CHC5: Open Camera System – Image Sensor Specification Comparison

Memories of joy. USB 3 cameras dropping to USB 2 mode, and over reserving bandwidth, blocking each other while 4 Gbps sits idle. Cameras manufactured with identical device UIDs. ... Is spite funding a term? Aggrieved philanthropy? Revenge open-source?

TFA is background for Kickstarter[1] CHC5: Open Camera System - World's First Commercially available Modular, Customizable, Programmable Machine Vision Camera with Open Source Software.

[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/circuitvalley/chc5-open...

Part 1 - Sensor Specification Comparison (TFA) - https://www.circuitvalley.com/2026/08/chc5-open-camera-senso...

Part 2 - Camera System - https://www.circuitvalley.com/2026/08/chc5-open-camera-syste...

Part 3 - Sensor and Lens Mount - https://www.circuitvalley.com/2026/08/chc5-open-camera-lens-...

Part 4 - Software and Architecture - https://www.circuitvalley.com/2026/08/chc5-open-camera-gige-...

Part 5 - FPGA Architecture - https://www.circuitvalley.com/2026/08/chc5-open-camera-isp-f...

I got a YouTube recommendation about this open source camera system: the idea of having fully open source programmable FPGA cameras seems pretty interesting, especially with some high quality sensors available. This post is just part 1 of 5 diving deep into the architecture, the software article is also very interesting.

This is an ongoing Kickstarter: to be clear: I'm not affiliated with the creator. I want to share this as somebody excited about the idea of an open source camera. I am particularly interested in hacking the firmware for pre-sensor glitching (effectively emulating analog circuit bending)