OV9281 1MP Global Shutter Camera for Raspberry Pi

Introduction

The Arducam OV9281 camera breakout incorporates Omnivision 1/4-inch 1 Mp  (1280×800) CMOS digital image sensor which is capable of operating at up to 60fps in 1MP ( 1280×800 ) resolution at 1-lane MIPI mode. The OV9281’s high frame rates make it an ideal solution for low-latency machine vision applications.

The global shutter technology allows you to reduce or eliminate unwanted image artifacts, which occur with traditional rolling shutter image sensors as a result of motion during image capture. The sensor’s global shutter and excellent low-light sensitivity allow it to be used for any application that needs gesture detection, head/eye tracking, and depth and motion detection.

Setup

Hardware Setup

For Standard Raspberry Pi Models with 15-pin connector

1. Locate the camera port (CSI). It’s between the HDMI and audio port of the Raspberry Pi board.
2. Pull up on the plastic edges. Do it gently to avoid pulling it off.
3. Push in the camera ribbon. Make sure the silver contacts are facing the HDMI port. Do not bend the flex cable, and make sure it’s firmly inserted.
4. Push the plastic connector down. Do it while holding the flex cable until the connector is back in place.

For Raspberry Pi Zero and Compute Module with 22-pin connector

1. Remove the default gold ribbon cable
2. Push in the white ribbon cable to the camera board’s connector
3. Connect the Module to the Raspberry Pi Zero/Compute Module

Software Setup

1. Check your firmware support

OV9281 is not native to the Raspberry Pi kernel, so it is not supported in the older firmware. Please first confirm whether you are on a proper firmware.

• Open your Terminal with CTRL+ALT+T
• In your Terminal, type the following command then hit Enter:

ls /boot/overlays/ov9281.dtbo

If you get a successful result like the following picture, then you are good to go.

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo reboot

2. Enable OV9281 overlay for your Raspberry Pi

We will edit the config.txt to enable the OV9281 overlay.

• In your Terminal, type the following command then hit Enter:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Edit config.txt to add OV9281 overlay.

• Use ↓ to navigate to the bottom of the config.txt file, and
• Add the following line to it as the picture shows.

dtoverlay=ov9281

Save the change and exit.

• Press Ctrl+o to save the changes, then hit Enter
• Press Ctrl+x to exit.

After you exit Nano, go back to the Terminal and reboot so the changes can take effect.

• In your Terminal, type the following command then hit Enter:

sudo reboot

3. Check your camera device

You can list the video device node to test whether your Raspberry Pi sees this camera module.

• Open your Terminal with CTRL+ALT+T
• In your Terminal, type the following command then hit Enter:

ls /dev/video0

To take a step further, you can use the following command to know the camera runs well.

• In your Terminal, type the following command then hit Enter:
• If you get successful results, press Ctrl+C to stop the program.

v4l2-ctl --stream-mmap --stream-count=-1 -d /dev/video0 --stream-to=/dev/null

First Use

Preview the camera feed

We will use yavta to preview the camera feed. yavta stands for “Yet Another V4L2 Test Application”.

We need to clone yavta and then compile it.

• In your Terminal, type the following command then hit Enter line by line:

git clone https://github.com/6by9/yavta.git
cd yavta
make

Preview the video feed in UYUV format.

• In your Terminal, type the following command then hit Enter:
• After you’ve done with the preview, hit Ctrl+C to exit.

./yavta --capture=1000 -n 3 --encode-to=file.h264 -f UYVY -m -T /dev/video0

What’s Next

Here are the things you can do after this quick start:

• Check the Datasheet for details like pin and mechanical definition.
• Check the Application Note for applications like using Arducam userland MIPI camera drivers.
• Check other Arducam global shutter cameras like OV7251 and OV2311.
• Join the discussion in our forum.