Could not set AF_MODE - no AF algorithm: Arducam 16MP IMX519 on Raspberry Pi 5

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to test an Arducam Camera 16MP IMX519 on a Raspberry Pi 5, but libcamera-still -t 0 fails right away with:

could not set AF_MODE - no AF algorithm

I’ve attached a screenshot of the terminal output (P_20241130_135721.jpg). The camera seems to start, but it errors out on the AF mode part. Anyone seen this before?

2

Thanks for the screenshot. Just to confirm the setup:

  • Camera: Arducam Camera 16MP IMX519
  • Pi: Raspberry Pi 5

Also, have you installed the latest libcamera from the Arducam website, or are you still on the stock Raspberry Pi libcamera? That AF_MODE error usually means the AF algorithm isn’t available to libcamera, so the installed build matters a lot here.

3

Setup is an Arducam Camera 16MP IMX519 on a Raspberry Pi 5. I already used the latest libcamera update from the Arducam website, but the error still persists after that. Running the same command still gives:

libcamera-still -t 0 → could not set AF_MODE - no AF algorithm

So the update didn’t change anything for me.

4

OK, that rules out the old-libcamera angle for now. Before we go deeper, can you post a couple of photos of the hardware connection:

  • the Raspberry Pi 5 end (the ribbon cable / connector)
  • the camera end (the connector on the IMX519 module)

We want to verify the physical setup, since the IMX519 is sensitive to how the cable is seated. After that I’ll have you generate a bug report so we can see what libcamera is actually loading.

5

Sure, I’ll take those photos. What’s the bug report step? Is there a specific tool I should run, or should I just paste the output of libcamera-still again?

6

Please reboot the device first, then run these steps to generate a proper Arducam bug report.

Download the bug report tool:

wget -O arducam-camera-bug-report https://github.com/Dion4cen/arducam-camera-bug-report/releases/download/Tool/arducam-camera-bug-report

Make it executable:

chmod +x ./arducam-camera-bug-report

Run it:

./arducam-camera-bug-report

That will create arducam-bug-report.txt in the current directory. Please send me that file through private message, since it may contain system details you don’t want public.

To summarize where we are: the could not set AF_MODE - no AF algorithm error is still occurring on the 16MP IMX519 + Raspberry Pi 5 even with the latest Arducam libcamera update. Root cause isn’t determined yet. We need the connection photos and the arducam-bug-report.txt to keep diagnosing, so the next step is getting those back to us.