Raspberry Pi Reference

Complete hardware, software, and ecosystem guide for camera system development

30+
Pi Models
Since Feb 2012
BCM2712
Latest SoC
Pi 5, Cortex-A76
2.4 GHz
Max Clock
4x Cortex-A76 cores
$4–$90
Price Range
Pico to Pi 5 16GB

Standard Models (Model B)

Model Release SoC CPU RAM USB Ethernet WiFi/BT Power Price Status
Pi 1 B+ Jul 2014 BCM2835 1x ARM1176 700MHz 512MB 4x USB 2.0 10/100 None micro-USB 5V/0.6A $35 Discontinued
Pi 2 B Feb 2015 BCM2836 4x Cortex-A7 900MHz 1GB 4x USB 2.0 10/100 None micro-USB 5V/1.8A $35 Discontinued
Pi 3 B Feb 2016 BCM2837 4x Cortex-A53 1.2GHz 1GB 4x USB 2.0 10/100 WiFi n + BT 4.1 micro-USB 5V/2.5A $35 Limited
Pi 3 B+ Mar 2018 BCM2837B0 4x Cortex-A53 1.4GHz 1GB 4x USB 2.0 Gigabit (via USB 2.0) WiFi ac + BT 4.2 micro-USB 5V/2.5A $35 Limited
Pi 4 B Jun 2019 BCM2711 4x Cortex-A72 1.5–1.8GHz 2/4/8GB LPDDR4 2x USB 3.0 + 2x USB 2.0 True Gigabit WiFi ac + BT 5.0 USB-C 5V/3A $35–$75 Active
Pi 5 Oct 2023 BCM2712 4x Cortex-A76 2.4GHz 2/4/8/16GB LPDDR4X 2x USB 3.0 + 2x USB 2.0 True Gigabit WiFi ac + BT 5.0 USB-C 5V/5A PD $50–$90 Active

Zero Series

Model Release SoC CPU RAM WiFi/BT Power Size Price Status
Pi Zero Nov 2015 BCM2835 1x ARM1176 1GHz 512MB None micro-USB 5V/0.35A 65x30mm $5 Discontinued
Pi Zero W Feb 2017 BCM2835 1x ARM1176 1GHz 512MB WiFi n (2.4) + BT 4.1 micro-USB 5V/1.2A 65x30mm $10 Limited
Pi Zero 2 W Oct 2021 RP3A0 4x Cortex-A53 1GHz 512MB WiFi n (2.4+5) + BT 4.2 micro-USB 5V/2A 65x30mm $15 Active

Compute Modules

Model Release SoC CPU RAM Storage WiFi PCIe Price Status
CM3+ Jan 2019 BCM2837B0 4x A53 1.2GHz 1GB 0/8/16/32GB eMMC No No $25–$40 Limited
CM4 Oct 2020 BCM2711 4x A72 1.5GHz 1–8GB 0–32GB eMMC Optional PCIe 2.0 x1 $25–$75 Active
CM4S Oct 2022 BCM2711 4x A72 1.5GHz 1–8GB 0–32GB eMMC No No $25–$75 Active
CM5 Nov 2024 BCM2712 4x A76 2.4GHz 2–16GB 0–64GB eMMC Optional PCIe 2.0 x4 $45–$90 Active

Pico Series

Model Release Chip CPU RAM Flash WiFi/BT Price Status
Pico Jan 2021 RP2040 2x Cortex-M0+ 133MHz 264KB SRAM 2MB None $4 Active
Pico W Jun 2022 RP2040 2x Cortex-M0+ 133MHz 264KB SRAM 2MB WiFi n + BT 5.2 $6 Active
Pico 2 Aug 2024 RP2350 2x M33/RISC-V 150MHz 520KB SRAM 4MB None $5 Active
Pico 2 W Nov 2024 RP2350 2x M33/RISC-V 150MHz 520KB SRAM 4MB WiFi n + BT 5.2 $7 Active
Note: Pico boards are microcontrollers, not Linux SBCs. They run MicroPython or C/C++ — no operating system.
Pi 5 key features: RP1 southbridge chip, PCIe 2.0 for NVMe via M.2 HAT+, dual 4-lane MIPI (new 22-pin FPC connectors), built-in RTC with battery connector, power button. Requires active cooling.

