Hi, hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I’ve got an Arducam Camera Module 3 (the fixed focus IMX708 66° version) working fine on this Pi — it streams through MediaMTX without any issues. But when I swap in the new Arducam Camera Module 3, 12MP IMX708 75°(D) Autofocus Pi Camera V3 with the acrylic case, the Pi doesn’t detect it at all. I’m following the same instructions for both, but the autofocus one just completely fails. Anyone seen this before?
Hi, welcome! Let’s narrow it down a bit. Can you confirm the exact Pi model you’re using and the full model names of both cameras? Also, are you following the Arducam IMX708 native camera guide (12MP IMX708 - Arducam Wiki)? After a fresh boot, could you run dmesg and check for anything related to imx708? That usually gives us the first clue.
Sure. The Pi is a Zero W 2, though I also tried it on an older Pi 1 just in case. The camera that won’t work is the Arducam for Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3, 12MP IMX708 75°(D) Autofocus Pi Camera V3 with Acrylic Case, 15-22pin FFC Cable. The one that works is the Arducam for Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3, 12MP IMX708 66°(H) Fixed Focus Pi Camera V3. I’ve been following the docs page you linked and streaming through MediaMTX. dmesg shows this:
imx708 10-001a: failed to read chip id 708, with error -5
Thanks, that error is quite specific. The Pi is finding the camera at I2C address 10-001a but can’t read the sensor chip ID back, which means the connection to the module isn’t healthy. What have you tried on the hardware side so far — different cables, reseating the ribbon, other boards?
I’ve tried two different Zero W 2 boards, two different UC-376 cables, and the older Pi 1 as well. The fixed focus camera works on all three boards, but this autofocus unit isn’t picked up on any of them.
Got it. Since the problem follows the camera and not the board or cable, let’s collect a full diagnostic report to see exactly what the system is reporting. Could you generate the Arducam bug report? Steps:
- Reboot the device.
- Download the tool:
wget -O arducam-camera-bug-report https://github.com/ketai-dhr/arducam-camera-bug-report/releases/download/tools/arducam-camera-bug-report - Make it executable:
chmod +x ./arducam-camera-bug-report - Run it:
./arducam-camera-bug-report
That will create arducam-bug-report.txt in the current directory. Attach that file to your reply and I’ll take a look.
Done, I rebooted and ran the tool. Here’s the report: https://cdn.arducam.com/forum/af40f02e9e196c18bcb4965bf5859de6/arducam-bug-report.txt
Thanks for the report. I’ve gone through it and it’s showing that the hardware connection has some problems. Quick question: did you just switch the camera and reuse the same cable between the two cameras? The report is pointing toward a physical connection issue.
I was swapping them back and forth, so the same FFC cable was reused for both cameras at first. After that I tried the two different UC-376 cables, but the result was the same. What should I check next?
Right now everything points to a physical connection issue rather than a software or config problem — the working fixed focus module rules out the Pi side and the setup. Let’s verify the connection visually. Could you send a couple of pictures: one showing the FFC connection at the camera end, and one at the Raspberry Pi end? I want to check the ribbon seating, orientation, and whether the contacts look fully inserted.