Learning about cameras

I haven’t yet received the GM862-GPS chip, so I’ve been messing around with another important part of the project. Sometimes it will need to be manually controlled it has to carry a webcam. Since I have no idea of how webcams work (except from the view of the user, which is just plugging it to the USB port and start using it) I have to start by finding manuals to understand them.

Soon I found a type of cam that is all I needed; it’s lightweight, cheap, and very low consumption. Those are the so called CMOS Cameras, and they’re widely used in common webcams. Fortunately I had a USB webcam I've never used and that seemed perfect for learning. Once I opened I found the following:


First of all, those six LEDS are not necessary at all (they’re just to illuminate dark rooms). The camera itself is the tiny black square in the middle. Some CMOS cameras available in the Web have integrated lens, but mine not, since it was integrated in the casing. Because of that images are not on focus (unless I put the lens at the right height), but it’s working principle remains the same, so it won’t be a problem to understand how to communicate with it.