Arducam 64MP OV64A40 camera not detected on Raspberry Pi 4B+ - no cameras available

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi all, I’m stuck trying to get an Arducam 64MP OV64A40 working on a Raspberry Pi 4B+. libcamera keeps failing with:

Made X/EGL preview window ERROR: *** no cameras available ***

I followed the docs at 64MP OwlSight - Arducam Wiki but I’ve never had it working. So far I’ve tried:

  • libcamera-hello (same no cameras error)
  • checking the kernel version
  • rebooting multiple times
  • removing and reseating the camera ribbon cable

Nothing has made a difference.

2

That error usually means libcamera can’t detect the sensor at all, so let’s start with a camera bug report to see what the Pi is actually seeing. After a reboot, please run:

wget -O arducam-camera-bug-report https://github.com/ketai-dhr/arducam-camera-bug-report/releases/download/tools/arducam-camera-bug-report
chmod +x ./arducam-camera-bug-report
./arducam-camera-bug-report

That will create arducam-bug-report.txt in the current directory. Attach it here and I’ll take a look.

3

I ran the tool after a fresh reboot and attached arducam-bug-report.txt. libcamera-hello still reports no cameras available.

4

Thanks, got the report. Can you also do the following?

  1. Post a few clear photos of the hardware connection, especially the ribbon cable at the camera module and at the Pi header.
  2. Run sudo cat /boot/config.txt and paste the output here.

One thing to check while you’re at it: if this were connected to camera 0 on a Pi 5 board, I’d have you move it to the camera 1 port and retest, because port selection can affect detection. Since you mentioned a Pi 4B+, let me know which header it’s on.

5

I’m on a Raspberry Pi 4B+ with 8GB RAM. The ribbon cable is connected to the Camera header. I’ve attached the connection photos and the output of sudo cat /boot/config.txt.

6

Thanks for the photos and config output. Based on the bug report and config, the camera isn’t being brought up because the kernel is too old and/or the OV64A40 dtoverlay is missing. Try this:

  1. Run:
    sudo apt upgrade
    That should bring the kernel up to 6.1.73. Reboot when it finishes.

  2. Edit the config:
    sudo vi /boot/firmware/config.txt
    and add this under [all]:
    dtoverlay=ov64a40,link-frequency=360000000
    Reboot again after saving.

  3. Run libcamera-hello to check if the camera is detected.

On your Pi 4B+ keep the module on the camera header. The camera 1 port note only applies if you move this to a Pi 5 later. The main fix is the 6.1.73 kernel plus the ov64a40 dtoverlay line. Let me know what libcamera-hello outputs after those steps.