Get a Model A and a camera board for $40
We’ve talked before about how the camera board and the Model A are natural bedfellows. Whether you’re shooting a time lapse video or hollowing out a sweet, innocent teddy bear, the 256MB of RAM on the Model A is easily sufficient to run raspistill and raspivid, and the much lower power consumption gives you a lot more battery life for mobile applications. To allow more of you to have a play with this combination, we’ve got together with our partners to offer the two together for the bargain price of $40.
Model A and camera board – best of friends
UK customers can visit element14 or RS Components (who are also offering a $45 bundle with an 4GB SD card); international customers should be able to find the same bundles on their respective national sites.
69 comments
edwinj85
Wow, that’s a good deal. Stupid question, but why does the A draw so little power compared to the B? Does the Ethernet port/second USB port draw that much?
Jim
Your’re right. The chip for the ethernet port needs some power.
Juha
Yep, it is the ethernet chip, which is responsible for that extra power usage. That is pretty much the only differenmce between A and B models.
Robert Townley
Power Over Ethernet port to charge the whole Raspberry Pi … then no batteries.
exartemarte
Nicely timed. I’d been thinking of buying another model A anyway, so this is an attractive deal.
Ashley Reid
I must admit I have been thinking of the 100 euro tablets you can buy. If they had GPIO ports that would effectively be cheaper than the PI because there is a touch screen, 2 cameras, a battery and mem included. Of course you don’t have the community, but in theory that should be bridgeable…
edwinj85
Why not both?
https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/OpenJFX/DukePad
Stewart Watkiss
Tablets do provide remarkable value for money, but they are not particularly good platforms for learning to program on.
Tablets are about generally about consuming content rather than creating it. The platforms are usually intentionally locked down to prevent the sort of access that is needed to create some of the projects that people are implementing using the Raspberry Pi.
There are some apps around that provide a way to code directly on the device and there are websites you could access with a tablet to program that way (although not Scratch as the web version is Flash based and Apple didn’t want Flash on iPads and Adobe dropped Flash from Android), but generally if you want to program for a tablet you need to use a separate computer to write the software on.
JBeale
Speaking just for myself, I think the huge community is the most valuable “feature” of the R-Pi, for anyone trying a new project. So many things have already been done and tutorials have been posted.
Allan Sheldon
Amazing value!!
Martyn Jones
What’s that in English money?
JamesH
$1.59 to the pound. I’ll let you do the calculations. Or perhaps just go to a UK distributor and see what they are selling them for….
Rick
Given this is a UK project primarily aimed at the UK market, logic dictates that it would make a hell of a lot of sense to stick the UK price in the post ;)
liz
See the FAQ.
Rick
Fair enough – makes sense I guess. Wouldn’t hurt to stick the UK price along side the US prices in posts like this though would it?
No big deal tho – just something to think about.
liz
As you’ll see if you read around, fluctuating exchange rates mean that doing that won’t make sense for long!
Radiocode
Farnell in the UK have the package and it is a good saving on buying the Model A and camera separately.
AndrewS
I couldn’t find the ModelA + PiCamera + SD card bundle on Element14, so I ordered it from RS…
Ian
The article did read, a least to me that only RS offered the bundle with a 4GB card
AndrewS
Heh, I guess you could read it either way.
A good example of how natural languages are so ambiguous, and why computers have such a hard time understanding them ;-)
Mark
It is kinda hidden at element14 it seems.
Here’s the link for the combo “http://www.newark.com/raspberry-pi/rasp-pi-model-a-camera-board/model-a-bundle-w-camera-brd/dp/04X9709?ref=lookahead”
wazup
Is the /dev/video driver now included in raspbian? It was uite painful to add additional repositories and “hack” them in. RaspiStill and Raspivid are nice, but the /dev/video driver opens the door to the real usage and most existing tools and applications.
Josh C
I am still waiting for an official one. the one i am using is very SLOW. like 6fps. look up “UV4L”.
Rick
Is there a case available in which you can mount the RPi and the camera board? Even better if said case had threading for a tripod.
bertwert
Make one :)
hystrix
This may provide some inspiration:
http://www.afraidofsunlight.co.uk/weather/index.php?page=trailcam
Mac Rutan
I did a mod to add camera mounting both inline and outboard using the amazing pibow case. thanks to pimoroni for open sourcing!!!
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:122568
Tom Skwara
I got just the thing:
Proto Armour for Raspberry Pi and Camera
:)
Mac Rutan
This is a great opportunity to get a pi that can be dedicated to the camera. At this price I can see making a picam pi to gift to a friend for the holidays.
JTH
No such offer in Finland.. :/
stick
Farnell also sell these using the CPC brand, a model A for £10!
http://cpc.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-a-camera/raspberry-pi-model-a-camera-bundle/dp/SC13212?Ntt=SC13212&CMP=HP_RPi
Dave
Make that £20
Dave
Is it the same camera for both model A and B ?
Gordon
Yes the camera is the same
Dave
Neat, a good way to get a camera for my model B and another Pi :))
Rob
With a USB WiFi dongle this would be a wireless surveillance camera like the wellknown AxisCam.
I wonder if a SD card image for an application like that happens to be available somewhere?
(Raspbian+camera drivers+webserver+simple web app)
sushi 3003
That´d interest me too! Looking for the same thing to watch my garden grow.
Dave
go for it ;-)
it’s easy to do
lots of help on the forum
ramstrong
I’m curious as to what good model A is for. Headless is one answer, and this is another. The way I see it, Model A is mostly either set up as headless server or battery powered portable device. I imagine people would develop on B, then simply copy to SD card to be used on A.
