Take a look at this discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/3yaons/smallest_battery_for_a_zero/ .

I would get one that could be detached an hour or two and then gets recharged from a USB port. Post the project as you go.

Nice project,

Clem

To make it happen you would just need to select a suitable battery (probably like clem57 said a USB power pack would be ideal).

You would then need to connect up the camera to the cable and the button to a gpio pin and ground. Then a simple script that would automatically run at start up (use crontab) to trigger the camera when the button is pressed.

You mention safety, did you have specific concerns? Probably making sure the remaining GPIO pins are protected against a short from a ring or other jewelry when in use could be a good idea (although mainly for the safety of the Pi) could be a great application for a 3d printed case.

The fun thing about the raspberry pi is that it runs directly on a LIPO battery. You can circumvent the inefficiency of transforming the LIPO voltage to 5V and back again by directly powering the raspberry pi from tthe lipo. Just connect it to the 5V rails of the Pi. This will work as long as the battery voltage is above "a little above 3.3V". Say about 3.5V. Your LIPO is almost empty at that point anyway.

To prevent damage to your LIPO you need to shut off the pi when the voltage drops below 3.3V. Possibly a "protected" cell will suffice.

The drawback is that "stuff that uses 5V" doesn't work. This includes HDMI to VGA converters on the HDMI port and various USB devices. But in the simplest version of your project you won't need any of that.... (but you won't have a screen like on a modern digital camera).

Thank you guys it was reallly useaful, I'm a little noob but I'm learnign a lot. If you don't mind I'll keep asking you if I find more troubles.

Nonono! Please don't go looking for trouble... :-)

Have fun in your project. We, those who helped, but also those just reading along, would appreciate some pictures or maybe even a video of your results.Extra points for using the device itself! :-)

This might be of interest to you - a 3D printed case for the project you suggested - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1649799

For sure I'll upload some pictures to show how it has finished but it's gonna take me some time!! Thank you a lot guys

Okey guys, I have been checking what Neil Bizzell told me (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1649799) and it's super useful! Here is my next question. Rightn know I have ordered a PowerBoost 500 Charger, a 500 mAh Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery, a 6mm Slim Tactile Pushbutton and a Breadboard-Friendly SPTD Slide Switch, so it seems I could build that project, however, I think (say me if I am wrong) that it only would allow me to take videos, so, I should add a button to take pictures and here is where i find a lot of issues because it's my very first project with Raspberry Pi so I don't know anything about its software.

Can someone suggest me a page or something to lear how to program that to get a camera? I am really happy of having joined this forum! Thanks for your help!!

The button will do what you program it to do (in this case trigger the camera to take a picture) so it should be able to take a picture when you press the button.

For some further inspiration and help you could look at the resources below:

If you are just trying to figure out how to get the button to take a picture rather than video then the first bit of this resource form the raspberry pi foundation might help - https://www.raspberrypi.org/learning/push-button-stop-motion/ st ignore the bits about combining the pictures to make it stop motion)

http://makezine.com/projects/raspberry-pi-point-and-shoot-camera/  is a very similar project to yours (but uses a b form factor)

Enclosed is the link, I consider to be the Pi camera bible. This provides a solid knowledge foundation.

As for a Pi portable camera, I think power requirements will be its Achilles heel. I run a Pi GPS unit on a battery pack and get maybe 12 hours on the charge.

Good luck in your quest, just the same.

Sean