Hi, I’ve got an Arducam IMX316 ToF camera module hooked up to a Raspberry Pi and I’m trying to use it to take a normal picture. Is that possible with this module, and if so how do I do it?
Hey, before we dig in — what environment are you using, and have you tried running any of the SDK examples yet? Also, could you link the docs you followed?
Sure. The setup is an Arducam IMX316 ToF camera module on a Raspberry Pi. I followed the instructions at Arducam ToF Camera SDK – for Raspberry Pi - Arducam Wiki and I actually got the Python example running. It returns distance readings fine, but I still want a regular photo out of it.
That’s good — getting distance readings means the SDK and connection are working correctly. The thing is, the IMX316 is a Time-of-Flight sensor, so its job is depth/distance measurement, not normal RGB capture. The Python example output you’re seeing is the expected kind of data for this camera.
So does that mean there’s no hidden mode or SDK call that can make it output a standard image?
Correct, there isn’t a mode for that. It’s a hardware limitation of the ToF camera itself — it only produces depth/distance data, not photographic images. To capture a normal picture you’d need to use a different MIPI camera on the Pi instead. For ToF distance readings, keep going with the SDK example at Arducam ToF Camera SDK – for Raspberry Pi - Arducam Wiki.
Got it, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying!