Comparing Pivariety Camera and Raspberry Pi Camera

Arducam recently launched a new camera-Pivariety Camera. Using the Arducam Pivariety camera module, we can get better performance and more types of cameras and lens options.
As we all know, Raspberry Pi users can only use officially supported closed-source camera drivers and camera modules (V1/V2/HQ). Now, Arducam makes it possible to provide an adjusted ISP for Pivariety camera modules. This really surprises developers.

If you are looking for a camera with clearer picture quality and brighter colors, Arducam Pivariety Camera will bring you a new experience. Let’s compare the official Raspberry Pi Camera and Pivariety Camera.
In the document Arducam Pivariety Camera series, there will be more new products that will surprise users, and this document will be updated in time.

Camera comparison mainly includes two parts. This doc will not only clearly list the hardware specifications of the product but also use a more intuitive way of displaying photos so that you can learn more about Pivariety Cameras.

Table Of Contents

1. Hardware Specifications

	Camera Module V2	High Quality Camera	Pivariety IMX298 Camera
Size		38×38×18.4mm(including lens)	40mm×40mm(board size)
Still resolution	8Megapixels	12.3Megapixels	16Megapixels
Video modes	1080p30, 720p60, 640×480p60/90	1080p30, 720p60, 640×480p60/90	4640×[email protected], 2320×1732[email protected], 3264×[email protected], 3840×[email protected], 2592×[email protected], 1920×[email protected], 1280×[email protected], 1280×[email protected]
Linux intergration	V4L2 driver available	V4L2 driver available	V4L2 driver available
sensor	Sony IMX219	Sony IMX477	Sony IMX298
sensor resolution	3280×2464pixels	4056×3040pixels	4656×3496pixels（MIX）
sensor image area	3.68×2.76mm(4.6mm diagonal)	6.287mm×4.712mm (7.9mm diagonal)	6.433mm*4.921 (6.521mm diagonal)
sensor output format	RAW10	RAW12/10/8	RAW10
ISP Output Format	The output image format of JPG, YUV420, RAW, DNG The output video format of MJPEG, H.264	The output image format of JPG, YUV420, RAW, DNG The output video format of MJPEG, H.264	The output image format of JPG, YUV420, RAW, DNG The output video format of MJPEG, H.264
Pixel size	1.12μm*1.12μm	1.55μm*1.55μm	1.12μm*1.12μm
Optical size	1/4″	1/2.3″	1/2.8″
Focus Type	Fixed focus	Fixed focus	Motorized focus, programmable focus control

Note

Pivariety IMX298 Camera uses the libcamera framework, and the way to access the camera is libcamera SDK(for C++)/libcamera-still/libcamera-vid/Gstreamer.
Although V4L2 interface is supported, only RAW format images can be obtained, without ISP support.

2. ISP-Tuned Arducam Pivariety VS. Official V2 & HQ Camera Module (Photo Samples)

This is the preliminary result of comparing the official Raspberry Pi camera with the Arducam Pivariety Camera. From the picture comparison, you can clearly see that there are more pixels so the imaging effect of the Arducam camcorder will be improved in quality. In addition, you can also see very obvious chromatic aberrations, and the Pivariety camera shows significantly better colors.

Below are some unedited samples we took using the same Raspberry Pi with different camera modules: the Arducam Pivariety 16MP IMX298, Camera Module V2 and the HQ Camera.
It should give you some clues as to how the Pivariety camera performs while native ISP-tuning is enabled and what to expect with our future products.

NOTE: HQ Camera use lens is the official recommended lens.

You can click the link to download the original image：Click here!

ISP-Tuned Pivariety Camera Vs. Official Raspberry Pi V2 & HQ (Demo): Click here!