this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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There are some really talented people working on the camera systems for Apple and Google etc. what I don’t get is surely there are some equally talented engineers (in image processing) who love open source so why aren’t they working on an open source camera platform?
It seems an itch that’s not getting scratched.
idk if this is the case here but on a firmware level, interfacing with these camera chips almost always requires an NDA that they'll only sign with very large minimum orders
This is also why open source wearables can't have the best PPG heart rate/SPO2 tracking.
There are only about 4 PPG analog front ends still in production that don't require an NDA and the Max86141 is the only one worth anything it seems.
You can't do analog front ends with any small FPGAs that I know of and it is simply to large to do it (well, at least) on a small wearable with discrete components.