(Ultra) low end image sensors

[soFPG]

I wanted to get into interfacing image sensors with an FPGA. Because I don't want to go full on hard mode I thought - why not try a low end image sensor (like 640 x 480 and lower)?
Because usually lower resolution also means no high speed interfaces like MIPI (with closed documentation) e.g. less pain during PCB routing, less wires (maybe even SPI) etc.

There are only few companies which produce such small / low res image sensors.

As for my investigation, most of them (maybe all of them) are located in China (such as GalaxyCore / BYD). There are maybe other "western" vendors I didn't stumble across (like Sony, but they likely won't release any datasheets).
Luckily, I was able to find data sheets for pretty much all GalaxyCore / BYD low end image sensors (e.g. those I am interested in) such that I would probably be able to get them running.

Now, my problem is I am not able to find any BYD image sensors anywhere to buy!? I found a few GalaxyCore ones but most of them are out of stock according to the seller.
I was able to buy 5 pieces of GC0307 and I plan to use them in an upcoming project. One week after I bought them (~ 2.5 weeks ago), this particular part already doubled in price. Is there some kind of image sensor / wafer shortage?

I even asked a seller on Alibaba for BYD parts only to never hear from him again after his initial reply. BYD has the BF3A01 which is a crazy small 1/15" image sensor (according to my calculations around 30x crop factor for you photographers out there  )

Any recommendations / tips / tricks / information?

[NiHaoMike]

Have you considered the ones that are part of ESP32 camera dev boards?

[ucanel]

Does optical mouse sensors counts?

[soFPG]

Have you considered the ones that are part of ESP32 camera dev boards?

Thank you for that tip. The OV7670 actually is a 640 x 480 image sensor (OV2640 is 2MP though). So that's definitely another option.

Does optical mouse sensors counts?

Found one with 19x19 pixels - pretty neat
But that's even too low for me.

[Bassman59]

I don't know what qualifies as "ultra low-end" but On Semi has bought up a bunch of the players in both CCD and CMOS image sensors. The smaller CMOS devices are easy to drive.

[mark03]

I don't know what qualifies as "ultra low-end" but On Semi has bought up a bunch of the players in both CCD and CMOS image sensors. The smaller CMOS devices are easy to drive.

I went to browse these, then discovered the datasheets are not freely available

[soFPG]

Yeah, you don't have much luck with these kind of products. Unless you are looking for chinese ones. I mean, they don't want to publish their datasheets either but they get leaked anyway

[DaJMasta]

Adjacent technology things you could look into:

Line sensors (visible or otherwise, they're available to about 4096 pixels without too much effort)
Thermal cameras like the Flir Lepton (low resolution and small size, even fairly low framerate, but current products with documentation available).


Otherwise, maybe you can find a nicer camera that's 20-30 years old and is based around a sensor that is well documented, and just pull and use that sensor/optics.

[EverydayMuffin]

Pixart's PAJ6100U6 looks like a good ultra-low-power image sensor. Resolution is 320x240 and the operating power consumption is 1,400µW @ 30fps. Let me know if you want details for their European distributor.

https://www.pixart.com/products-detail/107/PAJ6100U6

General Datasheet: https://www.pixart.com/_getfs.php?tb=product&id=107&fs=ck2_fs_en

[Cloud]

What about AMS NanoVision?

[hstone]

The always-on image sensors are Himax HM01B0/HM0360 & Pixart PAJ6100U6. They are really ULP. Sparkfun has Himax sensors & devel boards, The Pixart one is global shutter, but I cannot find any development board using it neither any distributor. Is there any European distributor for Pixart sensor ?

[EverydayMuffin]

Is there any European distributor for Pixart sensor ?

Yes, EPS Global.
https://www.epsglobal.com/manufacturers/pixart