Hi everyone, I’m having a lot of trouble with my IMX283 USB 3 camera. On a Raspberry Pi 4B and a Jetson Nano, OpenCV with Python just hangs forever when I try to open the camera - it never finishes loading. V4L2 also won’t open the camera at all. On Windows 11 I can’t get the 20Mpx mode to work, the camera disconnects often, and sometimes the image goes completely white due to some luminosity problem. Has anyone run into this?
Thanks for the report. To narrow this down, can you give more detail per platform? Specifically: on Windows 11, which app are you using for the 20MP mode? On the Pi and Jetson Nano, how exactly are you testing - which app or command? And what lens are you using? The all-white image and the disconnects could be several different things.
Sure. On Windows 11 the Camera application only lets me use up to 8.3Mpx. If I select 20Mpx it immediately reverts back to 8.3Mpx (screenshot attached). On my Chromebook the camera works but also maxes out at 8.3Mpx - 20Mpx isn’t even visible in the settings. On Android with an OTG adapter the connection is random, it freezes a lot, and the colors are not accurate. The Jetson Nano doesn’t detect the camera at all. On the Raspberry Pi 4B, I think the slow SD card caused the camera not to boot with OpenCV. About lenses: my 5-50mm, 8mm and 12mm lenses all show a dark ring in the image, but the 16mm objective works fine.
Thanks, that’s very helpful. Can you also list the full environment? I need the OS versions for the Pi (and whether the OS is on SD card or USB), the Windows version, and the software stack you’re using - OpenCV, VLC, PotPlayer, etc. Also, when you say ‘V4L2 won’t open the camera’, can you describe exactly what command or app you’re using? That detail matters a lot.
My setup: IMX283 USB 3 camera. Raspberry Pi 4B with Bookworm OS, and I installed the OS on a USB key. Windows 11 x86 using the Windows Camera application. Chromebook plus x86. Android with an OTG adapter. Nvidia Jetson Nano 4GB. I also have an Ubuntu 18.4 machine - do you have drivers for that? Software I’ve tried: OpenCV (Python), V4L2, VLC, PotPlayer, qv4l2. For V4L2, I just tried to open the camera with v4l2 as the app and it wouldn’t open.
Before we go further - one thing to clear up: v4l2 is not an application, it’s the kernel framework/API. You can’t run it directly as a program. That’s likely why trying to ‘open the camera with v4l2’ fails. For testing on the Pi or the Jetson Nano you should use a real video application like VLC or qv4l2. On Windows, try PotPlayer to test whether 20MP resolution streaming works. Let me know how those go.
Okay, that explains the v4l2 thing. Some progress on my side: I installed Bookworm OS on a USB key instead of the SD card and now the camera opens with OpenCV on the Raspberry Pi. On my Windows laptop, PotPlayer works at 20Mpx resolution, and VLC and OpenCV also work there. So the main remaining things are the Windows Camera app 20Mpx issue, and the dark ring with the 5-50mm, 8mm and 12mm lenses.
Good progress. For the Pi and Jetson Nano, install the proper test tools with:
sudo apt install vlc
sudo apt install qv4l2
qv4l2 is the graphical test utility for V4L2 - that’s the right tool to use, not ‘v4l2’ itself. For the Windows Camera app limitation, that app often locks itself to certain resolutions; PotPlayer working at 20MP is a good sign the sensor and driver can actually do it. For the dark ring, that’s usually a lens compatibility issue - the image circle of those lenses may be too small for the sensor size, which is why the 16mm objective works.
Thanks. Do you have ARM Linux drivers for the Raspberry Pi and the Jetson Nano? I’d also like to know if there are any software bug fixes planned for the IMX283 USB 3 camera, especially for the disconnect and all-white image problems on Windows.
To summarize where we are: the main confusion was that v4l2 is a framework/API, not a runnable application - qv4l2 is the graphical test utility for V4L2, and VLC works as well. On Windows, PotPlayer confirmed that 20MP streaming works even though the built-in Camera app reverts to 8.3Mpx. I’ve noted your request for ARM Linux drivers and software bug fixes; I’ll check what’s available for this model and get back to you. The Windows disconnects and all-white image are still under investigation - if you can capture logs or a short clip next time it happens, post them here and we can keep digging. For now, use VLC/qv4l2 on the Pi and Jetson Nano, and PotPlayer on Windows.