Arducam OV7251 B0206 camera not working on Raspberry Pi 5 with libcamera

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi everyone. I’m trying to get an Arducam OV7251 (SKU B0206) 0.3MP global shutter monochrome NoIR camera working on a Raspberry Pi 5 running Bookworm. I’ve added the overlay for cam0 and connected the camera to cam0 on the Pi 5. The module is marketed for the Pi 4/3B+/3, but I was hoping it would still work on the Pi 5.

I followed the instructions here:
https://docs.arducam.com/Raspberry-Pi-Camera/Native-camera/Global-Shutter/0.3MP-OV7251/#supported-platforms-and-os

When I run:
libcamera-still -t 0 --tuning-file /usr/share/libcamera/ipa/rpi/pisp/uncalibration.json

I get these errors:

ipa.base.cpp:124 could not create camera helped for ov7251
pipeline_base.cpp:796 failed to load a suitable ipa library
pisp.cpp:922 failed to register camera ov7251 6-0060: -22

Has anyone got this sensor working on a Pi 5? Any pointers would be appreciated.

2

Thanks for the details. Looking at those errors, libcamera is failing to load a suitable IPA library for the ov7251 sensor, and that’s what causes the camera registration to fail with -22 on the Pi 5’s pisp pipeline. So this looks like a camera/IPA compatibility or configuration issue on the Pi 5 libcamera side, rather than the camera being dead.

Keep in mind the OV7251 (B0206) is officially marketed for the Pi 4/3B+/3, so Pi 5 support isn’t guaranteed. The docs also have a separate section on the supported USB UVC camera module variant if that’s relevant:
https://docs.arducam.com/Raspberry-Pi-Camera/Native-camera/Global-Shutter/0.3MP-OV7251/#supported-usb-uvc-camera-module

To narrow this down, could you confirm exactly which overlay you added and how the camera is connected? Photos of both the Pi side and the camera side would help. I’d also like you to run a small diagnostic tool that generates a bug report - that usually gives us the kernel/device-tree/libcamera details we need.

3

Thanks. The camera is on cam0 and I added the overlay for cam0, following the docs step by step. I’ll grab photos of both ends of the ribbon cable.

What’s the bug report tool? Happy to run it, just tell me what to do.

4

Sure, here’s how to generate the bug report:

  1. Reboot the Pi first.
  2. Download the tool:
wget -O arducam-camera-bug-report https://github.com/Dion4cen/arducam-camera-bug-report/releases/download/Tool/arducam-camera-bug-report
  1. Make it executable:
chmod +x ./arducam-camera-bug-report
  1. Run it:
./arducam-camera-bug-report

It will drop an arducam-bug-report.txt in the current directory. Please send that file over via private message along with the connection photos, and I’ll take a look at the captured state.

5

Done. I rebooted, ran the tool, and it produced arducam-bug-report.txt. I’ve sent the file over via private message, and I also sent the photos of the camera and Pi connections.

6

Got it, thanks. To recap where we are: the OV7251 is failing to register on the Pi 5 because libcamera can’t load a suitable IPA library for the sensor (pisp.cpp:922 failed to register camera ov7251 6-0060: -22). We’re still working through the bug report data and the connection photos to figure out whether this is a missing IPA/overlay configuration on Bookworm or something else. Root cause isn’t confirmed yet, but the diagnostics should point us in the right direction. I’ll post back once I’ve reviewed the report.