Near infrared spectroscopy is a non-invasive and optical technology that uses the relative absorption of near infrared light (i.e. 780 to 2500nm). Near infrared spectroscopy has been successfully applied in the evaluation of food quality [1], [2]. Near infrared (NIR) sensing technology has been widely implemented in various areas e.g. medical [3]-[7], agriculture [2], [8]-[14], and industries [15]-[17] replace conventional wet chemistry analysis due to its non-Abstract: Near infrared (NIR) sensing technology has been widely implemented in various areas as an alternative to substitute conventional wet chemistry analysis and sensing applications due to its non-invasive, green, and rapid measurement features. Recent researches indicate that a combination of NIR light emitted diode (LEDs) and photodiodes is promising to reduce the financial barriers to carry out NIR research in various applications. However, there is a challenge to detect and remove unwanted signals particularly ambient light and the changes of surrounding. This is because NIR signals are susceptible to the change of temperatures, moisture, and types of samples. This is worth to highlight that camera technology is feasible to remove unwanted backgrounds and insusceptible to the background for various applications e.g. face recognition, unmanned vehicle systems, and object classification. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the feasibility of a complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) camera in developing a shortwave NIR spectroscopy. Firstly, a slit, a NIR grating, and a CMOS camera were positioned and shielded in a black aluminum chassis. A total of six different parameters of the camera were investigated in this study, i.e. the exposure level, gain, white balance, brightness, sharpness, and saturation. Findings show that the CMOS camera with the optimal values of the exposure level and the gain could produce a good quality of NIR spectrum compared with default settling, in which, the signals were saturated. Thus, CMOS camera is feasible to be used to develop a low-cost NIR spectroscopy.