Pi camera V2 lens tool

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1

Has anyone recently bought a Pi camera V2? The one I just got has come without the lens removal tool. It was from a big company where I imagine thete is good turnover, so I don’t think it will be old stock. Did you get the tool with yours?
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2

I find it can be a lottery as to whether new Pi cameras come with a lens removal tool, although I haven’t yet determined which suppliers include it or not. Perhaps this would be a good place to document where it was bought from and whether it was included. I wonder whether they’re moving towards selling it separately, e.g. https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/Adafruit/3518?qs=HXFqYaX1Q2xnv1GmPnVEDA==

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I see. Mine was CPC, the box is branded ‘Element 14’ which is CPC, Farnell etc.

4

Interesting, ours are OKdo branded. I hadn’t realised that you could get official Pi accessories differently packaged/branded.

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I’ve just ordered a bunch more for DIDA, we’ll see if they are included. Those ones are also from Farnell (which seems to be sort-of-the-same-but-sort-of-not as CPC). I guess it makes sense to separate the tool as most people won’t use it so it’s a bit of a waste. But if it’s available separately, we should probably still recommend it instead of the printed version, which is never going to be quite as good…

Edit: all of those cameras did come with the tool included.

6

Buying one is not available from many suppliers, and if you don’t know before the camera arrives then it is a delay and a delivery charge. Anyone making many microscopes will end up with one, so they are OK. You don’t need one for each camera. Anybody printing their own microscope can always print the tool when needed. It is just the case of a ‘kit of parts’ that probably does need the printed tool if tools are hit-and-miss in boxed cameras. Maybe it goes in the STL with the nut tool and the band tool.

Does the RPi foundation say anything about what is included in a PiCam V2?

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The tool is so small that we may just need to print one and put it in kits and say it is a “just in case you didn’t get one” tool. Like the “spanner” Ikea give you which is a hex shape stamped out of some sheet metal, it is only to be used as a last resort.

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8

Just as another confirmation, I’ve bought two RPi v2 cameras in the past few months (in the states), and neither came with the lens removal tool.

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