Even though all ESP32-CAM development boards share the same C ++ (Arduino) code, each manufacturer has connected the camera module to the pins of the ESP32 differently. This article summarizes the pinout of the main ESP32-CAM development boards currently available. ESP-EYE by Espressif, ESP32-CAM Ai Thinker, M5Stack Timer Camera, TTGO T-Camera, T-Camera Plus and T-Journal.
If you’re new to ESP32-based camera modules, you can start by reading this guide which details each model from manufacturers Espressif, Ai Thinker (generic entry-level models), M5Stack and TTGO.
Follow the link that corresponds to your development board to quickly access technical details
- ESP-EYE v2.x (or compatible models). Initial project developed by Espressif, the manufacturer of the ESP32 SoCs
- ESP32-CAM equipped with an ESP32-S from Ai Thinker. Economic model less than 10 €
- M5Stack ESP32 Camera. Old generation model (to be avoided)
- M5Stack Timer camera. New generation model with connector for LiPo battery and USB-C connector
- Obsolete M5Stack models. ESP32-Camera M5Camera (models A and B), M5CameraX and M5CameraF
- TTGO T-Camera
- TTGO T-Camera Plus
- TTGO T-Journal
Pin identification of the ESP-EYE certified Amazon AWS-IoT by Espressif
The plans and circuits of the ESP-EYE being Open Source and available on GitHub, several manufacturers produce compatible boards following the design proposed by Espressif. The board is equipped with a 3D antenna to improve WiFi connectivity. No connector (SMA or IPEX) is available to connect a possible external antenna. The ESP-EYE does not embed a cryptographic module which would have been a real plus for professional applications.
The microphone will allow the development of AI (Artificial Intelligence) based applications such as voice control.
More ESP-EYE development board
Pins assigned to OmniVision OV2640, OV3660 or OV5640 camera module
Pins assigned to the OmniVision OV2640, OV3660 or OV5640 camera module.
#define PWDN_GPIO_NUM -1
#define RESET_GPIO_NUM -1
#define XCLK_GPIO_NUM 4
#define SIOD_GPIO_NUM 18
#define SIOC_GPIO_NUM 23
#define Y9_GPIO_NUM 36
#define Y8_GPIO_NUM 37
#define Y7_GPIO_NUM 38
#define Y6_GPIO_NUM 39
#define Y5_GPIO_NUM 35
#define Y4_GPIO_NUM 14
#define Y3_GPIO_NUM 13
#define Y2_GPIO_NUM 34
#define VSYNC_GPIO_NUM 5
#define HREF_GPIO_NUM 27
#define PCLK_GPIO_NUM 25SPI connector to be soldered on the board
Four pads (not drilled) allow to solder a connector (at a pitch of 2.54mm a priori) for SPI peripherals (micro SD card reader, TFT screen, etc.)
| Bus SPI | ESP32 pin |
| DATA_OUT (DOUT) | IO12 |
| DATA_INT (DIN) | IO2 |
| CLK | IO0 |
| CS | IO19 |
Identification of other equipment on board the ESP-EYE
The ESP-EYE has several additional accessories on board:
- Microphone Cirrus Logic CS53L30
- 2 LEDs (red and white)
- 8MB of PSRAM
- A user button
Equipment ESP32 pin Micro Cirrus Logic CS53L30 DMIC_I2S_WS IO32 DMIC_I2S_SDO IO33 DMIC_I2S_SCK IO26 LED Red IO21 White IO22 Buttons IN IN Boot IO0 User programmable IO15 PSRAM CS IO16 CLK IO17
Ai Thinker ESP32-CAM Pin Locating (ESP32-S)
ESP32 development board built around Ai Thinker’s ESP32-S SoC. The board does not have a UART / USB converter. This means that it will be necessary to manually connect the serial port of the ESP32 using an FTDI module to manually connect the ESP32 to the computer.
The Ai Thinker ESP32-CAM Development Board has a true breadboard compatible expansion slot and exposes several of the ESP32 pins that are still available.
Pins 2 4 12 13 14 and 15 are shared with the micro SD card reader. Therefore, it is strongly advised not to use these pins for any other purpose if you want to store pictures or videos.
Pins 2 4 12 13 14 and 15 are RTC compatible and support the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) of the ESP32.
If your application uses the micro SD card reader, only pins 2 3 and 16 are available. However, the following constraints must be taken into account:
- The GPIO16 pin not being RTC, it will not be possible to wake up the ESP32-CAM using a PIR motion detector for example.
