Arducam 64MP camera (OV64A40) not detected on Raspberry Pi 5, libcamera reports no cameras available

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi, I picked up an Arducam Owlsight 64MP (OV64A40) and I can’t get it to show up on my Raspberry Pi 5 at all. libcamera just keeps saying ERROR: *** no cameras available ***. I’m on Raspberry Pi OS bookworm, kernel 6.1.0-rpi7-rpi-2712 (6.1.63), aarch64, Pi 5 revision d04170. libcamera is v0.1.0+118-563cd78e. I already enabled I2C in the interface config. Any idea what I’m doing wrong?

2

Have you installed the Arducam Pivariety V4L2 driver for libcamera? The OV64A40 needs it. Try running the install script like this:
wget -O install_pivariety_pkgs.sh https://github.com/ArduCAM/Arducam-Pivariety-V4L2-Driver/releases/download/install_script/install_pivariety_pkgs.sh
chmod +x ./install_pivariety_pkgs.sh
./install_pivariety_pkgs.sh -p libcamera
sudo ./install_pivariety_pkgs.sh -p libcamera
Then reboot and test with libcamera-still.

3

I ran the script with -p libcamera, but I got some errors during the install:
dpkg-query: no packages found matching raspberrypi-kernel
dpkg: error: --compare-versions takes three arguments:
N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file ‘/home/pi/libcamera0.1_0.1.0+rpt20231205-1_arm64.deb’ couldn’t be accessed by user ‘_apt’. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)
After that I rebooted and ran libcamera-still but it still reports no cameras available.

4

Those first two dpkg lines are from the script’s kernel version check - it couldn’t find the raspberrypi-kernel package, so the version comparison fails. The permission denied one is because the deb got downloaded into your home directory and apt can’t read it as the _apt user. Can you paste the full output of a test command so I can see exactly what libcamera says?

5

Here’s what I get:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ libcamera-still t 360000000
[0:13:45.453446387] [2385] INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:284 libcamera v0.1.0+118-563cd78e
Made X/EGL preview window
ERROR: *** no cameras available ***

And with t 5000000:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ libcamera-still t 5000000
[0:07:08.064984701] [2675] INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:284 libcamera v0.1.0+118-563cd78e
Made X/EGL preview window
ERROR: *** no cameras available ***
Same problem either way.

6

What else have you tried so far? Any other driver or package installs?

7

I also tried the ‘henri’ solution from the Arducam forum but it didn’t help. I installed libcamera0.1, libcamera-dev, and libcamera-ipa 0.1.0+rpt20231205-1. python3-picamera2 was already newest version (0.3.16-1). The camera still reports no cameras available.

8

Based on what you’ve posted, the kernel and device tree overlay aren’t set up for the OV64A40 on the Pi 5. You need kernel 6.1.73 and the correct overlay. Do this:

  1. Run sudo apt upgrade and reboot - this should get you to kernel 6.1.73.
  2. Add this line under the [all] section in /boot/firmware/config.txt: dtoverlay=ov64a40,link-frequency=360000000
  3. Reboot, then run libcamera-hello to check.
9

Okay, I ran sudo apt upgrade and it’s now on kernel 6.1.73. I added dtoverlay=ov64a40,link-frequency=360000000 under [all] in /boot/firmware/config.txt and rebooted. libcamera also got upgraded to v0.2.0+46-075b54d5. But libcamera-hello still fails:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ libcamera-hello
[0:08:26.808260873] [11652] INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:284 libcamera v0.2.0+46-075b54d5
Made X/EGL preview window
ERROR: *** no cameras available ***

10

On the Raspberry Pi 5, the 64MP module needs to be connected to the Camera 1 port (CAM1), not CAM0. Which port do you currently have the ribbon connected to? If it’s on CAM0, move it to CAM1 and test again.

11

It’s plugged into CAM0 right now. I’ll move it to the camera 1 port and retest.

12

Sounds good. To recap where we are: kernel is now 6.1.73, the overlay dtoverlay=ov64a40,link-frequency=360000000 is in place under [all], and the remaining step is connecting the module to CAM1. Let us know what libcamera-hello shows after you move it. If it still doesn’t detect, the next things to check are the ribbon cable seating and whether the overlay actually loaded (check dmesg or vcgencmd for camera detection).