A computer system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the computer system to perform a method of asynchronous camera frame allocation in which camera frame requests are received from multiple image consuming components that compete for use of one or more shared cameras to obtain one or more digital images of a surrounding environment of the computer system, wherein the method includes the computer system: receiving a first camera frame request from a first image consuming component that submits camera frame requests at a first predetermined frequency; receiving a second camera frame request from a second image consuming component that submits camera frame requests at a second predetermined frequency, wherein the second camera frame request is received before the first camera frame request is fully processed; delaying image capture for the second camera frame request for a period of time during which at least the first camera frame request is satisfied by the one or more shared cameras providing one or more camera frames corresponding to the first camera frame request to the first image consuming component; issuing a notification to the second image consuming component that results in a phase shift of the second predetermined frequency by the second image consuming component, the phase shift being based at least partially on the period of time; and processing the second camera frame request after the first camera frame request is processed and in which the one or more shared cameras provide one or more camera frames corresponding to the second camera frame request to the second image consuming component. one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the computer system to perform a method of asynchronous camera frame allocation in which camera frame requests are received from multiple image consuming components that compete for use of one or more shared cameras to obtain one or more digital images of a surrounding environment of the computer system, wherein the method includes the computer system: receiving a first camera frame request from a first image consuming component that submits camera frame requests at a first predetermined frequency; receiving a second camera frame request from a second image consuming component that submits camera frame requests at a second predetermined frequency, wherein the second camera frame request is received before the first camera frame request is fully processed; delaying image capture for the second camera frame request for a period of time during which at least the first camera frame request is satisfied by the one or more shared cameras providing one or more camera frames corresponding to the first camera frame request to the first image consuming component; issuing a notification to the second image consuming component that results in a phase shift of the second predetermined frequency by the second image consuming component, the phase shift being based at least partially on the period of time; and processing the second camera frame request after the first camera frame request is processed and in which the one or more shared cameras provide one or more camera frames corresponding to the second camera frame request to the second image consuming component. receiving a first camera frame request from a first image consuming component that submits camera frame requests at a first predetermined frequency; receiving a second camera frame request from a second image consuming component that submits camera frame requests at a second predetermined frequency, wherein the second camera frame request is received before the first camera frame request is fully processed; delaying image capture for the second camera frame request for a period of time during which at least the first camera frame request is satisfied by the one or more shared cameras providing one or more camera frames corresponding to the first camera frame request to the first image consuming component; issuing a notification to the second image consuming component that results in a phase shift of the second predetermined frequency by the second image consuming component, the phase shift being based at least partially on the period of time; and processing the second camera frame request after the first camera frame request is processed and in which the one or more shared cameras provide one or more camera frames corresponding to the second camera frame request to the second image consuming component.