Libcamera-still command not found on Raspberry Pi when testing OV5647 AF tuning file

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1

Hi everyone, I’m trying to test an OV5647 Motorized Focus Camera on my Raspberry Pi. I’ve got the camera connected and I’m following the tuning instructions, but the libcamera-still command isn’t found at all.

Here’s exactly what I ran:

libcamera-still -t 0 --tuning-file /usr/share/libcamera/ipa/rpi/pisp/ov5647_af.json

And what I get back:

bash: libcamera-still: command not found

I can’t even get to the point of testing the camera with the OV5647 AF tuning file. Any ideas what’s going on?

2

Thanks for the details. That command not found error means the libcamera-still binary isn’t available in your current environment, so the camera test never actually starts. Can you tell me which Raspberry Pi model and OS you’re on? If you run:

cat /etc/os-release

and

uname -a

that would help. Also, if you have access to a Raspberry Pi 4, it would be worth trying the same command there to see whether this is OS-related or specific to your current board.

3

Here’s what I’m running: Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm (Debian 12). I don’t have a Raspberry Pi 4 to test with, and I actually don’t have any other Pi boards available, so I can’t try it on a 4. I assumed libcamera was the default camera stack on newer OS versions, so I’m a bit surprised the command isn’t there.

4

That’s the root cause. The libcamera-still command is not present on Bookworm, and the camera/libcamera workflow for the OV5647 Motorized Focus Camera isn’t compatible with it. The supported setup is Bullseye OS, not Bookworm. On a Raspberry Pi 4 you’d flash Bullseye and follow the Arducam Quick Start Guide here:

https://docs.arducam.com/Raspberry-Pi-Camera/Motorized-Focus-Camera/Quick-Start-Guide/OV5647-Motorized-Focus-Camera/

The command you referenced (libcamera-still -t 0 --tuning-file /usr/share/libcamera/ipa/rpi/pisp/ov5647_af.json) comes from that guide, but it will keep failing with command not found as long as you’re on Bookworm.

5

Thanks, that makes sense. Unfortunately I don’t have a Raspberry Pi 4 — the only board I have is a Raspberry Pi 5, along with the camera. I’m willing to try to get the camera working on the Pi 5 if there’s any way. Is there a Bullseye image that works on the Pi 5, or is the Pi 5 a problem too?

6

The Pi 5 changes the picture a bit. On the Pi 5, camera support is tied pretty tightly to the kernel version, and we’re seeing instability/incompatibility with certain kernel versions affecting camera operation. We have a kernel version working on our side, but I can’t say yet why your Pi 5 isn’t landing on that same working version.

7

I’ve tried updating to the latest kernel and it still doesn’t help. What kernel version are you testing with? Is there anything else I can try right now, or am I basically stuck waiting?

8

Right now there’s no immediate fix. The camera support on the Raspberry Pi 5 depends on a stable kernel version from Raspberry Pi that hasn’t been released yet, so until that drops, the camera behavior on the Pi 5 is going to be hit or miss. To sum up where we are:

  • The original bash: libcamera-still: command not found error is because you’re on Bookworm, which doesn’t have libcamera-still for this workflow.
  • On a Pi 4, the fix would be to flash Bullseye and follow the Arducam guide I linked.
  • Since you only have a Pi 5, the blocker is the kernel — we’re waiting on a stable Raspberry Pi kernel release before camera operation will be reliable on the Pi 5.

I’ll post back here when there’s more info on the kernel release.