Hi, I’m trying to figure out if the driver has been updated yet. I need to use the 15m cable extension hat next week for a project, so it’s kind of urgent. Here’s the situation:
All my cameras (IMX519 AF, NOIR and NOIR-mini) work fine when I connect them directly to the Raspberry Pi. But as soon as I connect them through the 15m cable extension hat, nothing works. libcamera-apps preview just gives me a blank screen, and if I use the “-n” (no preview) option it still won’t save any picture or video.
I’m fairly sure the problem is the extension hat itself. My guess is that libcamera 0.0.10 broke something in the IMX519 low speed kernel driver, but I haven’t seen anyone else on the Arducam forum with this issue. If the driver isn’t fixed yet, will I still be able to run the 16MP IMX519 over a 10m HDMI 2.0 cable? I’m using Picamera2 with main size 2328x1748 and encoding lores at 1438x1080 @20fps. Could someone tell me how to install an older driver (libcamera 0.0.8 or 0.0.9) that actually works? I really need the extension functionality soon.
Hi, sorry to hear you’re stuck. Let’s dig into this. Can you share a bit more about your setup so we can rule out the obvious things?
Which Raspberry Pi boards are you using?
Which exact camera models / product codes do you have?
What OS and kernel version are you on?
How is the extension hat wired up (any I2C pins involved)?
Is this for still photos or video capture?
The blank preview plus the fact that -n won’t write a file suggests the pipeline is being set up but the sensor stream isn’t coming through over the extension, which usually points at the driver/link layer rather than the camera itself. Let’s confirm that first.
Cameras: B0386, B0389 and U6248 (all IMX519 — AF, NOIR and NOIR-mini)
Main use is video capture, I only record videos, no stills
The extension hat needs Pin 3 (SDA) and Pin 5 (SCL), so I enabled I2C in raspi-config, but it made no difference.
One thing that might help: with the camera connected through the 15m extension hat, libcamera-still --list-camera DOES show the camera as connected to the Pi. So the Pi sees it, but the stream is blank / nothing gets saved.
Good, that --list-camera result is useful — it means detection over I2C is fine, so the problem is in the stream path, not enumeration.
Can you tell me what you’ve already tried so we don’t repeat it?
Also, quick test suggestion: run libcamera-still --list-camera with the camera straight on the Pi (no hat) and compare. And if you can, run one of the libcamera commands with --verbose or set LIBCAMERA_LOG_LEVELS=*:DEBUG and paste the tail of the output. I suspect a driver mismatch, but let’s confirm.
Re-flashing a fresh image onto different SD cards and repeating the whole install process.
Installed the low speed kernel driver (following the libcamera-imx519-faq thread, post 12). Interestingly, the NOIR mini camera could preview on libcamera-apps, so I don’t think it’s the low speed driver itself.
While connected to the 15m extension hat, libcamera-still --list-camera shows the camera is detected by the Pi.
I also enabled I2C in raspi-config since it isn’t always on by default on Pi, but no change.
Direct connection = everything works. Through the 15m extension hat = blank preview and no file saved. That’s why I keep coming back to the extension hat being the culprit.
Thanks for the detailed testing — that saves us a lot of time. Good news: you’re not imagining it, and this is a known driver-level issue specifically affecting the IMX519 when used with the 15m extension kit. We’ve fixed it on our side.
The catch is that the fix needs a specific OS/kernel combination: Bullseye 5.15.61, plus a dedicated (low speed) driver installer. It’s not something that gets pulled in by a normal update.
Here’s what to do:
Re-burn your Pi’s OS to Bullseye 5.15.61, and don’t update the kernel afterwards.
Uncompress the driver package I’ve sent you via private message.
Run the installer: install_driver.sh (note: it needs to be run from the Release directory — more details below if you hit errors).
Reboot the Pi for the driver to take effect.
Try that and let me know what happens. — Dion, Arducam Support
OK, I did that, but I think I’m doing something wrong. This is my first time really using Raspberry Pi / Linux, so bear with me.
I installed Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye 5.15 on a new SD card, uncompressed the file and executed install_driver.sh. But it just spits out a whole bunch of “No such file or directory” errors. I don’t think it actually installed anything.
I’ve attached a screenshot of the commands I ran (2022-12-28-125806_1920x1080_scrot_copy.png). Can you tell me what I’m doing wrong? I’m new to this and probably missing something basic.
No problem, my earlier instructions weren’t clear enough — that’s on me. Let’s go step by step. The “No such file or directory” errors almost always mean either the kernel version doesn’t match (the driver only works on exactly 5.15.61) or the script was run from the wrong folder.
Do this:
Check your kernel version: uname -a
If it shows 5.15.61, skip to step 3.
If it’s not 5.15.61, burn the correct image to your SD card. Use Raspberry Pi Imager (https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/) and pick the OS version shown in the screenshot I’ll send you in a private message. Do not update the kernel after burning.
Then run the installer from inside the Release folder:
cd Release
chmod +x install_driver.sh
./install_driver.sh
Reboot your Pi after it finishes so the driver takes effect.
The key points: the kernel must be exactly 5.15.61, you must cd Release first, and you must chmod +x to make the script executable before running it. Try that and paste any output if it still complains. — Dion, Arducam Support
That worked, thank you! The driver installed and the camera now works with the extension hat. Huge relief.
One new thing though: the terminal keeps printing an error about embedded data whenever I run the usual libcamera commands. I see it with:
libcamera-still -t 0
libcamera-hello
libcamera-vid -t 0
It also prints in the shell output of my Picamera2 video recording code. I’ve attached an image (image.png) of the repeated message.
Two questions:
Will this affect normal operation, or can I just ignore it and keep going?
After running install_driver.sh — and in the future — do I have to keep the Pi OS kernel at 5.15.61 -v7l+ forever to use the IMX519 with the extension hat?
Environment for reference: IMX519 with the extension hat, Pi OS kernel 5.15.61 -v7l+.
1) The embedded data error is benign. It’s just a message from the sensor — it does not affect daily usage, so yes, you can safely ignore it. It won’t break your video capture.
While we’re at it, let’s make sure your libcamera side is the right version. Please check:
2) About the kernel version: the low_speed_driver is not integrated into the Auto_installation script. That script detects your Pi’s kernel version and installs the matching camera driver automatically. So if you move to a higher kernel version, you’d need a driver that’s custom-compiled for it — just contact us and we’ll compile and send it to you.
So: to summarize where we are —
The 15m extension issue was a driver problem, fixed by running the dedicated installer on Bullseye 5.15.61.
Keep the kernel at 5.15.61 for now; don’t auto-update it.
The embedded data message is harmless — ignore it.
On future higher kernels, reach out and we’ll compile the driver for you.
Let me know if the dpkg check shows 0.0.10 and you should be all set. — Dion, Arducam Support