1.Which seller did you purchase the product(s) from?
The PiHut
2.The Model number of the product(s) you have purchased?
B0278
3.Which Platform are you using the product(s) on?
Linux/Raspbian
4.Which instruction are you following?
Online
5.Has your product ever worked properly?
Yes
6.What problems are you experiencing?
According to v4l2-ctl, the max exposure of the pi imx477 camera attached to the uvc board is limited to 0.5 seconds. This is much less than when the camera is attached to the pi via csi directly.
Is there a way (like a firmware update to the uvc board) to increase the limit of the max exposure? The reason I’m asking is that I’ve been trying to convert the pi hq camera to a guide camera/electronic finder for a telescope project. I’d prefer the convenience of the usb cable to the fragile csi cable if I could make the camera take long exposure with the uvc board.
7.What attempts at troubleshooting have you already made?
N/A
8.How would you like us to help you?
Firmware update
I am also have a low exposure issue using this on the pi hq camera…
I remember reading that the imx477 for the nvidia-jetson had a exposure issue when trying using it on the Pi… possibly the uvc board config is for that modal and not the pi modal when being flashed/assembled in factory… can’t say for sure.
Arducam for Jetson Nano IMX477 HQ Camera Board with Tripod Mount and C-CS Adapter, 12.3MP Camera Board for Nvidia Jetson Nano/Xavier NX and Raspberry Pi Compute Module
looks very close to the RPI-HQ version
but if you look at this sensor, it has a 22pin connection – not a 15 pin like a PI 4 has for input.In the package contents for the uvc-usb there is a 22pin to 22pin (for the jetson camera)
some “specs” i was reading was there is 2 spi-lanes used in the jetson version- and 1 in the PI-HQ version. so it very much possible that the “bad exposure time” is caused because its reading a black(nothing) from the sensor on that 2nd lane.
2nd theory is that the Chip is not “detecting” if 1 or 2 lane spi sensor. and the board is defective if there is no way to “flash” the uvc-usb board
i will be back in a when i get the sensor and attach it to the board…
The max exposure of the RPi HQ camera was curbed at 1 sec after the initial launch. It was then extended to 200 secs following the requests from many users who had been trying to adapt the new camera to their astro or time-elapsed projects.
Maybe you’re right the uvc-usb board is still configured based on the original spec of the RPi HQ camera module.
“Arducam for Jetson Nano IMX477 HQ Camera Board with Tripod Mount and C-CS Adapter, 12.3MP Camera Board for Nvidia Jetson Nano/Xavier NX and Raspberry Pi Compute Module”
its produces the same results of exposure. so it defiantly the UVC board
Our updated firmware optimizes the dimming problem that some users said.
And your need is long exposure, the long exposure function is not available in general UVC cameras. Therefore, if you want to achieve a long exposure, such as 100s or 200s of exposure time, you need to contact the sales mailbox for customization.
No, emailed the support team again last week, but still no response yet. Meanwhile I’m carrying on using the CSI ribbon cable to connect the HQ camera to the Pi4 directly.
I’ve been thinking about using the INDI_Webcam instead of INDI_V4L2 driver. The webcam has auto-stacking built-in to simulate long exposure. However it relies on ffmpeg for that and I’m not sure if Pi4 is powerful enough to do so in real-time.
Problems I was having?
Initially, we had acquired a batch of 8 IMX477 sensor cameras with a UC-517 Rev.D card due to the needs of the project, which is textile inspection for assembly.
The machines had to be connected to the Jetson XAVIER NX via USB for this reason. We bought 8 UC-733 Rev C cards, which due to the speed of the process, which is approximately 20 mtrs per minute, we had to set the exposure time to a minimum, I attach screenshots testing it in windows for the UC-733 Rev C device, it works without problems.
Due to the success of the project, the company decided to acquire more of these cameras and the UC-733 Rev C cards.
However, we realized that the card is already the revision UC-733 Rev C1 and the surprise was that lowering the exposure time to a minimum the image looks completely dark, I attach the comparison of the image of the 2 cards under the same conditions lighting and with the same parameters.
It would be appreciated if you could tell me if the firmware should be updated or what to proceed since we are stuck in the project due to this inconvenience
