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Raspberry Pi Camera Import

These instructions transform a Raspberry Pi to an automatic headless photo import device for digital cameras and SD card readers.

Raspberry Pi Camera Import

Features

When a digital camera or and SD card reader is plugged in the USB port, all new photos are copied to the Pi's SD card automatically. Use a reasonably large SD card and build a headless photo backup device.

The files are ordered by file date (usually the capture date):

/mnt/pictures/2018-02-13/DSC01234.arw

This way, the risk of duplicates is reduced (see "Limitations").

Requirements

  • Raspberry Pi with a free USB port
  • Raspberry Pi OS 12 Lite (tested with version 2024-11-19)
  • USB SD card reader or digital camera with USB mass storage support
  • Optional: Piromoni Blinkt! for graphical status display

Installation

Install a new Raspberry Pi OS image on the device and make sure it is connected to the network. The new device is assumed to be reachable by camera-import.local.

Remove unused packages and daemons

# Disable Bluetooth and Audio
sudo systemctl disable bluetooth hciuart
echo "gpu_mem=16" >> /boot/firmware/config.txt
echo "dtparam=audio=off" >> /boot/firmware/config.txt
echo "dtparam=disable-bt" >> /boot/firmware/config.txt

# Disable swap
sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff
sudo dphys-swapfile uninstall
sudo systemctl disable dphys-swapfile

# Remove unused packages
sudo apt purge -y triggerhappy build-essential gcc-12 mkvtoolnix libc6-dev firmware-libertas firmware-atheros bluez gdb libc6-dbg manpages-dev dpkg-dev userconf-pi man-db rpicam-apps-lite

# Disable apt timers
sudo systemctl stop apt-daily.timer apt-daily-upgrade.timer
sudo systemctl disable apt-daily.timer apt-daily-upgrade.timer
sudo systemctl mask apt-daily.service apt-daily-upgrade.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

sudo apt autoremove --purge -y

Install scripts and services

# Install packages
sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends exfat-fuse python3-blinkt python3-psutil overlayroot

# Fix python3-blinkt timing, see https://github.com/pimoroni/blinkt/pull/73 
sudo sed -i.backup 's/time.sleep(0.0000005)/time.sleep(0)/g' /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/blinkt.py

# Install files
sudo install -m 0755 rootfs/usr/local/bin/blinkt-clear /usr/local/bin/
sudo install -m 0755 rootfs/usr/local/bin/blinkt-disk-usage /usr/local/bin/
sudo install -m 0755 rootfs/usr/local/bin/camera-import-msd /usr/local/bin/
sudo install -m 0644 rootfs/etc/systemd/system/blinkt-clear.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo install -m 0644 rootfs/etc/systemd/system/blinkt-disk-usage.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo install -m 0644 rootfs/etc/systemd/system/camera-import-msd@.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo install -m 0644 rootfs/etc/udev/rules.d/99-camera-import-msd.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/

sudo systemctl enable blinkt-disk-usage.service
sudo systemctl enable blinkt-clear.service

# Announce SSH service via Bonjour
sudo cp /usr/share/doc/avahi-daemon/examples/ssh.service /etc/avahi/services/ssh.service

# Clean up apt
sudo apt clean
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists

Create a "pictures" partition

Use another device and gparted to resize the root partition to 2 GB and create a large partition called "pictures". Then reboot and add the mount point:

sudo mkfs.ext4 -L pictures /dev/mmcblk0p3
printf "LABEL=pictures\t/mnt/pictures\text4\tdefaults,noatime,ro\t0\t2\n" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab > /dev/null
sudo mkdir /mnt/pictures
sudo mount /mnt/pictures

Enable overlay filesystem

  • Using raspi-config, enable "Overlay File System".
  • Change "overlayroot=tmpfs" to "overlayroot=tmpfs:recurse=0" in /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt

This allows the device to be switched off after transferring photos, without needing to properly shut down. The "pictures" partition is mounted read-write only during transfer, to minimize the risk of data loss if the device is switched off without being shut down.

Limitations

  • Only works with cameras that support USB mass storage mode.
  • An older version had support for PTP through gphoto2, this may or may not work correctly.
  • There could theoretically be filename duplicates. That usually is, when more than 10.000 photos are taken on the same day, or when backing up multiple cameras.
  • When using an USB card reader, you may need to unplug and replug the card reader when changing cards.

Optional Components

Pimoroni Blinkt!

Blinkt! is a pHAT stacking header for Raspberry Pi with 8 RGB LEDs. If it is installed, it is used for a simple status display:

  • When idle, disk usage is displayed with red/green LEDs
  • While copying, the progress is displayed see video.