Arducam’s latest Raspberry Pi camera module, Hawk-eye, is now available for pre-order, somehow cramming 64 megapixels into a sensor measuring just 7.4mm x 5.55mm. Its lens has full autofocus, a maximum aperture of f/1.8, and sees an angle of view of 84 degrees - the same as a 24mm lens on a full-frame camera.
Of course, all those megapixels mean there's plenty of opportunity to crop into your images or print them on huge pieces of paper - Sony’s A7R IV currently takes the crown for the highest resolution full-frame (24mm x 36mm) mirrorless camera with 61MP, while Nikon and Canon top out at around the 45MP mark. Fujifilm will sell you a 102MP camera, but it uses its 32.9mm x 43.8mm medium format sensor.
Arducam’s new device uses the same libcamera library, ribbon connector, and dimensions as the official Raspberry Pi camera module 2.1, so it can slot into existing Pi camera setups, and you can use up to four of them with a single board to create a multiplexed depth-mapping system. The camera can capture still images at up to 9152x6944 pixels on a Raspberry Pi 4 or Compute Module 4 (16MP on older boards and Zeros), and video at up to 1080p30 on a Raspberry Pi, though you may be able to take it higher on other boards, up to 9152x6944 at 2.7 frames per second.
A ten-times digital zoom makes use of the sensor’s fearsome resolution by cropping in hard to check focus and move your view around before taking an image. There's no information yet about who has manufactured the sensor, but a YouTube comment claims it's back-side illuminated and stacked, with a pixel pitch of 0.8μm.
The revealed tech specs show a quad-bayer coded color filter with a focal length of 5.1mm. The minimum focus distance is a very reasonable 8cm (3.15in). It’s available from the Arducam store at a pre-order discount as we write ($36 down from $60) or in bundles including a four-camera kit and a cable extender. Our expert has one on his desk right now awaiting a review, but if you can’t wait, Arducam has some sample images from the camera on Google Drive.
