Camera detected but image capture fails with timeout error

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi all, I’ve got an Arducam camera module hooked up to my Raspberry Pi and it isn’t being detected at all. Running libcamera-hello just gives me a “no cameras available” message. I’ve reseated the ribbon cable a few times and nothing changes. Where should I even start with this?

2

Welcome. Two things to check first, since they’re the usual culprits on these modules:

  1. FFC cable orientation — the silver pins on the cable must face up, toward the contacts, on both the Pi side and the camera side.
  2. The device tree overlay. Open /boot/config.txt and check the dtoverlay= line. If it currently says dtoverlay=imx219, change it to dtoverlay=ov5647 (this module uses the OV5647 sensor).

After changing the overlay, reboot the Pi, then run libcamera-hello --list-cameras again.

3

Thanks. I changed the overlay to dtoverlay=ov5647, flipped the cable so the silver pins face up, and rebooted. But now when I run the command I get a “No such file or directory” error. The file is definitely there and I’m typing the command out by hand. I’m confused — any idea what’s going on?

4

That “No such file or directory” error usually means the command or script isn’t being found in the current directory. Make sure you’re actually inside the folder that contains the file — run ls -l and confirm you can see it listed there. Also, type the command letter by letter instead of pasting it from a webpage, because pasting can sometimes bring in invisible characters that make the command fail.

5

Got it, that was it. The camera is now detected — libcamera-hello --list-cameras shows it. But I still can’t capture a picture. When I run libcamera-still -o test.jpg, it hangs for a while and then fails with a timeout error about failing to capture the image. So detection works now, but capture doesn’t.

6

Progress! Detection working but capture timing out is a separate problem, so let’s collect a fresh bug report to dig into it. Please run the Arducam bug-report tool and send me the file:

wget -O arducam-camera-bug-report https://github.com/ketai-dhr/arducam-camera-bug-report/releases/download/tools/arducam-camera-bug-report
chmod +x ./arducam-camera-bug-report
./arducam-camera-bug-report

That produces arducam-bug-report.txt in the current directory. Send that file over via private message and I’ll take a look.

7

Done. I ran the script and sent the arducam-bug-report.txt over via private message.

8

Thanks, I’ve received the report. Since the camera is detected but capture times out, one of the main suspects now is the FFC cable itself — a damaged or flaky cable can pass detection but then fail when it’s trying to transfer the actual frame data. Do you have another FFC cable you could swap in to test?

9

I only have the one FFC cable. But I took that same cable and tried it with a different Pi camera, and that one works fine — it detects and captures images without any timeout. So the cable seems okay, right?

10

That’s a really useful test. If the same cable works with a different camera, then the cable is probably fine and the problem is pointing more at the camera module itself. A few things to confirm:

  • Reseat the FFC on the module side with the silver pins facing up and make sure it’s fully seated in the connector.
  • Confirm /boot/config.txt still has dtoverlay=ov5647 and reboot.
  • If you want further diagnosis, re-run the bug-report script after those checks and send the new file:
wget -O arducam-camera-bug-report https://github.com/ketai-dhr/arducam-camera-bug-report/releases/download/tools/arducam-camera-bug-report
chmod +x ./arducam-camera-bug-report
./arducam-camera-bug-report

But if the same cable works on another camera and this module still times out, that really points to a fault on the module itself.

11

Thanks. Can you give me the basic steps to check whether this camera is working properly? If it’s deficient I’m prepared to replace it. Also, in the image I attached, what is the connection highlighted for the pan and tilt?

12

Sure, here’s a basic sanity check:

  1. Confirm dtoverlay=ov5647 is present in /boot/config.txt and reboot.
  2. Check the FFC: silver pins facing up and fully seated on both ends.
  3. Run libcamera-hello --list-cameras — it should list the OV5647 sensor.
  4. Try libcamera-still -o test.jpg — if detection works but capture still times out, and you’ve already proven the cable works on another camera, that points to a hardware fault on the module itself.

As for the pan/tilt image — it didn’t come through on my end, so I can’t see the exact highlighted connector. On most of these Arducam pan/tilt kits, the highlighted connection is usually for the pan/tilt servo motors, which is separate from the camera’s FFC data cable. If you can describe the connector (pin count, any labels nearby) or repost the image, I can be more specific.