RGB Data
When the OV7670 is working in RGB mode (the default), it is in a 16-bit format called "RGB565-swapped". This means that every pixel is treated as a 16-bit number, with the left and right 8 bits "swapped":
The OV2640 uses a 16-bit format called "BGR565-swapped", which switches the positions of the red and blue values within the pixel.
Happily, displayio's ColorConverter is able to deal with this format natively, but it is tough to write efficient Python code to work with it. In some circumstances, the CircuitPython version of the ulab library can help.
In the examples before now, the "capture" operation worked with a bitmap object, but it can also work with a ulab array:
from ulab import numpy as np arr = np.zeros((80, 60), dtype=np.uint16) camera.capture(arr) arr.byteswap(inplace=True)
After using byteswap, the order of the values within the pixel is now:
making it possible to extract an individual red, green, or blue value with bit shifts (this code is for RGB565):
def R(pixel):
return pixel >> 11
def G(pixel):
return (pixel & 0b11111100000) >> 5
def B(pixel):
return pixel & 0b11111
print("The green value of the pixel at (0,0) is", G(arr[0,0]))
Wholesale modifications of the pixel data can be done with ulab. For instance, to invert colors in the whole image,
arr[:] = ~arr
That's exactly what the following program does on the Espressif Kaluga with OV2640.
Click the Download Project Bundle button below to download the necessary libraries and the code.py file in a zip file. Extract the contents of the zip file, and copy the entire lib folder and the code.py file to your CIRCUITPY drive.
Your CIRCUITPY drive should resemble the image.
You should have in / of the CIRCUITPY drive:
- code.py
And in the lib folder on your CIRCUITPY drive:
- adafruit_bus_device
- adafruit_ov2640.mpy
- adafruit_ili9341.mpy
CircuitPython will automatically reload and begin showing the image from the camera on the LCD. If it doesn't, you can open up the REPL to diagnose what went wrong. Double check that you copied all the files from the bundle, and that you have a compatible build of CircuitPython installed, 7.0.0-beta.0 or newer.
If the image does not fill the whole display, try removing rotation=90 from the line beginning display = ILI9341. If it does not appear at all or is in reverse video, try adapting the example to use the st7789 display.
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017 Scott Shawcroft, written for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021 Jeff Epler for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Unlicense
"""
The Kaluga development kit comes in two versions (v1.2 and v1.3); this demo is
tested on v1.3. It probably won't work on v1.2 without modification.
The v1.3 development kit's LCD can have one of two chips, the ili9341 or
st7789. Furthermore, there are at least 2 ILI9341 variants, one of which needs
rotation=90! This demo is for the ili9341. If the display is garbled, try adding
rotation=90, or try modifying it to use ST7799.
The camera included with the Kaluga development kit is the incompatible OV2640,
it won't work.
The audio board must be mounted between the Kaluga and the LCD, it provides the
I2C pull-ups(!)
"""
import board
import busio
import displayio
import fourwire
import ulab.numpy as np
from adafruit_ili9341 import ILI9341
import adafruit_ov2640
# Pylint is unable to see that the "size" property of OV2640_GrandCentral exists
# Release any resources currently in use for the displays
displayio.release_displays()
spi = busio.SPI(MOSI=board.LCD_MOSI, clock=board.LCD_CLK)
display_bus = fourwire.FourWire(
spi, command=board.LCD_D_C, chip_select=board.LCD_CS, reset=board.LCD_RST
)
display = ILI9341(display_bus, width=320, height=240, rotation=90)
bus = busio.I2C(scl=board.CAMERA_SIOC, sda=board.CAMERA_SIOD)
cam = adafruit_ov2640.OV2640(
bus,
data_pins=board.CAMERA_DATA,
clock=board.CAMERA_PCLK,
vsync=board.CAMERA_VSYNC,
href=board.CAMERA_HREF,
mclk=board.CAMERA_XCLK,
mclk_frequency=20_000_000,
size=adafruit_ov2640.OV2640_SIZE_QVGA,
)
cam.flip_x = False
cam.flip_y = True
pid = cam.product_id
ver = cam.product_version
print(f"Detected pid={pid:x} ver={ver:x}")
cam.test_pattern = True
g = displayio.Group(scale=1)
bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(320, 240, 65536)
arr = np.frombuffer(bitmap, dtype=np.uint16)
tg = displayio.TileGrid(
bitmap,
pixel_shader=displayio.ColorConverter(input_colorspace=displayio.Colorspace.RGB565_SWAPPED),
)
g.append(tg)
display.root_group = g
display.auto_refresh = False
while True:
cam.capture(bitmap)
arr[:] = ~arr # Invert every pixel in the bitmap, via the array
bitmap.dirty()
display.refresh(minimum_frames_per_second=0)
cam.deinit()
YUV Data
YUV is another representation of image data. Y represents the luminance (brightness) of a pixel, while U and V represent the color information. Wikipedia has an article about YUV, if you'd like to know more.
