Been fighting with the Arducam multi camera adapter for over 8 hours now and still can’t get it to work. Whenever I try to switch cameras by changing pins 7, 11 and 12 to anything other than the camera A selection, I get an error and no cameras can be read. Even switching back to the camera A configuration afterwards doesn’t help. I’m starting to think the adapter board itself might be faulty.
Sorry you’re stuck on this. Before we go down the faulty-hardware path, can you tell me which Raspberry Pi model you’re using and what OS image is on it? Also, if you can share the exact error you’re seeing, that would help a lot.
It’s a Raspberry Pi B+ running the desktop version of Raspbian. Here’s the error I get:
Things I’ve already tried: changing the pin selections on pins 7, 11 and 12, and switching back to the camera A configuration. Once the error shows up, nothing brings the cameras back.
Thanks, that points more at the OS/camera stack than the hardware. The multi camera adapter is only supported when running on Bullseye OS, and the Raspberry Pi and camera modules need to be driven using libcamera. The legacy camera interface and other OS setups aren’t supported with this adapter.
I’d recommend following the official guide to configure the Pi and use libcamera to drive the camera modules:
Got it, I’m on Bullseye now (Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 Bullseye). I only have two cameras in use. I’m trying to fill in the dtoverlay line but I’m not sure which sensor name to use. Right now I have this, but I don’t actually know if imx219 is correct for my modules:
dtoverlay=camera-mux-4port,cam0-imx219,cam1-imx219,cam2-imx219
The values after camera-mux-4port (cam0-imx219, cam1-imx219, cam2-imx219) identify the sensor module on each port. If your modules aren’t imx219, the overlay won’t drive them correctly, so you need to confirm the exact sensor type.
Check the package tag or look at the carrier board, the camera name is usually printed on it. If you can’t find it, post some clear pictures of the camera modules and I can help identify which sensor they use.
I’ll try to get the cameras working without the multi camera adapter first. That should at least tell me whether the camera modules themselves are OK.
That’s a good plan. Testing each module directly will help confirm the sensor type and rule out a camera fault before you go back to the adapter config. Once you’ve identified the sensor name, use it in the dtoverlay line (cam0-, cam1-, and so on) and make sure the Pi is still on Bullseye using libcamera. Let us know what you find, or post pictures of the modules if the name isn’t printed anywhere.