Power Consumption by Model

Model Idle (Headless) CPU Load Peak Recommended PSU
Pi 1 B+ 1.4W 2.8W 3.5W 5V/1.8A
Pi 2 B 1.5W 4.0W 5.5W 5V/2.0A
Pi 3 B+ 1.9W 5.7W 7.0W 5V/2.5A
Pi 4 B (4GB) 2.3W 6.8W 7.8W 5V/3.0A USB-C
Pi 5 (4GB) 2.7W 12.0W 14.0W 5V/5.0A USB-C PD
Pi Zero W 0.4W 1.2W 1.5W 5V/1.2A
Pi Zero 2 W 0.5W 2.8W 3.5W 5V/2.0A
Pico W 0.07W 0.15W 0.25W 1.8–5.5V

Power Saving Techniques

Technique Savings Command / Config
Disable HDMI 0.10–0.15W vcgencmd display_power 0
Disable WiFi 0.10–0.20W dtoverlay=disable-wifi
Disable Bluetooth 0.05–0.10W dtoverlay=disable-bt
Disable LEDs 0.025–0.05W dtparam=act_led_trigger=none
CPU powersave governor 0.2–0.8W echo powersave > scaling_governor
Reduce clock speed 0.3–1.5W arm_freq=600 in config.txt

Solar Panel Sizing (Australian Conditions)

Based on 4 peak sun hours/day (annual average, southern Australia). Winter drops to 2–2.5h — size panels for winter if year-round operation needed.
Model Scenario Daily Wh Panel Recommended Battery
Pi Zero W Optimised 0.25W 6 Wh 5–6W 4000mAh LiPo
Pi Zero 2 W Camera node ~2W 48 Wh 30W 20000mAh LiPo
Pi 4 B Optimised 1.5W 36 Wh 20–25W 18000mAh LiPo
Pi 4 B Camera node ~4W 96 Wh 50–60W 40000mAh LiPo
Pi 5 Camera node ~5W 120 Wh 80W 50000mAh LiPo
Warning: Pi 5 draws 2x the power of Pi 4 under load. For solar/battery deployments, Pi 4 or Zero 2 W are strongly preferred.

PoE Options

Product Standard Output Compatible Models AUD Price
Official PoE+ HAT 802.3at 5V/4A Pi 3B+, Pi 4 $30–$40
PoE+ HAT for Pi 5 802.3at 5V/5A Pi 5 only $35–$40
PoE Splitter (USB-C) 802.3af/at 5V/4A Any Pi $20–$30

UPS / Battery HATs

Product Battery Output Solar Input Key Features AUD Price
PiJuice HAT 1820mAh incl. 5V/2.5A Yes RTC, wake schedule, watchdog $80–$120
Geekworm X728 2x 18650 5V/4A No Safe shutdown, I2C monitoring $40–$60
Waveshare UPS (C) 2x 18650 5V/3A Yes I2C fuel gauge $25–$40
Waveshare Solar PM (D) 2x 18650 5V/3A Yes (MPPT) Solar + UPS combined $40–$55

Operating Systems

OS Based On Variants Pi Support Best For
Raspberry Pi OS Debian 13 Trixie Lite / Desktop / Full (32+64-bit) All models Default choice — best driver support
Ubuntu Ubuntu Server / Desktop / Core Pi 3–5 Teams standardised on Ubuntu; Core for IoT
DietPi Debian Minimal only All models Resource-constrained headless deployments
Alpine Linux Independent Minimal All models Security-focused edge nodes (tiny footprint)
Armbian Debian/Ubuntu Minimal / Desktop Pi 3–5, Zero 2 W Mixed SBC fleets
For camera deployments: Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit is the standard choice. DietPi is the alternative for constrained hardware (Pi Zero 2 W).

