SparkFun Forums

[Nutter]

Alrighty, in the spirit of the "Get-that-camera-working competition!" thread (http://www.sparkfun.com/cgi-bin/phpbb/v ... php?t=2442), I thought that I'd start a thread about the new camera module that SparkFun has, the "CMOS Camera Module - 2 MegaPixel" from a Samsung SPH-A940 (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc ... ts_id=8204).

The service manual for the A940 includes schematics for both the camera and flash parts, on pages 54 and 55 respectively. I've uploaded the service manual here, as I could not find anywhere online that had it (I bought it from a Russian website ): http://devras.com/electronics/SPH-A940.pdf

I picked up a few as they're so cheap, to give me room for pulling one apart to get at its guts, and I've taken some photos of the internals (WARNING: very high res & large files):
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1457.JPG
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1459.JPG
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1461.JPG
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1463.JPG
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1464.JPG
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1465.JPG
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1466.JPG
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1467.JPG
http://devras.com/electronics/IMG_1469.JPG

There are 3 chips of note on the camera module:
- 16 pin QFN package from FreeScale (at least, the logo looks like the FreeScale logo), labeled C724 4BGY. I assume this is a microcontroller or DSP of some sort.
- BGA package, I believe is Sharp "Stacked Memory" (Flash and SRAM). LRS5744.
- 14 pin QFN pacakge - the manufacturer of this one is a complete mystery. Labeled "F301 D5Q8 537+". I'm wondering if this is an EEPROM, as it was covered with a sticker ("EA0239 X0116".. it doesn't look much like a revision code, but who knows).

Unlike the camera from the E700, this camera module does NOT have a separate camera package - the CMOS image sensor is part of the camera modules board (mounted on the back) - it's a custom solution.

Who else is up for the challenge of getting something out of this thing? The last guy to figure out a mystery camera got a job at SparkFun!

[SOI_Sentinel]

I don't have any of these, I'm still tentative on buying them. Anyway...

from your pictures, this is what I suspect:

You're right on the Sharp chip.

The C724 is probably a Freescale MPC17C724, 0.4A dual H bridge.

The F301 is probably a Silicon Labs C8051F301. Max 25 Mips/25MHz small form factor flash MCU. They probably used the chip to standardize and integrate the camera's special features. This also means that it may not be all that critical to accurately time this camera, as there's a 2% precision internal oscillator. There's also the chance that this chip will sequence a single capture into the SRAM chip and possible transfer into flash long term storage? Now we need the command interface.

EDIT: Oops, make that probably the motor driver for the zoom function. It's only got 8 I/O

[nova]

I looked at that manual, and it is quite detailed in terms of camera interface.
In fact, the entire thing is laid out on page 54:
the 10 pin connector is for controlling the camera flashbulb.
the 30 pin connector has essentially the same interface as the E700 camera, except that it includes what appears to be an interrupt line (sweet!).
There also appears to be multiple SDA/SCL and SYNC lines, and given that the only difference is a resistor in the circuit, I assume that the resistor ones go to a 1.8, 1.5, or 1.2V ASIC/MCU.

Again, now we just need a command interface! I doubt it is *really* complicated, but maybe somebody with a logic analyser (I haven't gotten around to that FPGA project yet :-)) can scope out the SDA and SCL lines. We have now halved the problem - either a interface spec OR a built phone!

[SOI_Sentinel]

This one may be a tough nut to crack. After perusing the manual a few times, it looks like there's an onboard DSP hidden in the potting material on the imager side of that PCB. It does onboard compression and image component selection. The onboard SDRAM chip seems to support this, probably acting as an image buffer. This might help with relaxation in timing and timeliness for offloading a single image, though. Maybe it does video compression too?

Given the data from the last Samsung, as nova suggested, I think we need to start with the MagnaChip MC521DA imager.

http://www.magnachip.com/ENG/Products/C ... 521DA.html

Who knows, while that Sharp chip is an LRS series component, I've not found any datasheet on it yet. Maybe it really is a FIFO. One can hope

[NleahciM]

Very nice looking photos you took there. Speaking of photo quality - does anybody know how this camera is supposed to be? On one site, it said it uses something like a 1/10 or 1/15 of a second shutter - so that could cause some serious blurriness. But I found this page: http://www.atomboy.com/photo/categories ... d81&page=2 that seems to have been shot with this camera and it looks quite good.

