
Secure the spacers using the bolts:
Then install both cameras to the mounting plate:
Recessed installation of the cameras
This method is useful with the StereoPi Slim edition. You can also use it in some specific cases, when you have to hide the cameras' PCB and ribbons behind the mounting plate.
Attach the spacers by nuts this way:
Install both cameras to the mounting plate:
Installation of Pi Cameras V1 and V2
We recommend using the elevated installation of the V1 or V2 cameras.
Since these cameras have another position of the holes, you should use additional holes of the mounting plate.
To simplify the installation difference indication, let us show you both versions of the cameras installed on the same plate.
Caution: using two cameras with different sensors will cause raspistill/raspivid issues. Please access the cameras using low-level system methods if you really need this mix of sensors for your experiments. In our photo, we are using v1 camera and M12 both equipped with OV5647 sensors, so this couple will work with the raspistill/raspivid without issues.
Screen and shot button installation
Connecting the TFT screen
Push the screen's wires through the hole:
For simplicity of future assembly make a knot, but do not tighten too tight!
ATTENTION!
The color of wires may vary! Please use the name of the pins to connect, and ignore the colors!
Connect the screen wires to the StereoPi v2 GPIO according to this diagram:
Secure the screen using four bolts from the kit.
Here is the backside view of the backplate with the screen attached:
And our assembly looks like this now:
IMPORTANT
- If your screen sows upside-down image, you can either assemble your setup using another slot for the cables of the backplate or do this simple rotation trick shown in [| this 26-seconds YouTube video].
- After installation of the screen, do not forget to enable it in StereoPi_v2_Camera_Kit_Guide#Turn_on_TFT_screen_support_in_SLP2.
Connecting the button
Now let's install the shot button. As an example, we'll connect it to the GPIO 20. Please use this GPIO 20 in the SLP2 setting to enable this buttin functionality.
Install the button into the hole:
Secure the button from the bottom side by the metal nut included:
Connect the button's wires to pins 38 and 39 according to this diagram:
And we have this connection:
Now install the backplate to the main assembly with the StereoPi:
And a side view of our assembly:
Turn on TFT screen support in SLP2
After this, please turn on the display support in the SLP. This process is described here: SLP2 /TFT display
Turn on button support in SLP2
Please turn on the button support in the SLP. This process is described here: SLP2 /Recording/Button