Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 minutes ago

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In this video, I will show you how to make a button controlled camera on Raspberry Pi 4 running Raspberry Pi OS.

Camera: Official Raspberry Pi Camera V2

Python script cam.py:
#################################
from gpiozero import Button
from picamera import PiCamera
from datetime import datetime
from signal import pause
from time import sleep

left_button = Button(21)
right_button = Button(3)
camera = PiCamera()
camera.iso = 100
camera.exposure_mode = 'auto'

def capture():
timestamp = datetime.now().isoformat()
camera.capture('/home/pi/%s.jpg' % timestamp)

left_button.when_pressed = camera.start_preview
right_button.when_pressed = capture
sleep(1)
right_button.when_released = camera.stop_preview

pause()

##################################

See gpiozero documentation for reference.

gpiozero.readthedocs.io/en/stable/recipes.html#button-controlled-camera