Any chance of the E700 interface working on this camera? I'm worried about how SFE has pretty low stock of this module though - hardly seems worth it to hack it - but then again - I would love to have access to a 2MP camera...

Lastly - Has anybody figured out what kind of connectors these buggers use?

[BullDozers]

Hey guys

I'm really interested in this camera. You can find photos (supposedly) taken by this camera on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/cameras/samsung/sph-a940/

Yes, they're occasionally blurry (i'm guessing that you dont get much control over things like electronic shutter speed, gain, etc) but they look great considering how small this thing is.. and it has a flash and a zoom lens!

Anyway. Connector. I think that the 30-pin one might be a Samtec HFHM:
http://www.samtec.com/search/bypicture/ ... hspeed.asp
i can't be sure until i get my cameras from sparkfun though. could someone at least measure the pitch (lateral and across) please?

I think molex also has a line that's quite similar but, again, its hard to tell from the pictures alone.

Look forward to getting this thing to work..
-bull

[BullDozers]

page 54 of that service manual actually provided a part number for the 10-pin connector: AXK8L10125SJ. After lots of searching i found out that this part number belongs to a company called NAiS or such, which was at some point bought by Panasonic... the latter happens to have a pretty nice web site and so i present the Panasonic F4 connector family:

http://www.mew.co.jp/ac/e/control/conne ... /index.jsp

They have both 10-pin 30-pin versions. I'm assuming that the little solder tabs dont count as pins, although they seem to be treated as pins in Samsung's A940 schematics.

The particular part numbers you'd want to mate to the two camera connectors are:
AXK8L10125BG (10-pin header for flash)
and
AXK8L30125BG (30-pin header for camera control/data)

both are available in 3000-piece reels from panasonic..... hmmmmmm.

[BullDozers]

FYI, it looks like the a940 has been discontinued (i guess a while ago. i guess i've been living under a rock)... soo.. not sure if it's really worth it to figure this camera out.....

sparkfun has only 22 left in stock, and i'm guessing that once they're gone, they're gone....

thoughts, anyone?

p.s. on the other hand, i've heard somewhat reliable rumors that the data coming out of this camera is NOT compressed. (it was designed to stream directly to the LCD controller for fast previewing... the DSP may be there for autofocus, etc (i dont *think* that the imager has that built in, but may be wrong))

[Fophillips]

not sure if it's really worth it to figure this camera out.....

What about for the fun of working it out?

[rewguy]

Hey guys,

I just bought a couple of these cameras (brought the stock from 18 to 16) and I also invested in an A940 off eBay. Those things are not cheap! I've got a logic analyzer here at school, so with luck I'll be able to crack that sucker open and see what I can find out about the interface. Of course whatever I find, if anything, I'll post here.

Has anyone bought those connectors?

[rewguy]

Well I got my phone from ebay and opened it up. Unfortunately the connector is completely un-probable beacuse it is blocked by the square pad that it is soldered to. Probing from the other side of the board is also impossible because for the phone to be turned on, the board with the connector must be connceted to the board underneath it via another connector. I think the only hope is to build a custom tiny PCB with connectors on both sides that fits between the camera and the rest of the phone. Not only is this a huge pain, but I cannot find the connectors anywhere on the internet.

[BullDozers]

yeah. i found the part numbers (above) but i couldn't find anyone that would sell them in quantities of less than about 5000. i'm kind of busy at work at the moment ("bluetooth" doesn't deserve to be named a standard) but do let us know if you make any progress.

i do think that the image data is uncompressed (since the phone has a feature where the CCD directly sends an image to the display for quick preview), but, given that this phone is out of production, our time might be better spent looking at other similar cameras.

does anyone know of any similar board-level, cheap cameras with an integrated zoom lens?

[rewguy]

After a long search, I was able to place an order for 5 samples of each of the follownig:

AXK7L10227
AXK8L10125
AXK7L30227
AXK8L30125

They'll arrive in 3 weeks. In the mean time, I am going to design a small PCB breakout for each that is shaped such that I can connect them between the camera and the phone to be able to probe the signals between the two.

[Nutter]

wow, sweet - where did you manage to get samples from?

[BullDozers]

erm, i dont get it Nutter O.o
where did you get those samples from?