I’m working with the Arducam Synchronized Stereo Camera Bundle Kit (model B0265R) on a Raspberry Pi — the one with two IMX477 12.3MP modules and the Camarray Stereo Camera HAT. One of the two cameras works fine, but the other just shows a completely black screen. I’ve already tried swapping the cameras between the two ports on the HAT, and I’ve also tried using the spare ribbon cable that came in the box. The black screen follows this one specific camera module no matter which port or cable I use, so it doesn’t seem to be a HAT or cable issue. The other module works in both ports. Has anyone run into this before?
Thanks for the detailed troubleshooting — that really narrows things down since the issue follows the module itself. Could you post clear photos of the front and back of the problematic camera board? I’d like to check the board revision to rule out any hardware version quirks. A close-up showing the PCB and any silkscreen markings would be ideal.
Here are the photos of the module that’s giving me the black screen — front and back as requested. Let me know if you need a closer angle on anything.
One other thing I meant to ask while we’re at it — even the camera that does work produces a pretty blurry image. I haven’t touched any of the lens rings yet because I was being extra cautious and didn’t want to break anything. Is there a guide on how to focus these properly? Happy to post photos of that module too if it helps.
Thanks for the photos. Looking at the board, the hardware looks normal — I’d be very surprised if the module itself is faulty. The black screen you’re seeing is actually a really common issue and almost always comes down to one thing: the manual lens aperture being completely closed. These CS-mount lenses have two adjustable rings — one for focus and one for the aperture (the iris). If the aperture ring is turned all the way to the closed position, almost no light reaches the sensor and you get nothing but black. Here’s what to do: pick up the problem camera module and look at the lens barrel. You’ll see two rings you can turn by hand. The aperture ring is usually labeled with “OPEN ← → CLOSE” or marked with F-stop numbers like 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, etc. Simply turn that ring toward the OPEN direction — the image should appear on screen pretty much immediately once enough light gets through. For a clear visual reference on which ring is which and how to adjust both aperture and focus, check out the official Raspberry Pi HQ Camera CS-mount lens guide: https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/hq-camera/cs-mount-lens-guide.pdf — it has labeled diagrams that make it obvious. As for the blurry image on the working camera, that’s the focus ring (the other ring on the lens). You’ll want to set the aperture to a reasonable opening first, then dial in focus while watching a live preview. Same guide covers the process.
That was exactly it — the aperture ring on the problematic camera was turned all the way to CLOSE. I’d been so careful about not twisting anything because I wasn’t sure which ring did what and didn’t want to damage the lenses. Opened the aperture up and the image came through right away. No more black screen! Used that lens guide you linked to adjust focus on both cameras too. Took a bit of tweaking back and forth but both are looking nice and sharp now. Project can finally move forward — thanks so much for the help!