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Simple Raspberry Pi Camera Server

A lightweight web-based camera viewer for Raspberry Pi. This implementation uses a bash script to capture images from the Raspberry Pi camera module and serves them via a simple HTTP server.

Perfect for home monitoring: If you live in a multi-room or multi-floor house/apartment and want to keep an eye on pets, children, or elderly family members in different rooms, this project offers a simple solution. Just place a Raspberry Pi with a camera module in any room you want to monitor, run this software, and you can check in from any device on your home network. It's an affordable, privacy-focused alternative to commercial monitoring cameras - ideal for watching sleeping babies, pets while you're in another room, or checking if your 3D printer has finished its job.

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

  • Raspberry Pi (any model) with Raspberry Pi OS installed
  • Raspberry Pi Camera Module connected and enabled
  • Python 3 installed (comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS)
  • ImageMagick for image rotation (convert command)

Installation

  1. Clone this repository or download the files to your Raspberry Pi

  2. Install required dependencies:

    sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y imagemagick

  3. Make the scripts executable:

    chmod +x capture.sh server.sh start_camera_server.sh

Usage

Starting the Camera Server

The easiest way to start everything is to use the provided startup script:

./start_camera_server.sh

This will:

  • Start the camera capture process
  • Start the web server
  • Display the URL where you can view the camera feed

Accessing the Camera Feed

Once the server is running, you can access the camera feed by opening a web browser and navigating to:

http://[YOUR_PI_IP_ADDRESS]:8080

The page will automatically refresh with a new image every few seconds.

Stopping the Camera Server

To stop both the camera capture and web server, press Ctrl+C in the terminal where you started the start_camera_server.sh script.

Configuration

You can modify the following settings in the capture.sh file:

  • QUALITY: JPEG image quality (1-100, higher is better quality but larger file size)
  • WIDTH: Image width in pixels
  • HEIGHT: Image height in pixels
  • ROTATION: Image rotation in degrees (set to 0 to disable rotation)

Files

  • capture.sh: Script that captures images from the camera
  • server.sh: Script that starts a simple HTTP server
  • start_camera_server.sh: Script that starts both the camera capture and web server
  • index.html: Web page that displays the camera feed
  • web_assets/styles.css: Stylesheet for the web page
  • web_assets/camera.js: JavaScript code for updating the camera feed

How it Works

The Raspberry Pi Camera Server uses a simple but effective architecture:

  1. A camera capture script continuously takes pictures using the Raspberry Pi camera module
  2. A web server makes these images available over your local network
  3. A web page automatically refreshes to show the latest image

The system is designed to be lightweight and reliable, using minimal resources while providing near real-time monitoring.

For a detailed explanation of the system architecture with diagrams, see the ARCHITECTURE.md document.

Troubleshooting

Camera Not Working

  1. Make sure the camera is properly connected

  2. Ensure the camera is enabled in raspi-config:

    sudo raspi-config

    Navigate to "Interface Options" > "Camera" and enable it

  3. Check the camera logs:

    cat camera.log

Web Server Not Starting

  1. Make sure port 8080 is not already in use
  2. Check the server logs: 
    cat server.log

Automatic Startup with Crontab

You can configure the camera server to start automatically when your Raspberry Pi boots up by using crontab:

  1. Open the crontab editor:

    crontab -e

  2. Add the following line to run the camera server at boot:

    @reboot cd /path/to/RpiCamera/simple && ./start_camera_server.sh >> /home/pi/camera_startup.log 2>&1

    Replace /path/to/RpiCamera/simple with the actual path to the directory containing the scripts.

    Note: Even though the script will detect its own directory, explicitly changing to the directory in the crontab entry is recommended for clarity and as a best practice.

  3. Save and exit the editor (in nano, press Ctrl+O, then Enter, then Ctrl+X)

  4. Reboot your Raspberry Pi to test the automatic startup:

    sudo reboot

  5. After the Pi reboots, you can check if the camera server is running:

    ps aux | grep capture.sh

    You should see the capture.sh process in the list.

  6. You can also check the startup log for any errors:

    cat /home/pi/camera_startup.log

Stopping the Automatic Startup

If you want to disable the automatic startup:

  1. Open the crontab editor:

    crontab -e

  2. Find and remove or comment out (by adding a # at the beginning) the line that starts with @reboot

  3. Save and exit the editor

Troubleshooting Automatic Startup

If the camera server doesn't start automatically:

  1. Check the startup log:

    cat /home/pi/camera_startup.log

  2. Make sure all scripts have execute permissions:

    chmod +x capture.sh server.sh start_camera_server.sh

  3. Try running the start script manually to see if there are any errors:

    cd /path/to/RpiCamera/simple
./start_camera_server.sh

  4. Check if the camera module is enabled:

    vcgencmd get_camera

    You should see supported=1 detected=1

  5. If you're still having issues, you can try adding a delay before starting the server:

    @reboot sleep 30 && cd /path/to/RpiCamera/simple && ./start_camera_server.sh >> /home/pi/camera_startup.log 2>&1

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.