That means video output is superflous. It’d be easier to solder in audio/video plugs than it is to remove them. Is there a good reason for video plugs to be included in Model A, or would it be better to just omit them from production like the ethernet plug?
eben
The video connectors are very cheap, and quite a few people use the Model A to drive displays (either standalone, or with a WiFi dongle plugged into the USB port), so we’ve left them on the device.
ramstrong
Ah, I thought that in such cases, power consumption would not be a problem and would prefer the advantage of more memory. I guess I’m wrong. Thank you for your response.
JamesH
Model A with a USB wireless dongle is great for OpenELC (XBMC). You don’t need the extra memory, or keyboard as you use the TV remote.
Rick
I’ve not checked for a while, but is there a WiFi USB dongle that can work without external power? Every one I tried on both my 256 and 512 model b’s wouldn’t work without a powered hub.
Jim Manley
If you can work headless by using the keyboard, mouse, and display of another computer, or a tablet, via Virtual Network Connection (VNC) or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), a Model A or B with just a WiFi dongle will work, but not with a keyboard and mouse. You will need a power adapter capable of delivering a solid 700 ma at 5 volts (1,000 ma / 1 amp is much better). The newer, tiny WiFi dongles that are $10 or less generally use a little less power than the bigger, older onrs, but most of it goes to the radio transceiver in any case.
Rick
Hmm, I’ll have to add the ones I’ve tried to the non-compatible page on the wiki then. I’ve tried a TP-Link one and a rather old DLink one, with power coming into the pi at 1000ma, 5v.
I’ve been wanting to try out one of the tiny ones though so will pick one up.
Thanks for the info :)
Jim Manley
The Model A, as its naming implies, was to be tbe first and less-capable of two models, with the A being as inexpensive (not the same as “cheap”, as quality is included) as possible for educational use in teaching simple software development. It was originally specified for 128 MB of RAM, but was boosted to 256 MB when the Model B was incremented from 256 to 512 MB almost exactly a year ago.
Note that a Model A with an LCD display that has a DVI-D input and a built-in powered USB hub can expand the Model A’s single USB port to allow use of a keyboard and mouse. If a keyboard has a built-in trackpad or trackball, a WiFi dongle can provide wireless network access when plugged into the second display USB port.
Colin Shorts
I’ve been considering purchasing a third Model B (both of mine were 256MB), if a similar deal came up with the model B I’d jump at it without hesitation. That said, I really need to get on with my projects as I’m currently only using one of the model B’s as a media server.
AndrewS
It’s not quite the same, but there is a bundle featuring the ModelB http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/4536
sushi 3003
Any shop in Germany with the bundle? Found none so far. :(
AndrewS
Simply replace “uk” in the links above with “de” and you get:
http://de.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-cam/kit-raspberry-pi-model-a-camera/dp/2353309
http://de.rs-online.com/web/p/microcontrollers/7902704/
sushi 3003
that does not work, since then the local FAT is added to the 40 EUR which makes it not so much a good deal anylonger.
S. E.
I wish the German divisions of RS and Farnell (= Element14) would finally get their heads out of their asses and start selling to private customers like the rest of the world does. It’s like living in a developing country.
4141
Wait, Is it sell in Korea?
I want to have that, but I’m in Korea.
Jonathan Evans
I battled to find it on the Canadian website, but searched for this part number (04X9709) and it appeared. Here is the link for Canada:
http://canada.newark.com/raspberry-pi/rasp-pi-model-a-camera-board/model-a-bundle-w-camera-brd/dp/04X9709?ost=04X9709
Robert M
Wowzers!
I hope this isn’t just a short-term offer. I have something in mind that this combo would be perfect for, but probably no time/funds to pursue till next spring.
So my question is this: will the combo continue as a regular bundle for a while?
liz
Yes, it should do.
Robert M
Great! Thanks. :-)
HaggisHunter
W00t!
Alex B
Re model a bundle… I would love a model b with all of the through hole connectors included but not soldered. It would be less expensive manufacturing and then I/we could solder on the connectors needed.
liz
Check out the forums – you’re not the first person to be under that misapprehension! Because everything we produce still has to undergo testing, it’s actually more expensive to manufacture anything with parts missing or not soldered: it means changes to the production line (for small volume, which is always expensive) and a separate testing process, so it’s just not an economical thing for us to do. If you want to, of course, you can always desolder what you want to – I’ve seen people do this perfectly successfully.
Gert van Loo
“I’ve seen people do this perfectly successfully.” And I have seen some spectacular failures. But that just increases the sales figures. :-)
Kim Poulsen
Also no deals in Denmark, RS and Farnell only ship to VAT reg.
I dont understand why Raspberry PI foundation, team up with Companies like RS and Farnell, they have different rules in every country!!!
LittleJoe
Same goes for Belgium, it seems (no deal), where the A model goes for 28.88 EUR (about $40) without cam.
Moreover, the Farnell website will gladly redirect consumers who plan to by a model B RPi to minifo, where it’s available for 43.68 EUR (that’s $60).
Thomas Dahlberg
And ordering it from Sweden it costs $75 at Farnell. Couldn’t you give them a poke, to spread this super offer!?
Vicary
The ethernet is essential, I want a type B with camera.
AndrewS
I’ve just powered on my “ModelA and PiCam and 4GB SD card” bundle that arrived on Friday, and was surprised to find that the SD card came flashed with NOOBS v1.2 rather than the more recent NOOBS v1.3 – is that supposed to happen? :-S
juan
model A can record hd video?
bluecar1
what is the longest cable you canuse between camera and pi?
Loral
Can someone point me to a link where I can purchase this in the United States?
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