Arducam UVC Adaptor + Arducam IMX477 HQ IRCut image very dark

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

  1. Where did you get the camera module(s)?
    UCTRONICS

  2. Model number of the product(s)?
    Arducam High Quality IR-CUT Camera for Raspberry Pi IMX477 HQ Camera Module with 6mm CS Lens
    Arducam CSI-USB UVC Camera Adapter Board for 12.3MP IMX477 Raspberry Pi HQ Camera

  3. What hardware/platform were you working on?
    Raspberry Pi 4

  4. Instructions you have followed. (link/manual/etc.)

  5. Problems you were having?
    Camera image is very dark when connected to RasPi with UVC adaptor, but is good when using direct CSI interface on RasPi.

  6. The dmesg log from your hardware?

  7. Troubleshooting attempts you’ve made?
    I have manually connected the IR control pin on the camera to a switch so I can test with and without IRCut.

  8. Connect camera to CSI interface directly to confirm that image is good.
    → Image looks good in bright indoor light with IR filter enabled, and image looks good in dark with IR flood lamps with IR filter disabled.

  9. Connect camera to UVC board, then connect UVC board to raspberry pi with USB.
    → Image looks dark in bright indoor light with IR filter enabled, image looks very very dark with IR flood lamp + IR filter disabled.

  10. Use exposure and gain controls in software (for example: motioneye) to boost to maximum gain and brightness
    → Image in bright light looks dim and noisy. Image with IR flood lamp is dark but shapes can just barely be visible.

To confirm, when I connect the IMX477 directly to raspberry pi with CSI interface I am able to get very good video from bright indoor light and from IR flood lamps.

  1. What help do you need?
    I need to get good exposure from indoor and IR lit scenes with the UVC board. Is there an alternative firmware for the adaptor board?

My use case is for a camera housed inside a reptile terrarium.

2

Hello，
CSI and UVC are two interface solutions. They use different camera driver. For UVC, we use our UVC adapter board to drive the cmaera but for CSI interface, it directly connect to the RPI and it use RPI’s camera driver. About the image quality, there is nothing to do with the imx477 sensor. It is due to ISP post process uint, For UVC camera. different customer has different need. Our image quality tuning enigneer will keep on modifing ISP firmware to get better image quality. Take it easy,we will update our firmware for you and tell you how to update your firmware to up to your tareget.