Hi all, I’m struggling to get my Arducam for Raspberry Pi Camera Module V2 (8MP, 1080p) working on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. I’m running Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Bookworm).
I initially tried MotionEyeOS — it detected the camera but never actually showed any image. So I scrapped that and went with a fresh Pi OS Lite install, hoping to just use ffmpeg or something to get a stream going. But now every tool I try just says “no cameras available.”
Here are some photos of my setup:
I’m using the 150mm flex cable that came with it plus the Pi Zero adapter cable. Any ideas what I’m missing?
DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
The file you are looking for has moved to /boot/firmware/config.txt
So I checked the actual file:
cat /boot/firmware/config.txt
Here’s the output:
# For more options and information see
# http://rptl.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details
# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
dtparam=spi=on
# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on
# Additional overlays and parameters are documented
# /boot/firmware/overlays/README
# Automatically load overlays for detected cameras
camera_auto_detect=1
# Automatically load overlays for detected DSI displays
display_auto_detect=1
# Automatically load initramfs files, if found
auto_initramfs=1
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2
# Don't have the firmware create an initial video= setting in cmdline.txt.
# Use the kernel's default instead.
disable_fw_kms_setup=1
# Disable compensation for displays with overscan
disable_overscan=1
# Run as fast as firmware / board allows
arm_boost=1
[cm4]
otg_mode=1
[cm5]
dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host
[all]
dtoverlay=w1-gpio
enable_uart=1
I see the issue — camera_auto_detect=1 doesn’t always play nicely with Arducam modules on the Pi Zero, especially with the imx219 sensor. The auto-detect sometimes fails to pick it up and then nothing loads.
You’ll need to manually specify the overlay. Edit the config file:
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
Make two changes:
Change camera_auto_detect=1 to camera_auto_detect=0
Alright, made both changes — set camera_auto_detect=0 and added dtoverlay=imx219 under [all]. Rebooted, but unfortunately still getting “no cameras available.” No change at all.
Is there something else I should check? Starting to wonder if the camera module itself is faulty.
Before we assume faulty hardware, let’s double-check something physical. I took another look at the photos you uploaded earlier.
For the Pi Zero W, the ribbon cable orientation matters a lot:
Pi side: the silver contacts on the flex cable should face down toward the PCB
Camera side: the silver contacts should face toward the camera board itself (not away from it)
Looking at your second photo, it seems like the cable on the camera side might be inserted with the silver traces facing up/away from the board, which would mean no electrical contact. Can you check that and try flipping it?
You were spot on. The camera-side connector had the cable flipped — silver traces were facing up instead of toward the board. I must have reversed it when I was swapping cables between setups.
Flipped it around so the contacts face the camera PCB, kept the config changes as-is, rebooted, and now the camera is detected and producing an image. No more “no cameras available” error!
Thanks for the help — that was a combo of config and physical issue. For anyone finding this later: on a Pi Zero W with this Arducam V2 module, you need both camera_auto_detect=0 + dtoverlay=imx219 in /boot/firmware/config.txt, and make sure the ribbon cable contacts face the board on both ends.