The most useful thing about YUV data is that it allows easily extracting a greyscale image, by using the data from every other byte. That is how this "image in a terminal window" example works on the Espressif Kaluga with OV2640.
The OV2640 can be placed in YUV mode by assigning a property:
cam.colorspace = adafruit_ov2640.OV2640_COLOR_YUV
The OV7670 is similar:
cam.colorspace = adafruit_ov7670.OV7670_COLOR_YUV
To demonstrate the YUV mode, the simpletest demo converts a low resolution camera image into lo-fi ASCII art.
Click the Download Project Bundle button below to download the necessary libraries and the code.py file in a zip file. Extract the contents of the zip file, and copy the entire lib folder and the code.py file to your CIRCUITPY drive.
Your CIRCUITPY drive should resemble the image.
You should have in / of the CIRCUITPY drive:
- code.py
And in the lib folder on your CIRCUITPY drive:
- adafruit_bus_device
- adafruit_ov2640.mpy
CircuitPython will automatically reload. Connect to the REPL and the image will be shown in the finest 3-bit ASCII art. If it doesn't, use the REPL to diagnose what went wrong. Double check that you copied all the files from the bundle, and that you have a compatible build of CircuitPython installed, 7.0.0-beta.0 or newer.
If the REPL updates very slowly, one trick is to reset the Kaluga so that it forgets about the LCD display if you ran one of the demos that uses the LCD. Updating the LCD display is much slower than sending data over the USB CDC connection.
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2017 Scott Shawcroft, written for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2021 Jeff Epler for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Unlicense
"""Capture an image from the camera and display it as ASCII art.
This demo is designed to run on the Kaluga, but you can adapt it
to other boards by changing the constructors for `bus` and `cam`
appropriately.
The camera is placed in YUV mode, so the top 8 bits of each color
value can be treated as "greyscale".
It's important that you use a terminal program that can interpret
"ANSI" escape sequences. The demo uses them to "paint" each frame
on top of the prevous one, rather than scrolling.
Remember to take the lens cap off, or un-comment the line setting
the test pattern!
"""
import sys
import time
import board
import busio
import adafruit_ov2640
bus = busio.I2C(scl=board.CAMERA_SIOC, sda=board.CAMERA_SIOD)
cam = adafruit_ov2640.OV2640(
bus,
data_pins=board.CAMERA_DATA,
clock=board.CAMERA_PCLK,
vsync=board.CAMERA_VSYNC,
href=board.CAMERA_HREF,
mclk=board.CAMERA_XCLK,
mclk_frequency=20_000_000,
size=adafruit_ov2640.OV2640_SIZE_QQVGA,
)
cam.colorspace = adafruit_ov2640.OV2640_COLOR_YUV
cam.flip_y = True
# cam.test_pattern = True
buf = bytearray(2 * cam.width * cam.height)
chars = b" .:-=+*#%@"
remap = [chars[i * (len(chars) - 1) // 255] for i in range(256)]
width = cam.width
row = bytearray(2 * width)
sys.stdout.write("\033[2J")
while True:
cam.capture(buf)
for j in range(cam.height // 2):
sys.stdout.write(f"\033[{j}H")
for i in range(cam.width // 2):
row[i * 2] = row[i * 2 + 1] = remap[buf[4 * (width * j + i)]]
sys.stdout.write(row)
sys.stdout.write("\033[K")
sys.stdout.write("\033[J")
time.sleep(0.05)
Test modes
These cameras have a test mode which shows color bars.
You can activate the test pattern mode on the OV2640 camera like so:
cam.test_pattern = True
It's a little different on the OV7670:
cam.test_pattern = adafruit_ov7670.OV7670_TEST_PATTERN_COLOR_BAR
Page last edited January 22, 2025
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