Camera Software Stack

Software Type Description Status
libcamera Library Low-level C++ camera interface (replaces Broadcom stack) Active — default since Bullseye
picamera2 Python lib Python camera library built on libcamera Active — pre-installed on Pi OS
rpicam-apps CLI tools rpicam-still, rpicam-vid, rpicam-hello Active — replaces raspistill/raspivid
gphoto2 CLI + lib DSLR tethered capture via USB (Canon, Nikon, Sony) Active — compile from source for best compat
fswebcam CLI Simple USB webcam frame capture Active — basic but reliable
ffmpeg CLI + lib Advanced capture, encode, stream, process Active — universal tool
Frigate NVR Modern AI-powered NVR with Coral TPU support Active — best Pi NVR option

GPIO Libraries

Library Status Pi 5 Support Notes
gpiozero Active Yes (via lgpio) High-level, Pi Foundation recommended
lgpio / libgpiod Active Yes — native Kernel-native GPIO interface
RPi.GPIO Deprecated No Do NOT use for new projects
pigpio Deprecated No Do NOT use for new projects

Remote Access

Solution Type Notes
SSH Built-in Enable via Pi Imager; primary headless access
Raspberry Pi Connect First-party Browser-based screen share + CLI; Pi 4/5 only
Tailscale Mesh VPN Zero-config, handles NAT; ~290 Mbps; recommended
ZeroTier Mesh VPN Higher throughput (384–546 Mbps); more complex
WireGuard VPN Fast, lean; requires manual config
Cloudflare Tunnel HTTP tunnel Free; good for exposing web dashboards

AI/ML on Pi

Framework Best For Pi Support Notes
TensorFlow Lite On-device inference Excellent INT8 quantised models run efficiently
ONNX Runtime Model-agnostic inference Good 2.5x faster than PyTorch Mobile
Hailo-8L (AI Kit) Real-time detection Pi 5 only 13 TOPS via M.2; official Pi support
Google Coral USB TFLite acceleration Pi 3–5 (USB) 4 TOPS; simple setup; well-documented
PyTorch Training + inference 64-bit only Export to ONNX/NCNN for production

Essential Configuration

OverlayFS

Read-only root filesystem. Prevents SD card corruption from power loss. Enable via raspi-config. Critical for remote camera deployments.

Hardware Watchdog

Auto-reboot on system hang. dtparam=watchdog=on (Pi 1–4), dtoverlay=rp1-watchdog (Pi 5). Essential for unattended cameras.

Headless Setup

Use Pi Imager to pre-configure SSH, WiFi, hostname. The manual wpa_supplicant.conf method does NOT work on Bookworm+.

Official Camera Modules

Camera Sensor Resolution Lens Key Feature AUD Price
Camera Module v2 Sony IMX219 8MP Fixed f/2.0 Workhorse, NoIR variant $40–$50
Camera Module v3 Sony IMX708 12MP Autofocus f/1.8 HDR, wide variant (102°) $40–$60
HQ Camera Sony IMX477 12.3MP C/CS-mount interchangeable 1/2.3" sensor, best low-light $80–$100 (body)
Global Shutter Sony IMX296 1.6MP C/CS-mount No rolling shutter distortion $75–$90
AI Camera Sony IMX500 12.3MP Fixed On-chip 15 TOPS AI processor $100–$120
Note: Pi 5 uses new 22-pin FPC camera connectors — old 15-pin cables do NOT work. Adapter or Pi 5-specific cables required.

4G/LTE Connectivity

Product Modem Speed GPS SIM AUD Price
Waveshare SIM7600G-H HAT SIMCom SIM7600G-H Cat-4 (150/50 Mbps) Yes (built-in GNSS) Nano-SIM $90–$130
Sixfab 4G Modem Kit Quectel EG25-G Cat-4 Via AT commands Nano-SIM $120–$180
Waveshare SIM7070G HAT SIMCom SIM7070G Cat-M/NB-IoT (375 kbps) Yes Nano-SIM $50–$70
Warning: For Australian coverage, ensure Band 28 (700 MHz) support — critical for regional/rural Telstra and Optus.

