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ESP32-CAM Point & Shoot — Build Guide

A DIY digital camera with a physical shutter, SD card storage and a Wi-Fi web gallery, built on the AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM with an OV3660 sensor.

  • ESP32-CAM
  • OV3660
  • Arduino
  • DIY camera
  • Wi-Fi

A DIY digital camera with a physical shutter, SD card storage and a Wi-Fi web gallery — built on the AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM with the OV3660 sensor.

OV3660 · 3 MP · SD card · Wi-Fi gallery · Arduino IDE · ~200 Kč total cost

00 — Bill of materials

Qty Part Note
1× AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM + OV3660 + baseboard your module
1× MicroSD card (Class 10, FAT32 formatted) 8–32 GB recommended
1× Momentary push button (6 mm tactile switch) shutter button
1× Li-Po battery 3.7 V, 1000–2000 mAh or a USB power bank
1× TP4056 Li-Po charger module (with protection) for battery charging
1× MT3608 boost converter (5 V output) if using the Li-Po directly
1× SPDT slide switch power on/off
— Jumper wires, heat-shrink, small proto board

01 — Hardware wiring

The AI-Thinker baseboard already includes the USB-to-serial chip for programming. For the camera build, you only need to wire the shutter button and the power circuit.

Important: the ESP32-CAM uses GPIO pins for the SD card in 1-bit MMC mode. GPIO13 is free in this mode and is used for the shutter button. Do NOT connect anything else to GPIO4 (flash LED) or the SD card pins while the camera is running.

Shutter button

ESP32-CAM pin Component Notes
GPIO13 Button pin 1 INPUT_PULLUP — button pulls to GND
GND Button pin 2 Active LOW — no resistor needed

Power circuit

Module From To Notes
Slide switch Li-Po + TP4056 BAT+ Main power switch
TP4056 BAT+ / BAT− MT3608 IN+ / IN− Charge protection
MT3608 OUT+ Baseboard 5 V Boost to 5 V, adjust the trimmer
GND common All GNDs Baseboard GND Star topology preferred

Simplest power option: if you want to skip the battery circuit for now, power the baseboard via its micro-USB port from a small USB power bank. This lets you test everything immediately.

SD card

The microSD card slot is built into the ESP32-CAM module. Format your card as FAT32 and insert it before powering on. The firmware automatically creates a /photos folder.

02 — Firmware setup

Arduino IDE configuration

  1. Install Arduino IDE 2.x from arduino.cc.

  2. Add the ESP32 board package URL in File → Preferences → Additional Boards Manager URLs:

    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json

  3. Go to Tools → Board → Boards Manager, search for esp32 by Espressif and install version 2.x.

  4. Select the board: AI Thinker ESP32-CAM.

  5. Set the partition scheme: Huge APP (3MB No OTA/1MB SPIFFS).

  6. Set PSRAM: Enabled.

Edit the firmware

Open esp32cam_camera.ino and update lines 17–18 with your Wi-Fi credentials:

const char* WIFI_SSID     = "YourNetworkName";
const char* WIFI_PASSWORD = "YourPassword";

Upload / flashing

Before uploading: the baseboard has an IO0 button for programming mode. Hold IO0 while pressing RESET (or power-cycling) to enter bootloader mode, then click Upload in the Arduino IDE.

  1. Connect the baseboard to your computer via USB (it uses the onboard CH340/CP2102 chip).
  2. Select the correct COM/serial port in the Arduino IDE.
  3. Hold the IO0 button on the baseboard.
  4. Press RESET once (still holding IO0).
  5. Release IO0, then click Upload ↑ in the Arduino IDE.
  6. After the upload completes, press RESET again to run.

Verify it works

  1. Open the Serial Monitor at 115200 baud.
  2. You should see: camera init OK → SD card OK → Wi-Fi IP address.
  3. Open a browser and navigate to the IP address shown.
  4. The web gallery UI should load immediately.

03 — Web gallery

The web interface is served directly from the ESP32. Connect any device on your local network to:

http://<ESP32-IP-address>/

Available endpoints:

URL Method Description
/ GET Web gallery UI
/capture GET Trigger a photo, returns JSON
/list GET JSON array of all photo filenames
/photo?name=IMG_1.jpg GET View a photo inline
/photo?name=IMG_1.jpg&dl=1 GET Download a photo

04 — OV3660 tuning

The OV3660 is a 3 MP sensor (better than the common OV2640). These settings in the firmware can be adjusted:

sensor_t* s = esp_camera_sensor_get();
s->set_vflip(s, 1);        // 1 = flip vertically (OV3660 default mount)
s->set_hmirror(s, 0);      // 1 = mirror horizontally
s->set_brightness(s, 1);   // -2 to +2
s->set_saturation(s, 0);   // -2 to +2
s->set_contrast(s, 0);     // -2 to +2
s->set_whitebal(s, 1);     // auto white balance
s->set_awb_gain(s, 1);     // AWB gain
s->set_aec2(s, 1);         // auto exposure advanced
s->set_ae_level(s, 0);     // -2 to +2 exposure bias

Resolution options

Constant Resolution Use case
FRAMESIZE_UXGA 1600×1200 Best quality (default)
FRAMESIZE_SXGA 1280×1024 Good balance
FRAMESIZE_XGA 1024×768 Faster capture
FRAMESIZE_VGA 640×480 Fastest, small files

05 — Enclosure ideas

A few approaches for housing the build:

Option A — 3D-printed body

Search Printables or Thingiverse for “ESP32-CAM case”. Many designs exist for the AI-Thinker module. Add a custom top panel with a hole for the OV3660 lens, a slot for the SD card and a recessed shutter button.

Option B — Altoids tin / project box

A 100 × 60 mm ABS project box from TME/GM Electronic fits the module and a small Li-Po. Drill a lens hole (the OV3660 needs a ~10 mm cutout) and mount the button on top.

Option C — Compact USB power bank

Some ultra-slim power banks (Xiaomi Slim 5000) are barely larger than the ESP32-CAM itself. Tape the module to the back, run a short USB cable and you have instant power without any soldering.

Key dimensions: AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM PCB: 40 × 27 mm. The OV3660 camera module protrudes ~15 mm above the PCB. The baseboard adds ~5 mm to the bottom.

06 — Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely cause Fix
Camera init failed 0x105 Camera not detected Check the ribbon cable is seated and power is adequate (≥ 500 mA)
SD card mount failed Wrong format or bad card Reformat as FAT32, try another card
Image upside-down OV3660 mounting Toggle set_vflip(s, 0) or 1
Wi-Fi not connecting Wrong credentials or range Check SSID/password, move closer to the router
Brownout reset on capture Insufficient current Use a quality USB cable and a ≥ 1 A supply
Photo saved but 0 bytes Frame buffer error Add delay(500) before the first capture in setup()
Button fires multiple times Bounce Increase DEBOUNCE_MS to 500

The complete Arduino sketch, esp32cam_camera.ino, sits next to the original guide in my portfolio repository (blog-posts/pointandshoot-cam/esp32cam_camera.ino).

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