- You will need to make pins 1 and 3 (RX / TX serial port) available each time you need to update the program. By integrating wireless update (OTA), you can downsize to one time.
| ESP32 pin | Digital input | Digital output | Other function | Note |
| IO0 | PULL UP | ✓ | CLK | Sends a PWM signal at startup. Allows you to switch the ESP32 to Flash Mode each time you want to upload a program. |
| IO1 | ✓ | ✓ | TX | Debug output at startup |
| IO2 | ✓ | ✓ | DATA0 | Connected to the on-board LED |
| IO3 | ✓ | ✓ | RX | Takes the HIGH state at startup |
| IO4 | ✓ | ✓ | DATA1 / FlashLight | |
| IO12 | ✓ | ✓ | DATA2 | Fail to start if in PULLUP mode |
| IO13 | ✓ | ✓ | DATA3 | |
| IO14 | ✓ | ✓ | CLK | Sends a PWM signal at startup |
| IO15 | ✓ | ✓ | CMD | Sends a PWM signal at startup |
| IO16 | ✓ | ✓ |
Flash Light, LED lighting
A white lighting LED is connected to the IO4 pin of the ESP32. You can use it as an accent light only if you are not using the micro SD card to store photos or videos.
Pin identification of the micro SD card reader
The IO4 pin is shared between the white LED and the DATA1 pin of the integrated microSD card reader. This causes the LED to blink with each write to the SD card.
| Integrated microSD card reader pin | ESP32 pin |
| CLK | IO14 |
| CMD | IO15 |
| DATA0 | IO2 |
| DATA1 / White LED (Flash Light) | IO4 |
| DATA2 | IO12 |
| DATA3 | IO13 |
Attention, to be able to use an external antenna to increase the range and the stability of the WiFi signal, you must first activate the IPEX connector by moving the resistor. Follow the instructions detailed in this article
Find more ESP32-CAM development boards
Pins assigned to OmniVision OV2640, OV3660 or OV5640 camera module
Pins assigned to the OmniVision OV2640, OV3660 or OV5640 camera module.
#define PWDN_GPIO_NUM 32 #define RESET_GPIO_NUM -1 #define XCLK_GPIO_NUM 0 #define SIOD_GPIO_NUM 26 #define SIOC_GPIO_NUM 27 #define Y9_GPIO_NUM 35 #define Y8_GPIO_NUM 34 #define Y7_GPIO_NUM 39 #define Y6_GPIO_NUM 36 #define Y5_GPIO_NUM 21 #define Y4_GPIO_NUM 19 #define Y3_GPIO_NUM 18 # define Y2_GPIO_NUM 5 #define VSYNC_GPIO_NUM 25 #define HREF_GPIO_NUM 23 #define PCLK_GPIO_NUM 22
M5 Stack Timer Camera Pin Locating
The M5Stack Timer Camera has 8MB of PSRAM, an OmniVision OV3660 sensor equipped with a lens with a field of view of 66.5 ° which offers a resolution of 2048×1536 pixels, an RTC clock (BM8563), a PH2.0- connector. 4P (Grove connector), a white LED (IO2) and a connector for LiPo battery. The battery charge can be measured on the pin (IO33)
The M5Stack Timer Camera is available alone or delivered installed in a box ( version X ) with Lego Technics support.
 |  |
| Interface | ESP32 pin |
|---|---|
| OV3660 camera module | |
| SCCB Clock | IO23 |
| SCCB Data | IO25 |
| System Clock | IO27 |
| Vertical Sync | IO22 |
| Horizontal Reference | IO26 |
| Pixel Clock | IO21 |
| Pixel Data Bit 0 | IO32 |
| Pixel Data Bit 1 | IO35 |
| Pixel Data Bit 2 | IO34 |
| Pixel Data Bit 3 | IO5 |
| Pixel Data Bit 4 | IO39 |
| Pixel Data Bit 5 | IO18 |
| Pixel Data Bit 6 | IO36 |
| Pixel Data Bit 7 | IO19 |
| Camera Reset | IO15 |
| Camera Power Down | -1 |
| Power Supply 3.3V | 3V3 |
| Ground | GND |
| Grove connector | |
| SCL | IO13 |
| SDA | IO4 |
| 5V | 5V |
| GND | GND |
| Other equipment | |
| White led | IO2 |
| LiPo battery voltage (BAT_ADC_Pin) | IO33 |
Technical data taken from official documentation .
More M5Stack Timer Camera deals
Obsolete ESP32-CAM M5Stack Development Boards
Here are several development boards that M5Stack has removed from its catalog that are best left off buying. ESP32-Camera (without PSRAM), M5Camera (models A or B), M5CameraX and M5CameraF.
You may find them on sale on AliExpress for example.
For those who still use these boards, here is the pin identification for your projects.
Locating the OmniVision OV2640 2MP sensor for M5Camera, models A and B
M5Camera boards, models A and B are equipped with 4MB of Flash memory and 4MB of PSRAM. The Grove PH2.0 (4-pole) connector exposes the IO4 and IO13 pins of the ESP32.
| M5Camera, model A | M5Camera model B |
With the ESP32 Espressif logo | With FCC / CE logo  |
| |
TTGO T-Camera, T-Camera Plus and T-Journal from LilyGo
LilyGo, the manufacturer of ESP32 TTGO development boards, offers us 3 ESP32-CAM development boards.
