I made a tiny camera with super long battery life
Hey HN! A few years ago someone kept trying to steal my motorcycle, so I decided to make a small camera with really long battery life to catch them. The hardware/software is totally open source, but the companion app only supports macOS currently. (I'm a big fan of native apps, and didn't want to block releasing on Linux/Windows support.) I wrote some blog posts about the process: PCB design: https://toaster.llc/blog/pcb Enclosure design: https://toaster.llc/blog/enclosure Image pipeline:…
I made a tiny camera with super long battery life launched on June 3, 2024 with 843 votes, #15 of 4,672 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 2 years on.
In plain words
This is a small, open-source camera designed for surveillance with exceptional battery life. It was created to monitor a motorcycle against theft and features hardware and software that are fully open source. The companion app currently runs on macOS only, though the maker has published detailed blog posts on PCB design, enclosure design, image processing, and weatherproofing. The product is available for purchase at $200.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN! A few years ago someone kept trying to steal my motorcycle, so I decided to make a small camera with really long battery life to catch them. The hardware/software is totally open source, but the companion app only supports macOS currently. (I'm a big fan of native apps, and didn't want to block releasing…
Pricing, as stated on its site
Paid from $200/mo — Photon is a paid product exclusively for Mac, priced at $200 for purchase with download option available.
checked September 2026 · prices change
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