Raspberry Pi gets infrared camera unit with Pi NoIR

 

 

The folks at Raspberry Pi have unveiled yet another addition to their camera bag of tricks — a sensor without its infrared filter. Dubbed the Pi NoIR (Pi No Infrared), it's a variant on the already available camera module that they produced given user demand.

As most of you doubtless know, digital cameras traditionally have IR filters in place over the sensor to block out unwanted light wavelengths. In some situations, like recording videos in the dark, you might want to keep that extra light coming in. That's where the Pi NoIR comes in. Apparently Raspberry Pi was "inundated by emails" asking for a version of their camera module without the infrared filter, and they managed to convince the part manufacturer to create one.

The Pi NoIR isn't quite available yet, but it's pegged to go for the same $25 as the normal version when it does. You can see a demo of it in action here, where one early tester used it for a timelapse of his backyard overnight, with an IR LED array for illumination. As you can see in the video below, however, there still seem to be some kinks to work out thanks to the odd flashes of color that come through.

But for folks who want to record animals at night without upsetting them with normal lights, or for people trying to set up their own security cameras, this could provide an awful lot of hacked together fun.

(via Engadget)