Storage Options

Type Seq Read Seq Write Random 4K Reliability Price (256GB)
microSD A2 ~40 MB/s ~20 MB/s ~3 MB/s Fair (wears out) ~$25
USB 3.0 SSD ~350 MB/s ~300 MB/s ~40 MB/s Excellent ~$60
NVMe (Pi 5 M.2 HAT) ~450 MB/s ~400 MB/s ~60 MB/s Excellent ~$90 (incl. HAT)
Note: The jump from microSD to USB SSD is transformative — 8–10x sequential, 10–15x random I/O. Always use SSD for server/write-heavy workloads.

Cooling

Solution Type Compatible AUD Price Notes
Official Active Cooler Heatsink + fan Pi 5 $10–$15 Minimum recommended for Pi 5
Passive heatsinks Stick-on aluminium All $3–$10 Adequate for Pi 3/4 in most conditions
ICE Tower Tower + heatpipe + fan Pi 4, Pi 5 $20–$35 Excellent performance, tall profile
Argon ONE case Aluminium case = heatsink Pi 4, Pi 5 $35–$60 Premium build, GPIO pass-through

Weatherproof Enclosures

Type Rating Material AUD Price Notes
Polycarbonate junction box IP65 ABS/Polycarbonate $20–$50 Jaycar, RS Components; clear lid for camera
Sixfab IP65 enclosure IP65 ABS $50–$80 Built for Pi + cellular HAT
Pelican/Nanuk case IP67 Polycarbonate $40–$100 Extreme durability, pressure equalisation
Warning: Condensation on the camera window is the #1 field failure mode. Use silica gel packets and ensure tight sealing.

CPU Performance

Model SoC Geekbench SC Geekbench MC Relative Speed
Pi 2 B BCM2836 ~85 ~250 1x (baseline)
Pi 3 B+ BCM2837B0 ~130 ~380 1.5x
Pi 4 B BCM2711 ~260 ~640 2.5x
Pi 5 BCM2712 ~500 ~1400 5.5x
Pi Zero 2 W RP3A0 ~105 ~310 1.2x

Image Processing Speed

Model 12MP JPEG Resize OpenCV Blur OpenCV Edge Detection
Pi 3 B+ 2.5–3.0s 3.5s 4.0s
Pi 4 B 0.8–1.0s 1.2s 1.4s
Pi 5 0.3–0.5s 0.5s 0.6s
Pi Zero 2 W 3.5–4.0s 5.0s 5.5s

Video Codec Support

Model H.264 Decode H.264 Encode H.265 Decode H.265 Encode
Pi 3 B+ 1080p60 HW 1080p30 HW 1080p HW (paid) No
Pi 4 B 4Kp60 HW 1080p30 HW (free) 4Kp60 HW No
Pi 5 4Kp60 HW NO HW ENCODER 4Kp60 HW No
Warning: Pi 5 removed the hardware H.264 encoder. Video encoding must be done in software (libx264). For camera systems that encode video, Pi 4 is more power-efficient.

Network Throughput

Model Ethernet WiFi 2.4GHz WiFi 5GHz Notes
Pi 3 B+ ~300 Mbps ~35 Mbps ~100 Mbps Ethernet shares USB 2.0 bus
Pi 4 B ~940 Mbps ~40 Mbps ~115 Mbps First dedicated Ethernet PHY
Pi 5 ~940 Mbps ~45 Mbps ~120 Mbps WiFi 5 (802.11ac)
Note: Pi 3B+ Ethernet shares the USB 2.0 bus — gphoto2 capture AND Ethernet upload compete for bandwidth. Pi 4/5 have independent Ethernet.

