How To Send A Captured Image Through Email Using Raspberry Pi, Pi Camera, And Python

Ravishankar Velladurai

6y77.8k10100Article

Python Raspberry Pi MailPi CameraRasbian

10 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Mohamed Kaba Keita7y ago
Hi !j want send mixt
Sevikhar Varid7y ago
Sorry sir, i just a newbie,What if im using webcam logitech c170 for capture an image ??
- Ravishankar Velladurai7y ago
  Sure but more complex process, you can install more files and edit directory and some modify fit code and port forwarding do well to done
- Ravishankar Velladurai7y ago
  I already use the same logitech webcam but SMPT protocol not support this cam so can't send pic to mail
Prashanth T Haveri7y ago
I tried this code but it showing unable to send mail! can u help me!
- Ravishankar Velladurai7y ago
  U can send any attributes to mail using this code. Whats problem
Prashanth T Haveri7y ago
HI Ravi! its nice project
Huy Bui8y ago
Hi Ravi! I tried this article, and it worked. But there's a problem that the email was send to my email too slow, after about 2 minutes. I don't know which went wrong, my Pi or python code. Can u help me with this problem? Thank u so much!
- Huy Bui8y ago
  I run code on terminal
- Ravishankar Velladurai8y ago
  Python code running which one terminal or python shell?

Introduction

This article demonstrates how to send a captured image through email using Raspberry Pi, Pi camera, and Python.

How To Send The Captured An Image Through The Mail Using Raspberry Pi, Pi Camera, And Python

Pi can handle Python IDE 3.0. If you can easily write the mail scripting code, a python script can be used to send a picture via email.

Requirement

I used the following equipment for this Raspberry Pi web server article.

Raspberry Pi 3
Minimum 8GB SD Card if you're using Raspberry Pi 3
Ethernet or Wifi
Putty
Pi Camera
VNC Viewer

Optional

USB Keyboard
USB Mouse

Installation

You can learn the Raspberry Pi installation from my previous article and then follow my instructions to connect the Pi Camera.

Pi Camera

This package provides a pure Python interface to the Raspberry Pi Camera Module for Python 2.7 (or above) or Python 3.2 (or above).

Step 1

First, the Raspberry Pi must be connected to your desktop. Then, connect your wi-fi on your Pi or connect your ethernet. After that, open the terminal of your Operating System using the following code.

hostname -I

Next, open PuTTY or VNC software and paste the Host Name (or IP Address) on this PuTTY.

After that, open the terminal box and enter your default PI name and password.

Username (pi)
Password (raspberry)

Step 2

Next, we need to update the Raspberry Pi. So, install the latest packages. You can do that using the following commands.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo apt-get update && upgrade

If you want to install Python 3.0

sudo apt-get install python3

Install an SMTP service

sudo apt-get install ssmtp

Configure the SMTP

sudo nano /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf

Step 3

Next, you need to enable the permissions and options like SSH and Camera. So, go to the Raspberry Pi configuration.

Step 4

Open the Python IDE 2.7 or above 3.2, create a new file and save it as camera.py. It’s important that you do not save it as picamera.py

The Camera testing code is given below.

from picamera import PiCamera
from time import sleep
camera = PiCamera()
camera.start_preview()
sleep(05)
camera.stop_preview()

Save with Ctrl + S and run with F5. The camera preview should be shown for 05 seconds, and then close.

Run the program.

sudo python camera.py

Note

The camera preview only works when a monitor is connected to the Pi, so remote access (such as SSH and VNC) will not allow you to see the camera preview.

Allowing Gmail SMTP Access for Accounts with Standard Authentication

To allow access to Gmail’s SMTP server from your app, you can follow these steps,

Login to your Gmail account using your username and password.
From the top right corner go to “My Account“.
Under the “Sign-in & security” section locate “Connected apps & sites” and click on it.
Locate “Allow less secure apps” setting and turn it “On“.

After this, change the code for file attachment format. The code is given below.

import smtplib,ssl
from picamera import PiCamera
from time import sleep
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.utils import formatdate
from email import encoders
camera = PiCamera()
camera.start_preview()
sleep(5)
camera.capture('/home/pi/image.jpg') # image path set
sleep(5)
camera.stop_preview()
def send_an_email():
toaddr = '[email protected]' # To id
me = '[email protected]' # your id
subject = "What's News" # Subject
msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg['Subject'] = subject
msg['From'] = me
msg['To'] = toaddr
msg.preamble = "test "
#msg.attach(MIMEText(text))
part = MIMEBase('application', "octet-stream")
part.set_payload(open("image.jpg", "rb").read())
encoders.encode_base64(part)
part.add_header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="image.jpg"') # File name and format name
msg.attach(part)
try:
s = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com', 587) # Protocol
s.ehlo()
s.starttls()
s.ehlo()
s.login(user = '[email protected]', password = '*********') # User id & password
#s.send_message(msg)
s.sendmail(me, toaddr, msg.as_string())
s.quit()
#except:
# print ("Error: unable to send email")
except SMTPException as error:
print ("Error") # Exception
send_an_email()

Save with Ctrl + S and run with F5. When you check your mail, you will find that the image has been received.

Output

Summary

Finally, we have successfully sent the captured image through email using Raspberry Pi, Pi Camera, and Python.