Hi all, I’m trying to hook up a Raspberry Pi HQ Camera to my Linux machine over USB and control it with the ArduCAM_USB_Camera_Shield SDK (GitHub - ArduCAM/ArduCAM_USB_Camera_Shield: This is the repository for ArduCAM USB Camera Shield · GitHub). I’ve been looking at the USB Camera Shield 2.0 and the USB Camera Shield 3.0 Plus, but I can’t tell if either one can connect directly to the HQ camera and then to the Linux PC over USB, or if I’d need extra hardware or drivers. Assuming it does connect, can that shield SDK actually be used with the HQ camera for taking photos and changing the frame rate? Thanks.
Based on what you described (IMX477 HQ camera over USB on Linux), I’d point you toward the CSI-USB UVC Camera Adapter Board for the 12.3MP IMX477 Raspberry Pi Camera (B0278) instead of the USB camera shields: Arducam CSI-USB UVC Camera Adapter Board for 12.3MP IMX477 Raspberry Pi Camera
That adapter makes the IMX477 present itself as a standard UVC camera, so Linux will pick it up through the normal UVC driver path.
Thanks. Just to double-check before I go down that route — is the USB Camera Shield 2.0 directly compatible with the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera at all?
No, the USB Camera Shield 2.0 is not compatible with the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera. There isn’t a supported way to make that pairing work. If you want to use a camera with the USB Camera Shield 2.0, you’d need the Arducam HQ Camera (12.3MP IMX477) instead: Arducam Raspberry Pi HQ Camera for Raspberry Pi, 12.3MP IMX477 High Sensitivity CMOS with C-CS Adapter and Tripod Mount for Raspberry Pi
For the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera specifically, the CSI-USB UVC adapter (B0278) is the supported way to get it onto USB.
I’m a little confused by the ‘not compatible’ part. The Raspberry Pi HQ camera uses 2-lane MIPI CSI-2, and the Arducam HQ Camera module also uses 2-lane MIPI CSI-2. The Pi HQ camera has a 15-pin output and the USB Camera Shield 2.0 has a 22-pin connector, so shouldn’t a 15-to-22 pin ribbon cable bridge them? What exactly breaks in that setup?
One thing to keep in mind: Arducam has stopped providing technical support for the USB camera shield boards, and both the USB Camera Shield 2.0 and 3.0 Plus have been removed from the product lineup. So regardless of the pinout question, that combination is effectively unsupported going forward.
For the IMX477 HQ camera on Linux, the current path is the CSI-USB UVC adapter (B0278) — it exposes the sensor as a UVC camera, which is what you want for USB on Linux.