Arducam Pivariety IMX462 Support

[will-rigby]

Arducam sells a low light camera using the Sony STARVIS IMX462 sensor. It currently is not supported by allsky but would be a fantastic low cost camera to support.

I've setup one using the pi-variety driver for use with libcamera following their installation guide. I'd love to use it with Allsky.

`pi@allskypi:~/allsky $ libcamera-still --list-cameras
Available cameras

0 : arducam-pivariety [1920x1080] (/base/soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/arducam_pivariety@c)
Modes: 'SRGGB10_CSI2P' : 1920x1080 [60.00 fps - (0, 0)/1920x1080 crop]`

[EricClaeys]

Can you provide the output of libcamera-still -v --list-cameras?

[will-rigby]

Hi Eric,

Here is the output:

pi@allskypi:~ $ libcamera-still -v --list-cameras
Available cameras
-----------------
0 : arducam-pivariety [1920x1080] (/base/soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/arducam_pivariety@c)
    Modes: 'SRGGB10_CSI2P' : 1920x1080 [60.00 fps - (0, 0)/1920x1080 crop]

    Available controls for 1920x1080 SRGGB10_CSI2P mode:
    ----------------------------------------------------
    AeConstraintMode : [0..3]
    AeEnable : [false..true]
    AeExposureMode : [0..3]
    AeMeteringMode : [0..3]
    AnalogueGain : [1.000000..200.000000]
    AwbEnable : [false..true]
    AwbMode : [0..7]
    Brightness : [-1.000000..1.000000]
    ColourGains : [0.000000..32.000000]
    Contrast : [0.000000..32.000000]
    ExposureTime : [14..0]
    ExposureValue : [-8.000000..8.000000]
    FrameDurationLimits : [16666..15534444]
    NoiseReductionMode : [0..4]
    Saturation : [0.000000..32.000000]
    ScalerCrop : [(0, 0)/64x64..(0, 0)/1920x1080]
    Sharpness : [0.000000..16.000000]

[Dhovin]

Hey @will-rigby, They added support for this in the point 4 release that will be released next. I don't know when. I got the same camera and I know it was added.

[Dhovin]

libcamera-still --awbgains 1.7,1.7 --shutter 60000000 --output test.jpg --metadata meta.json

   "ExposureTime": 15534385,
   "FocusFoM": 4770,
   "AnalogueGain": 1.000000,
   "ColourCorrectionMatrix": [ 1.831948, -0.820011, -0.011936, -0.430259, 1.753510, -0.323250, -0.071906, -0.713727, 1.785643 ],
   "FrameDuration": 15534444,
   "Lux": 0.153595,
   "AeLocked": false,
   "ColourGains": [ 1.700000, 1.700000 ],
   "DigitalGain": 1.000000,
   "ColourTemperature": 4500,
   "SensorBlackLevels": [ 4096, 4096, 4096, 4096 ],
   "ScalerCrop": "(0, 0)/1920x1080",
   "SensorTimestamp": 10872763821000

libcamera-still --awbgains 1.7,1.7 --shutter 15000000 --output test15s.jpg --metadata meta15s.json

    "ExposureTime": 14999985,
    "FocusFoM": 4542,
    "AnalogueGain": 1.000000,
    "ColourCorrectionMatrix": [ 1.831948, -0.820011, -0.011936, -0.430259, 1.753510, -0.323250, -0.071906, -0.713727, 1.785643 ],
    "FrameDuration": 15000044,
    "Lux": 0.196608,
    "AeLocked": false,
    "ColourGains": [ 1.700000, 1.700000 ],
    "DigitalGain": 1.000000,
    "ColourTemperature": 4500,
    "SensorBlackLevels": [ 4096, 4096, 4096, 4096 ],
    "ScalerCrop": "(0, 0)/1920x1080",
    "SensorTimestamp": 11295296299000

[EricClaeys]

@Dhovin
Thanks. Would you also please try 15534384, 15534385, and 15534386?
It appears like 15534385 (roughly 15.5 seconds) is the max exposure.
Thanks much.

[Dhovin]

@EricClaeys Some interesting outputs. I double checked them all and tried without the awbgain. I'm happy to help with whatever is needed.
libcamera-still --awbgains 1.7,1.7 --shutter 15534384 --output test.jpg --metadata meta.json

    "ExposureTime": 15534370,
    "FocusFoM": 5436,
    "AnalogueGain": 1.000000,
    "ColourCorrectionMatrix": [ 1.831948, -0.820011, -0.011936, -0.430259, 1.753510, -0.323250, -0.071906, -0.713727, 1.785643 ],
    "FrameDuration": 15534429,
    "Lux": 0.266789,
    "AeLocked": false,
    "ColourGains": [ 1.700000, 1.700000 ],
    "DigitalGain": 1.000000,
    "ColourTemperature": 4500,
    "SensorBlackLevels": [ 4096, 4096, 4096, 4096 ],
    "ScalerCrop": "(0, 0)/1920x1080",
    "SensorTimestamp": 6086547383000

libcamera-still --awbgains 1.7,1.7 --shutter 15534385 --output test.jpg --metadata meta.json

