Hey everyone, I’m having trouble with my Arducam 64MP Owlsight camera (the ov64a40 sensor model) connected to a Raspberry Pi 4B using the HDMI Extension Kit. The camera seems to be detected by the Pi, but all I get is a black screen — no image at all. I’ve double-checked all the physical connections and everything seems snug. Has anyone else run into this? Any ideas what else I should check?
That’s frustrating. Let’s start with the basics — can you verify whether the Pi is actually seeing the camera on the I2C bus? Run this command and paste the output:
Yeah, I already checked that — ran sudo i2cdetect -y 10 and the camera shows up at the expected address. So it’s definitely detected. I also tried running libcamera-hello --verbose and it says “camera started!” but the preview window is just completely black. Here are the errors I’m seeing in the verbose output:
ERROR: Device timeout detected, attempting a restart!!!
WARN V4L2 v4l2_videodevice.cpp:2150 /dev/video0[14:cap]: Dequeue timer of 1000000.00us has expired!
ERROR RPI pipeline_base.cpp:1358 Camera frontend has timed out!
ERROR RPI pipeline_base.cpp:1359 Please check that your camera sensor connector is securely attached.
ERROR RPI pipeline_base.cpp:1360 Alternatively, try another cable and/or sensor.
Weird thing is, if I skip the HDMI extension kit and plug the ribbon cable directly into the Pi’s CSI port, the camera works perfectly fine. So the camera itself and the Pi aren’t the problem — it’s something to do with the extension kit setup.
Good debugging — that narrows it down quite a bit. The timeout errors point to a communication issue between the Pi and the sensor over the extended link. Before we go further, have you tried any of the following?
- A different HDMI cable with the extension kit
- A different set of the extension kit connector boards
- A different Raspberry Pi
- A different ribbon cable
Basically, ruling out a bad cable or connector in the chain.
Yep, I’ve gone through pretty much all of that. I’ve tried two completely different connector sets, swapped through several HDMI cables of different lengths and brands, two different Raspberry Pi 4Bs, and even different ribbon cables. Same result every single time — black screen with the timeout errors. Direct connection works fine every time though. I’m starting to think this extension kit might just not work with this particular camera model?
You’ve hit the nail on the head. I looked into this and here’s the situation: the ov64a40 sensor used in the Arducam 64MP Owlsight is not compatible with the HDMI extension kit. That’s the root cause of the timeouts you’re seeing — the HDMI-based extension simply can’t handle the bandwidth or signaling requirements of this sensor properly.
The good news is there’s an alternative: the LAN extension kit is compatible with your ov64a40 camera. I’ve sent you a private message with the link to the correct product. You’d want to switch over to that instead of the HDMI kit.
Thanks for the info. Before I go buying a new kit though, I’m a bit confused about the naming here. I checked the product page you sent and it says the LAN kit is compatible with the “Arducam 64MP series.” My camera is the 64MP Owlsight — so what’s the difference between the “Arducam 64MP Owlsight” and the “Arducam 64MP series”? Are they the same thing or not?
Also, I’ve been doing some reading and I’m seeing conflicting information. The uctronics page says the 64MP camera works with the LAN extension kit, but the official Arducam website seems to say the LAN extension kit is NOT compatible with the 64MP camera. Which one is correct? I don’t want to order another kit only to find out it has the same problem.
That’s a fair question and the confusion is understandable — the naming isn’t as clear as it should be. Here’s the breakdown:
The term “64MP series” isn’t one single camera — there are actually two different camera modules in that family:
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64MP Hawkeye — This one is compatible with both the HDMI extension kit and the LAN extension kit.
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64MP Owleye (ov64a40) — This is your camera. It is compatible only with the LAN extension kit. It does not work with the HDMI extension kit at all, which is exactly what you’re experiencing.
The conflicting info you’re seeing online is likely because both are referred to loosely as part of the “64MP series,” but their extension kit compatibility differs. So to be clear for your specific camera — the 64MP Owleye with the ov64a40 sensor — you need the LAN extension kit. I’ve sent you the direct link to it via private message. That should get you sorted.