Pi vs Competing SBCs

SBC CPU Cores CPU Score (Pi 5 = 100) AI TOPS Power (idle/load) Ecosystem AUD Price
Pi 4 B (4GB) 4x A72 50 0 (CPU only) 3W / 7W Excellent $90–$100
Pi 5 (4GB) 4x A76 100 13 (with Hailo) 3.5W / 12W Excellent $110–$120
Orange Pi 5 (8GB) 4x A76 + 4x A55 160 (8 cores) 6 (built-in NPU) 4W / 15W Fair $130–$160
Jetson Orin Nano 6x A78AE 110 40 (CUDA) 7W / 15W Good (NVIDIA) $350–$450
Le Potato 4x A53 28 0 2W / 4W Fair $55–$70
Note: Raspberry Pi’s 10-year availability guarantee is a genuine competitive advantage no other SBC manufacturer offers. For production deployments where you need to source replacement boards in 2030, this matters enormously.

Model Selection for Camera Systems

Timelapse Controller (gphoto2 + DSLR)
  • Best: Pi 4 B (2GB) — USB 3.0 for fast DSLR tethering, dedicated Gigabit Ethernet, sub-second 12MP resize, proven field reliability. 2GB is sufficient for headless capture.
  • Runner-up: Pi 5 (4GB) — faster processing but 12W peak is harder on solar/battery.
  • Budget: Pi Zero 2 W — works for low-frequency capture (every 5–30 min). WiFi-only upload.
  • Avoid: Pi 3 B+ — shared USB 2.0 bus means capture AND upload compete for bandwidth.
Multi-Camera Hub (4–8 IP cameras)
  • Best: Pi 5 (8GB) + NVMe — 8GB for buffering streams, NVMe for sustained writes.
  • Software: cron + ffmpeg pulling RTSP snapshots (simplest, most reliable).
  • A Pi 4 can manage 8–12 cameras for sequential still capture without issues.
Solar / Battery Powered
  • Best: Pi Zero 2 W — 0.5W headless, runs on 6W solar panel + 4000mAh battery.
  • Pi 4 needs 50–60W panel for continuous camera operation — expensive.
  • Pi 5 needs 80W panel — impractical for most solar deployments.
  • Consider: PiJuice HAT for scheduled wake/sleep cycles.
Edge AI (PPE detection, worker counting)
  • Best: Pi 5 (4GB) + Hailo-8L AI Kit — 13 TOPS via PCIe, official support.
  • Alternative: Pi 4 + Coral USB Accelerator — 4 TOPS, simpler setup.
  • For serious ML: Jetson Orin Nano (40 TOPS) but 3x the price.
NB-IoT Sensor Node
  • Best: Pico W — 0.07W active, deep sleep for weeks on a small battery.
  • Alternative: Pi Zero 2 W for applications needing Linux.
Click any column header to sort. Click again to reverse. Power consumption columns are highlighted — critical for solar and battery deployments.
Model Family OS Released SoC Cores MHz RAM (MB) Idle (W) Load (W) Peak (W) WiFi Ethernet USB Best Power In Price (USD) Status
Pi 1 B+ Standard Pi OS (32-bit only) Jul 2014 BCM2835 1 700 512 1.4 2.8 3.5 None 10/100 USB 2.0 micro-USB 35 Discontinued
Pi 2 B Standard Pi OS (32/64-bit) Feb 2015 BCM2836 4 900 1024 1.5 4.0 5.5 None 10/100 USB 2.0 micro-USB 35 Discontinued