TTGO T-Camera and T-Camera Plus boards are equipped with a 3D WiFi antenna as well as an IPEX connector.
The T-Journal is equipped with a double SMA / IPEX connector.
Here is a comparison table which summarizes the main technical specifications of the 3 LilyGo TTGO camera boards with the Ai Thinker ESP32-CAM.
| Function | ESP32-CAM Ai Thinker | TTGO T-Camera | TTGO T-Camera Plus | TTGO T-Journal |
 |  |  |  | |
| ESP32 | ESP32-S2 | ESP32-WROVER-B | ESP32-DOWDQ6 | ESP32-PCIO-D4 |
| PSRAM memory | 4Mo | 8Mo | 8Mo | – |
| Flash memory | 4Mo | 4Mo | 4Mo | 4Mo |
| GPIO connector | ✓ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Microphone | ❌ | ❌ | ✓ MSM261S4030H0 | ❌ |
| SD card reader | ✓ | ❌ | ✓ | ❌ |
| BME280 (temperature + humidity + atmospheric pressure) | ❌ | ❌ | ✓ | ❌ |
| I2C | via GPIO * | Connector | Connector | ❌ |
| Screen | ❌ | OLED SSD1306 0,96″ (128×64) | IPS ST7789 1.3 “ | OLED SSD1306 0,96″ (128×64) |
| Camera | OV2640 | OV2640 | OV2640 | OV2640 |
| THE BRIDGE | GPIO | ✓ AS312 | ❌ | ❌ |
| User button | ❌ | ✓ | ❌ | ❌ |
| UART / USB | ❌ | CP2104 | CP2104 | CP2104 |
| Connector | ❌ | micro usb | micro usb | micro usb |
| JST connector for LiPo battery | ❌ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 3D WiFi antenna | ❌ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| IPEX uFL connector | To modify** | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SMA connector | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✓ |
| Dimension | 40*27*18mm | 69.13*28.41*8.45mm | 64.57mm * 23.98mm | |
| Resources | Read | Read | Read | |
| Average price (excluding transport costs) | < 8€ | ~ 15 € | ~ 17 € | ~ 14€ |
(*) Attention, if you use the micro SD card reader, only pins 1, 3 and 16 are available for the I2C bus or other equipment. Pins 1 and 3 will need to be released each time you want to upload a program.
(**) Follow the instructions of this tutorial .
Pin identification of the TTGO T-Camera
The TTGO T-Camera is equipped with a PIR motion detector (AS312) accessible on pin IO33 .
The SSD1306 OLED screen is accessible via the I2C bus on pins IO21 (SDA) and IO22 (SCL).
Pins assigned to the OmniVision OV2640 camera module.
define PWDN_GPIO_NUM -1
define RESET_GPIO_NUM -1
define XCLK_GPIO_NUM 32
define SIOD_GPIO_NUM 13
define SIOC_GPIO_NUM 12
define Y9_GPIO_NUM 39
define Y8_GPIO_NUM 36
define Y7_GPIO_NUM 23
define Y6_GPIO_NUM 18
define Y5_GPIO_NUM 15
define Y4_GPIO_NUM 4
define Y3_GPIO_NUM 14
define Y2_GPIO_NUM 5
define VSYNC_GPIO_NUM 27
define HREF_GPIO_NUM 25
define PCLK_GPIO_NUM 19
See more offers for the TTGO T-Camera
Pin identification of the TTGO T-Camera Plus
The TTGO T-Camera Plus has a microphone (MSM261S4030H0), a temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure sensor (BME280), a color TFT screen with a diagonal of 1.3 “and an SD card reader (up to 16GB) .
The motion detector has been replaced by a push button.
Here are the pins assigned to the equipment integrated in the TTGO T-Camera Plus.
| Equipment | ESP32 pin |
|---|---|
| Micro SD card reader | |
| MISO | IO22 |
| DAWDLE | IO19 |
| SCLK | IO21 |
| CS | IO0 |
| Microphone | |
| SCLK | IO14 |
| LCLK | IO32 |
| DOUT | IO33 |
| 1.3 “TFT screen IPS ST7789 | |
| MISO | IO22 |
| DAWDLE | IO19 |
| SCLK | IO21 |
| CS | IO12 |
| DC | IO15 |
| BK | IO2 |
Pins assigned to the OmniVision OV2640 camera module. Source
define PWDN_GPIO_NUM -1
define RESET_GPIO_NUM -1
define XCLK_GPIO_NUM 4
define SIOD_GPIO_NUM 18
define SIOC_GPIO_NUM 23
define Y9_GPIO_NUM 39
define Y8_GPIO_NUM 36
define Y7_GPIO_NUM 36
define Y6_GPIO_NUM 37
define Y5_GPIO_NUM 38
define Y4_GPIO_NUM 39
define Y3_GPIO_NUM 13
define Y2_GPIO_NUM 34
define VSYNC_GPIO_NUM 5
define HREF_GPIO_NUM 27
define PCLK_GPIO_NUM 25
See more offers for the TTGO T-Camera Plus
Pin identification of the TTGO T-Journal
The TTGO T-Journal is directly fitted with an SMA connector. An IPEX connector (uFL) is also present at the base of the SMA connector. Good idea ! No antenna is engraved on the PCB, so you must use an external antenna.
