Original Pi HQ camera not working with USB 3 SHIELD PLUS, Arducam IMX477 works

USB 3 Camera Dev Kits
1

Hi everyone, I’m having trouble getting my original Raspberry Pi HQ camera to work with the USB 3 SHIELD PLUS. When I connect it, I get nothing detected / no image at all. The strange part is that my Arducam IMX477 works perfectly with the exact same shield. Could this be a firmware issue? Does the shield need a firmware update to support the HQ camera, or is something else going on?

2

Thanks for the report. To narrow this down, could you share the environment details from your shield? Specifically the board version, firmware version, and the interface/device values it reports. That will help us rule out a firmware mismatch.

3

Sure, here’s what I’ve got from the shield:

  • Device: USB 3 SHIELD PLUS
  • serial: AU3S-2304-0001
  • version: v3.1
  • year: 22, month: 7, day: 21
  • fw_version: v3.20
  • interface: 3
  • device: 3
4

Thanks for the details. Based on that info (fw_version v3.20 on a v3.1 board), your firmware is actually up to date, so this doesn’t look like a firmware problem. The USB 3.0 Camera Shield Plus is not compatible with the original Raspberry Pi HQ camera. They simply can’t work together, regardless of the firmware version.

5

Oh, that’s disappointing. So flashing a newer firmware or doing anything along those lines won’t help? I assumed that since the IMX477 works fine on the same shield, the board itself was okay.

6

Correct — the fact that your Arducam IMX477 works on the same shield confirms the shield hardware is functioning normally. The issue is specific to the original Raspberry Pi HQ camera, which is unsupported on this shield. No firmware update will resolve it; this is a compatibility limitation, not a firmware bug.

7

Got it. So the workaround is basically to stick with the IMX477 or another compatible camera module. Thanks for clearing that up.

8

Exactly. Use a compatible camera with the USB 3.0 Camera Shield Plus — the Arducam IMX477 you already have is confirmed working. No firmware update steps are needed for this issue. To summarize: the failure is caused by incompatibility between the USB 3.0 Camera Shield Plus and the original Raspberry Pi HQ camera. The shield itself is functional, and the original HQ camera is unsupported.