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Hobby-level microcontrollers are now powerful enough to use camera modules that previously required a PC or FPGA. Examples include the RP2040 and ESP32-Sx, which have the appropriate pins, DMA and RAM for 8-bit data. An easy-to-use camera module is needed.

This Adafruit OV5640 Camera Breakout is equipped with a 5 Megapixel OV5640 sensor, a 72-degree, distortion-free lens and an autofocus motor, with all the necessitated peripheral components.We looked at existing camera modules, and while this breakout board is backwards compatible, we made some improvements:

• Standard 2x9 header if you want it, but also a duplicated header strip 0.3" apart so you can plug it into a breadboard or perfboard 
• Selectable external or internal 24MHz "XCLK" clock generation - save one gpio pin, or just have a nice stable 24 MHz signal even if your microcontroller can't generate it for you.
• Heat-sinking camera area with exposed ground pad, with lots of vias for good thermal transfer. Helpful for when doing continuous encoding and reducing thermal image drift.
• Optional VMotor 3.3V power jumper on DATA1, for auto-focusing camera modules
• 3.3V power-good LED on back that can be disabled

Note that to use the auto-focusing capability, you need to load a new firmware binary over I2C, and short the VM jumper on the back of the camera module which will provide 3.3V power on DATA1. The autofocus system is controlled with I2C commands to begin an auto-focus procedure and then determine that focus is complete. Otherwise the camera looks just like any other OV5640 sensor.