Pins 2, 4, 14 and 13 as well as the 3.3V and GND power pins are exposed on the board. You will need to solder a 2.54mm pitch connector directly to the board. The holes are already pre-drilled.
| Pins IO2 and IO4. Power supply 2x GND, 2x 3V3 | I2C connector. IO14 (SDA) and IO13 (SCL). IO32 user button |
 |  |
Pins assigned to the OmniVision OV2640 camera module.
#define PWDN_GPIO_NUM 32
#define RESET_GPIO_NUM -1
#define XCLK_GPIO_NUM 27
#define SIOD_GPIO_NUM 25
#define SIOC_GPIO_NUM 23
#define Y9_GPIO_NUM 19
#define Y8_GPIO_NUM 36
#define Y7_GPIO_NUM 18
#define Y6_GPIO_NUM 39
#define Y5_GPIO_NUM 5
#define Y4_GPIO_NUM 34
#define Y3_GPIO_NUM 35
#define Y2_GPIO_NUM 17
#define VSYNC_GPIO_NUM 22
#define HREF_GPIO_NUM 26
#define PCLK_GPIO_NUM 21
See more offers for the TTGO T-Journal
WiFi signal quality
The resolution and the stability of the video stream depend mainly on the quality of the WiFi connection. The most recent cards are equipped with a 3D WiFi antenna which guarantees very good signal quality.
If there is any problem displaying the video stream, this is the first thing to check, especially for budget Ai Thinker ESP32-CAM cards. In this case, do not hesitate to activate the external antenna by following this tutorial.
Here is a summary table with the type of antenna for the main current ESP32-CAM development boards.
| Engraved on the PCB | UFL / IPEX connector | SMA connector | 3D antenna | |
| WiFi signal quality | * | Depends on the external antenna 3dBi mini | *** | *** |
| ESP-EYE | ✓ | |||
| ESP32-CAM Ai Thinker | ✓ | ✓ * | ||
| M5Stack Timer Camera | ✓ | |||
| Older M5Stack models | ||||
| TTGO T-Camera | ✓ | |||
| TTGO T-Camera Plus | ✓ | |||
| TTGO T-Journal | ✓ | ✓ |
(*) Circuit to be modified before being able to use an external antenna
ESP3-CAM tutorial and projects
Ready to get started, here are some projects and tutorials to get you started.
- ESP32-CAM pinout and equipments. ESP-EYE, AI Thinker, TTGO T-Camera, M5Stack Timer Camera …
- ESP32-CAM. Which model to choose? ESP-EYE, AI Thinker, TTGO T-Camera, M5Stack Timer Camera …
- 5 tips for ESP32-CAM. Fixed IP address. AP mode. Image rotation 90°. Automatic recovery WiFi connection. HTML code storage
- ESP32-CAM. Solder the external antenna to improve the range and stability of the video stream
- ESP32-CAM. Migrate CameraWebServer project from Arduino IDE to PlatformIO
You will also find in this article many tips to improve
- How to assign (fix) the IP address of the ESP32-CAM?
- How to start the ESP32-CAM in Access Point (AP) mode?
- How to make an automatic re-connection in case of loss or unavailability of the WiFi network?
- An example of Arduino code with a simplified HTML interface
- How to store the HTML code of the interface as a long string on the Flash memory of the ESP32
- How to rotate the image 90°
- A complete example of ESP32-CAM project with HTML interface and image rotation
Updates
2021/01/27 Publication of the article
Thanks for reading
- ESP32-CAM pinout and equipments. ESP-EYE, AI Thinker, TTGO T-Camera, M5Stack Timer Camera …
- ESP32-CAM. Which model to choose? ESP-EYE, AI Thinker, TTGO T-Camera, M5Stack Timer Camera …
- 5 tips for ESP32-CAM. Fixed IP address. AP mode. Image rotation 90°. Automatic recovery WiFi connection. HTML code storage
- ESP32-CAM. Solder the external antenna to improve the range and stability of the video stream
- ESP32-CAM. Migrate CameraWebServer project from Arduino IDE to PlatformIO
