Hi,
I am trying to save a still on my PC from the Arducam 5MP Plus OV5642 connected to a Raspberry Pico. The camera works fine and when I use HostApp.exe I can capture with no problems. Now I am trying to save a still on my computer using Python. So far I can communicate, and send the trigger signal to capture, then I can see the buffer coming back in hex, but I am having troubles formatting it properly. This is the code I have so far, and bellow the current error. Thanks for any help!
import serial
from binascii import unhexlify
s = serial.Serial('COM9', 115200)
# Set resolution
command = "06"
command = unhexlify(command)
s.write(command)
# Grab still
command = "10"
command = unhexlify(command)
s.write(command)
currByte = b""
buffer = []
while True:
if s.isOpen():
line = s.readline().strip()
print(line)
currByte = unhexlify(b'0' + line)
s.close()
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "E:/envs/camcontrol/camcontrol.py", line 23, in <module>
currByte = unhexlify(b'0' + line)
binascii.Error: Odd-length string
b'\xff\xd8\xff\xe0\x00\x10JFIF\x00\x01\x01\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xff\xdb\x00C\x00\x04\x03\x03\x04\x03\x03\x04\x04\x03\x04\x05\x04\x04\x05\x06'
Process finished with exit code 1
So, it seems no one is listening but I will keep updating this thread in case anyone finds it useful. Kind of Robinson Crusoe but without the nice beach.
I learned that I am receiving a JPEG (hence the JFIF above) and that FF and D8 is the header. Also that I need to find the end/trailer which comes as FF and D9. Now the problem is that of the many times I tried to find those FF and D9, only once I found them. It seems I am not sending the right command to retrieve, or maybe I have to do something else after sending the capture command b’\x10’. I will keep digging and spotting the horizon here and there in case some ship passes by.
while True:
if s.isOpen():
line = s.readline().strip()
out_hex = ['{:02X}'.format(b) for b in line]
h_temp = ""
print(line)
for h in out_hex:
if h_temp == "FF" and h == "D9":
print(line)
break
Hello, again my dear readers. I made more progress, now I can save the data from Arducam/Pico to a jpg and it works. Sometimes. Most of the times if set to low resolution. Only some times if I set the resolution higher. As proof I send you one of the jpgs that I proudly saved:
This is the code that I used for this first partial success, I am reading in chunks of 128 bytes:
import serial
import binascii
s = serial.Serial('COM9', 921600)
# Set resolution
command = b'\x05'
s.write(command)
# Grab still
command = b'\x10'
s.write(command)
data = ""
stop = 0
while True:
if s.isOpen():
lines = s.read(128)
out_hex = ['{:02X}'.format(b) for b in lines]
# print(out_hex)
h_temp = ""
for h in out_hex:
if h_temp == "FF" and h == "D9":
data += h
stop = 1
print("Found footer")
break
else:
data += h
h_temp = h
if stop == 1:
break
data_b = binascii.a2b_hex(data)
with open(r"buffer.jpg", "wb") as f:
f.write(data_b)
I think I might be skipping some step to clear the buffer, or maybe I just have to make the process wait at some point so it has time to receive all the data and that is why it fails many times.
Long ago I found that patience is a virtue. Arducam feels the same. Just add a stop between the call to the resolution setting and the grab and it finally works perfectly!
import serial
import binascii
import time
s = serial.Serial('COM9', 921600)
# Set resolution
command = b'\x05'
s.write(command)
time.sleep(1)
# Grab still
command = b'\x10'
s.write(command)
data = ""
stop = 0
while True:
if s.isOpen():
lines = s.read(128)
out_hex = ['{:02X}'.format(b) for b in lines]
# print(out_hex)
h_temp = ""
for h in out_hex:
if h_temp == "FF" and h == "D9":
data += h
stop = 1
print("Found footer")
break
else:
data += h
h_temp = h
if stop == 1:
break
data_b = binascii.a2b_hex(data)
with open(r"buffer.jpg", "wb") as f:
f.write(data_b)
Hi i just want to thank you, cause your code help me to much to control the camera with out the .exe of arducam, i am bulding my proyect to get my degree of engineering
I am happy it worked out for you too! I ended up sync linking 12 cams to shot at the same time to later reconstruct in 3d. What is your project about? Un abrazo!
your project sounds very interesting,
we used it to build a low cost dermatoscope, for analizing moles with AI looking for skin cancer, i am working with a classmate
