# Basic Drop Camera Components

**URL:** <https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/basic-drop-camera-components/11585>\
**Category:** Blue Robotics Products\
**Tags:** guide\
**Created:** [February 18, 2022, 2:55am UTC](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/basic-drop-camera-components/11585 "2022-02-18T02:55:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EliotBR](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.bluerobotics.com/eliotbr/32/6937_2.png) [@EliotBR](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/u/EliotBR)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 2:55am UTC](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/basic-drop-camera-components/11585/1 "2022-02-18T02:55:07Z")

</div>

Hi everyone,

There have been a few posts/support requests about drop cameras recently, and after the latest one I thought it could be worth putting together a summary of the major components you might want/need to make a simple (tethered) drop cam.

# Components Spreadsheet

> **[Basic Drop Camera Hardware](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rLIhDwt2WUMJnFi4357MyTRvTLioGK7UZEeF2Bd78so/edit)**
>
> This Sheet is private

# Software

If you’re using our camera (or other H264-encoded USB cameras) via a Raspberry Pi (3B and above) then [BlueOS](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/blueos-1-0-beta-testing/10830/) will allow you to easily configure the stream(s) from a browser on your computer. IP cameras should provide that kind of capability automatically.

On the surface computer you’ll need something capable of [receiving the stream(s)](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/how-to-stream-another-cameras-video/9573/3#receiving-the-stream-7).

If you’re wanting to also control lights/a tilt mechanism, or interface with a depth or leak sensor, that will require some code on the Raspberry Pi, which could make those controls/values accessible on a web page.

# Existing Projects/Discussion

BlueOS Extensions:

- [Raspberry Pi GPIO example](https://github.com/bluerobotics/BlueOS-examples/tree/master/example5-gpio-control)

Already on the forum:

- [this comment](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/drop-camera-builds/10733/2) links to several projects
- [this post](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/drop-camera-release-and-recovery/11552) discusses release mechanisms/options
- [this comment](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/cable-type-for-drop-cam/11573/5) provides an example connection diagram for a USB camera and Raspberry Pi setup
- [Navigator libraries](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/navigator-library/14838)

You can also try a [forum search](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/how-to-use-the-blue-robotics-forums-please-read/10521#searching-the-forum-10) for [“drop cam”](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/search?expanded=true&q=drop%20cam) or similar terms.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@Tides](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/u/Tides)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 3:49am UTC](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/basic-drop-camera-components/11585/2 "2022-02-18T03:49:57Z")

</div>

This is great! Thanks so much for sharing, Eliot! Appreciate it!