Batch of 64MP cameras all have poor autofocus, requesting remote diagnosis

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi everyone, I recently got a batch of Arducam 64MP cameras and pretty much all of them seem to have poor autofocus. Images come out soft and it rarely locks onto anything. I was hoping someone could help me diagnose this, maybe even via a remote session to see what’s going on with my setup.

2

Thanks for reaching out. Before we go down the remote session path, let me check a couple of basics. Most autofocus issues on the 64MP autofocus camera come down to two things. Did you install the Arducam libcamera build? And did you configure the autofocus command? The stock libcamera doesn’t drive the lens on these boards the same way, so both of those matter.

3

Honestly I’m not sure. I just used the libcamera that was already on the Raspberry Pi. I didn’t do anything special for autofocus, I just assumed it would work out of the box. What’s the correct way to set it up?

4

That’s likely the problem then. A missing Arducam libcamera install or the autofocus command not being configured would explain exactly what you’re seeing — the sensor works but the lens never focuses properly. The plan is: install the Arducam libcamera build, set up the autofocus command, then verify with the continuous autofocus capture command.

5

Okay, can you point me to the steps? I want to make sure I do it in the right order.

6

Sure. First, install libcamera from Arducam by following the getting started section in their guide: libcamera and rpicam-apps - Arducam Wiki

Then set the autofocus command using the section for the Arducam 16MP/64MP autofocus camera: libcamera and rpicam-apps - Arducam Wiki

After that, run this to verify:
libcamera-still -t 0 --autofocus-mode continuous

If the autofocus effect is still unsatisfactory after all those steps, record a short video showing how that exact command runs on the Pi so I can see what’s happening. I can also send you the remote support details privately if you’d like me to take a closer look.

7

Thanks, I’ll go through the guide and run that command. I’ll post back once I’ve tried it.

8

Sounds good. Just to summarize where we are: for the Arducam 16MP/64MP autofocus camera, autofocus is controlled through libcamera-still with the --autofocus-mode continuous option. If the Arducam libcamera isn’t installed or the autofocus command wasn’t configured, the lens won’t focus correctly. Go through those steps and let me know how it behaves.