Hi all, I’m trying to get eight cameras running at once with three Arducam Quad Camera Multiplexer kits on a Raspberry Pi. I’ve been following the Arducam 8-camera guide here: https://www.arducam.com/running-8-cameras-simultaneously-on-raspberry-pi-compute-module-4/ . The end goal is eight simultaneous cameras. I’d love to get it going on a Pi 5, but honestly I’d be happy just to get the CM4IO version working first.
Welcome to the forum. To get started, which OS image/release are you on, and can you paste the exact commands you’re running along with the errors you see? That’ll help a lot.
On the CM4 method I’ve been running:
libcamera-still 0 --camera 0
libcamera-still 0 --camera 1
Weirdly, these worked once for about 5 minutes, and after that I couldn’t reproduce it at all. I’ve done multiple reinstallations and re-flashed the SD card several times trying to get back to that state.
Got it. When it fails, which HAT or ports throw the errors? Can you paste the exact output? Also worth noting whether it’s always the same physical HAT that fails.
I get three v4l2 errors returned for one of the two HATs/ports. Both the CM4 IO board and a Raspberry Pi 5 show the same error messages when I try to get cam0 and cam1 working at the same time. Only one HAT will work at a time, even though the systems seem to recognize both properly. Also — is the second/top HAT supposed to be powered via the GPIO headers? Right now I’m using USB C for it.
That’s a good question about the power, let me double-check that. In the meantime, let’s rule out the software side. What troubleshooting have you already done?
Quite a lot: software updates, config.txt changes (and changebacks), cable and camera tests, cleaned and reinstalled libcamera, tested cables/cameras/sensors, switched computers, reinstalled software, reinstalled firmware, started over from the beginning, and followed other Arducam guides. I also posted a thread about it here: Multiple HATs, unexplained imx477 front end errors, both CM4 IO Board and Raspberry Pi 5
Understood. Let’s get a clean baseline. Try a 32-bit Bullseye image on the CM4IO board, one HAT at a time, and test both the CAM0 and CAM1 ports. Keep track of which physical HAT and which port each result comes from.
OK, I did that session on 32-bit Bullseye on the CM4IO board. Results:
-
1 HAT, edited config.txt, on CAM1 port:
libcamera-still -t -0 --camera 0 → four panel preview screen
libcamera-still -t -0 --camera 1 → error messages -
1 HAT on CAM0 port:
libcamera-still -t -0 --camera 0 → preview window
libcamera-still -t -0 --camera 1 → error messages, identical to when both HATs are plugged in -
Both HATs plugged into CAM1 and CAM0:
libcamera-still -t -0 --camera 1 → working preview window with 4 cams
libcamera-still -t -0 --camera 0 → 3 error messages
Thanks, that’s a useful matrix of results. Can you share the exact config.txt overlay lines you used for that test, and any v4l2 or log output from the failing runs?
config.txt changes: dtoverlay=imx477; dtoverlay=imx477,cam0; saved and rebooted.
Logs show v4l2 1364, 1365, 1366, and in RPI pipelinebase.cpp the same v4l2 1364, 1365, 1366.
Dion here. Just to clarify: what commands are you using when you try to get cam0 and cam1 working simultaneously? Please provide the exact command sequence you used for the simultaneous cam0/cam1 attempt.
New request while I dig that up — could I get a set of instructions for setting up a Raspberry Pi 5 with two Arducam Quad HATs to run 8 still cameras? I’ve hit a wall with the Arducam 8-cam recipe I was following online. Environment: Raspberry Pi 5, two Arducam Quad HATs, 8 still cameras.
Just to close the loop on where things stand: the root cause is still not determined. We need the exact commands you used when trying to get cam0 and cam1 working simultaneously — the single-camera results are useful, but the simultaneous attempt is where it’s failing. I’ve also noted the Pi 5 + two Quad HATs + 8 still cameras request; once you post those exact commands we can continue from there.