    "ExposureTime": 15534370,
    "FocusFoM": 5590,
    "AnalogueGain": 1.000000,
    "ColourCorrectionMatrix": [ 1.831948, -0.820011, -0.011936, -0.430259, 1.753510, -0.323250, -0.071906, -0.713727, 1.785643 ],
    "FrameDuration": 15534429,
    "Lux": 0.243765,
    "AeLocked": false,
    "ColourGains": [ 1.700000, 1.700000 ],
    "DigitalGain": 1.000000,
    "ColourTemperature": 4500,
    "SensorBlackLevels": [ 4096, 4096, 4096, 4096 ],
    "ScalerCrop": "(0, 0)/1920x1080",
    "SensorTimestamp": 6499407923000

libcamera-still --awbgains 1.7,1.7 --shutter 15534386 --output test.jpg --metadata meta.json

    "ExposureTime": 15534385,
    "FocusFoM": 5579,
    "AnalogueGain": 1.000000,
    "ColourCorrectionMatrix": [ 1.831948, -0.820011, -0.011936, -0.430259, 1.753510, -0.323250, -0.071906, -0.713727, 1.785643 ],
    "FrameDuration": 15534444,
    "Lux": 0.232887,
    "AeLocked": false,
    "ColourGains": [ 1.700000, 1.700000 ],
    "DigitalGain": 1.000000,
    "ColourTemperature": 4500,
    "SensorBlackLevels": [ 4096, 4096, 4096, 4096 ],
    "ScalerCrop": "(0, 0)/1920x1080",
    "SensorTimestamp": 6610533960000

[EricClaeys]

@Dhovin, thanks. The numbers aren't very consistent but are close enough to say 15.5 seconds is the max.

Is it any different if you don't use --awbgains 1.7,1.7 ?

[Dhovin]

I got no difference at all. I got the same numbers with out using --awbgains 1.7,1.7.

[Dhovin]

@will-rigby I fixed the green by manually setting the red and blue balance to 1.7. I didn't really fine tune it much but as you can see from my previous image it worked pretty good. The auto balance had trouble figuring it out I think. might have just been taking to long.

oh also, do you have any issue with your randomly stopping taking images? Mine does it all the time. very annoying.

[EricClaeys]

@Dhovin, next time Allsky randomly stops taking pictures please upload /var/log/allsky.log so I can determine why.

[EricClaeys]

Closing this Discussion since Point Release 4 supports this camera with a 15.5 second max exposure.
Please note that with such a short max exposure this likely won't make a good allsky camera.

[Dhovin]

@will-rigby Is your setup running stable? mine appears to have some kind of memory leak that locks up the whole thing after a while. I suspect its form the custom libcamera the instructions have you install. any ideas?

[will-rigby]

Hey @Dhovin, mine was not having memory leaks, but I've just updated it so I'll report back.

[Dhovin]

I gave up on getting it to work months ago an bought an ASI715MC from Agena Astro. I wasn't happy with the color output of that $200 camera so I gave up all together on getting this working. I might pick it up again later, just to frustrated with the whole experience still.

[EricClaeys]

@Dhovin, were you frustrated with the camera, or with Allsky? If Allsky, can you let me know specifically what you were frustrated with?

Did the IMX462 cost $200 ? That's a lot given the RPi HQ camera is 1/3 that and is higher resolution.

[Dhovin]

sorry for the following rant.
The ASI715MC cost me $200. I bought it cause I could never get the IMX462 to work reliably. The ASI715MC works but the color is horrible and I didn't realize the pixel height was much smaller. It came with a 160 degree lens but I get less of the sky than with the RPi HQ camera or the IMX462. My whole experiance with all of it has been none stop frustrating. My major frustration with Allsky was getting the IMX462 to work reliably. I do appreaciate you getting it added. I spent a good two months probably on this trying different base OS version, different install methods, different version of the libraries. Nothing worked. Maybe I should have bought the one from waveshare instead of arducam. I don't know. I just wanted something with Starvis that wasn't a fisheye lens. At this point my best option I think is to get a fisheye lens for the ASI715MC, mount the whole setup, and live with the crappy color output. I'll post something in the facebook group when asking for advice, now that I can actually post there.

[will-rigby]

So when I got the IMX462 running last year, the process was a lot more painful than it was last night. Arducam have updated their drivers to work on bookworm. Last night I rebuilt the system from scratch as I'd forked the repo when I got the camera running. My process last night was:

1. Creating a new SD card image with Bookworm-Lite 64-Bit for my Raspberry Pi 4B 4GB.
2. Installing the IMX462 drivers using this Quick Start Guide.
3. Installing the latest version of Allsky using the Installation Guide.

I'm running mine with Gain set to 10 and Auto-Exposure up to 15.5 seconds. I've also specified added "--immediate" to Extra Arguments, and red and blue balance are set to 1.77. It has been running fine all day and the previous setup had been running fine for months but I hadn't set the --immediate flag so the time between captures was closer to 2 minutes than ~15 seconds.
`

Hopefully I'll get some clear skies tonight to share. Mine should be viewable at https://allsky.rigby.systems/allsky/

[Dhovin]

what is this --immediate tag? I haven't seen this mentioned on anywhere.

[EricClaeys]

@Dhovin, the --immediate option is supposed to start image capture immediately in libcamera-still rather than wait for something (not sure exactly what though). I could never get it to work on my test m a chines so Allsky doesn't use it.

@will-rigby, I don't know how the Arducam version of libcamera works, but the official version can take multiple images before returning if auto white balance or some other auto settings are used. That can cause a 15-second exposure to take 2 minutes. It probably took about 8 images while it tried to find the correct white balance or whatever. Unless you add other options to the "extra parameters" setting, auto white balance is the only thing that should do that. Auto exposure and gain are handled by Allsky, not the camera, so they don't have that problem.

Since you are manually setting the white balance I am not sure why --immediate helps. Have you tried setting Auto Gain at night?