Pi 3 B Standard Pi OS (32/64-bit) Feb 2016 BCM2837 4 1200 1024 1.8 5.5 6.7 WiFi n 10/100 USB 2.0 micro-USB 35 Limited
Pi 3 B+ Standard Pi OS (32/64-bit) Mar 2018 BCM2837B0 4 1400 1024 1.9 5.7 7.0 WiFi ac Gigabit* USB 2.0 micro-USB 35 Limited
Pi 3 A+ Standard Pi OS (32/64-bit) Nov 2018 BCM2837B0 4 1400 512 1.0 4.0 5.0 WiFi ac None USB 2.0 micro-USB 25 Limited
Pi 4 B (2GB) Standard Pi OS 64-bit Jun 2019 BCM2711 4 1800 2048 2.1 6.5 7.6 WiFi ac Gigabit USB 3.0 USB-C 35 Active
Pi 4 B (4GB) Standard Pi OS 64-bit Jun 2019 BCM2711 4 1800 4096 2.3 6.8 7.8 WiFi ac Gigabit USB 3.0 USB-C 55 Active
Pi 4 B (8GB) Standard Pi OS 64-bit May 2020 BCM2711 4 1800 8192 2.5 7.0 8.0 WiFi ac Gigabit USB 3.0 USB-C 75 Active
Pi 400 Standard Pi OS 64-bit Nov 2020 BCM2711 4 1800 4096 2.5 6.5 7.5 WiFi ac Gigabit USB 3.0 USB-C 70 Active
Pi 5 (2GB) Standard Pi OS 64-bit Feb 2025 BCM2712 4 2400 2048 2.5 11.5 13.5 WiFi ac Gigabit USB 3.0 USB-C PD 50 Active
Pi 5 (4GB) Standard Pi OS 64-bit Oct 2023 BCM2712 4 2400 4096 2.7 12.0 14.0 WiFi ac Gigabit USB 3.0 USB-C PD 60 Active
Pi 5 (8GB) Standard Pi OS 64-bit Oct 2023 BCM2712 4 2400 8192 2.9 12.5 14.5 WiFi ac Gigabit USB 3.0 USB-C PD 80 Active
Pi 5 (16GB) Standard Pi OS 64-bit Feb 2025 BCM2712 4 2400 16384 3.1 13.0 15.0 WiFi ac Gigabit USB 3.0 USB-C PD 90 Active
Pi Zero Zero Pi OS (32-bit only) Nov 2015 BCM2835 1 1000 512 0.35 1.0 1.2 None None USB 2.0 OTG micro-USB 5 Discontinued
Pi Zero W Zero Pi OS (32-bit only) Feb 2017 BCM2835 1 1000 512 0.40 1.2 1.5 WiFi n None USB 2.0 OTG micro-USB 10 Limited
Pi Zero 2 W Zero Pi OS (32/64-bit) Oct 2021 RP3A0 4 1000 512 0.50 2.8 3.5 WiFi n None USB 2.0 OTG micro-USB 15 Active
CM3+ Compute Pi OS (32/64-bit) Jan 2019 BCM2837B0 4 1200 1024 2.0 4.5 5.5 None Via carrier Via carrier Via carrier 25 Limited
CM4 (4GB) Compute Pi OS 64-bit Oct 2020 BCM2711 4 1500 4096 2.5 6.0 8.0 Optional Via carrier Via carrier Via carrier 50 Active
CM5 (4GB) Compute Pi OS 64-bit Nov 2024 BCM2712 4 2400 4096 3.0 10.0 14.0 Optional Via carrier Via carrier Via carrier 45 Active
Pico Pico MicroPython / C Jan 2021 RP2040 2 133 0.26 0.05 0.10 0.15 None None USB 1.1 micro-USB 4 Active
Pico W Pico MicroPython / C Jun 2022 RP2040 2 133 0.26 0.07 0.15 0.25 WiFi n + BT 5.2 None USB 1.1 micro-USB 6 Active
Pico 2 Pico MicroPython / C Aug 2024 RP2350 2 150 0.51 0.05 0.12 0.18 None None USB 1.1 micro-USB 5 Active
Pico 2 W Pico MicroPython / C Nov 2024 RP2350 2 150 0.51 0.08 0.18 0.28 WiFi n + BT 5.2 None USB 1.1 micro-USB 7 Active
* Pi 3 B+ Gigabit Ethernet is shared with USB 2.0 bus — effective throughput ~300 Mbps. Pi 4/5 have dedicated Ethernet. Compute Module I/O depends on carrier board. Pico RAM shown in MB (0.26 = 264KB SRAM).