This package provides a pure Python interface to the Raspberry Pi camera module for Python 3.2 or above, with extra features and fixes.

• Lens-shading table support (from rwb27/master)
• Read-write analog gain (from rwb27/master)
• Greyworld AWB (from chrisruk/greyworld)
• Bayer array support for HQ camera (from AlecVercruysse/master)
• Dropped support for Python 2

The upstream waveform80/picamera library has reached a point of stability meaning some more cutting-edge features will be unsuitable for inclusion, or face delays. This fork will include new features and fixes more rapidly, allowing the latest camera revisions, and more experimental software features, to be easily used much earlier than they would otherwise.

pip install picamerax

• The code is licensed under the BSD license
• The source code can be obtained from GitHub, which also hosts the bug tracker
• The documentation (which includes installation, quick-start examples, and lots of code recipes) can be read on ReadTheDocs
• Packages can be downloaded from PyPI, but reading the installation instructions is more likely to be useful

We want picamerax to stay more or less in sync with upstream picamera. However, this fork adds significant new features that would constitute new version numbers under semantic versioning. If we were to adopt semantic versioning, we would rapidly fall completely out of sync with the upstream version numbers.

By using calendar versioning, and clearly tracking new additions to the library, we can ensure the upstream base version is obvious (by looking at its release date in relation to our current calendar version), without worrying about what new features count as justifying new semantic versions.

This can change however if everyone else deems it a bad idea.