Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Arducam SPI Cameras

This Topic lists Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Arducam SPI Cameras from customers

Q:

I’m trying to use OV5642 on ESP8266 Nano V2 board. The code works fine with OV2640, but when I tried to use it on OV5642, the console gave me the error message that “SPI interface error”. Do any of you know what is the problem?

A:

Compared with OV2640, OV5642 needs more current, and ESP8266 Nano V2 can’t provide enough current, so SPI error will occur.

Q:

We have on off switch to turn the whole power off after finish taking photo, but during the operation, it drain a lot of power. Would you let me know the max current needed for the ArduCAM OV5642?

A:

Q:

Is the frame rate depend on the Mini camera attached and its /
their resolution settings? Or does the adapter board have its own frame rate limit?

A:

Frame rate is related to many factors

1. SPI bandwidth（2-8Mb）
2. UART baud rate(921600 byte)
3. Resolution： When the resolution is large, the frame rate is small.

Q:

I saw in your code example that you send the video stream to a Windows PC over Serial COM.
Does the board take up all SPI / I2C pins on the Arduino? Or are there ways other than Serial to transfer the frames to a Jetson TX2?

A:

It is decided by Hardware resources, we occupy a couple of SPI and I2C. Through UART,it is able to send data to other devices.

Q:

Rather than Panorama with 4 cameras, I would like to create one pair that’s a stereo and the other two can be connected any other way.
I was thinking to connect 4 Mini 5MP Plus using jumpers or wires that are .5 to 1 meter, then I can position the cameras any where, correct?

A:

Not recommended to use too long wire which is over 30cm.

Q:

The code has no errors and have been compiled and uploaded successfully, but when I connect the host app with the bluetooth module I got no response except for the message “com is open” and that was when I replaced all Serial commands in your code with “mySerial” when I defined a new Serial to let it handle only the camera data since I need to use the main Serial for other purposes.

the normal code you provided is working very well.

A:

Due to the serial speed of the software simulation is limited, the baud rate is recommended to be 9600 or below.

Q:

However, I still need to store the images in an SD and transmit them through Xbee modules. I’m wondering if you can provide me with some sort of master code to convert raw data of binary numbers of the images back to image after the transmission.

A:

https://github.com/ArduCAM/ArduCAM_ESP8266_UNO/tree/master/libraries/ArduCAM/examples/ESP8266/ArduCAM_ESP8266_UNO_Capture

Q:

We’re using the Arducam camera’s with the ESP8266. We’re using these to take a picture, based on movement, about every five minutes. This picture is send to MS Azure Vision AI for counting people and recognizing object.

what I need is the Arducam SPI based camera’s to work on Azure Sphere, any plans to support those or suggestions how to get them to work on Azure Sphere.

A:

Arducam SPI camera support any platform as long as it have SPI and I2C interface

Q:

Hi there! I’m hoping to build a plant growth monitoring system with Arduino, and I want to have the OV5642 camera module integrated as a video-shooting device to record 24/7 videos of the growing process. I just wonder if it is possible to shoot continuous video with this module? On the website it only says short videos. And I wonder how large the file will be for high res videos

A:

Here is the demo for your reference

https://github.com/ArduCAM/Arduino/blob/master/ArduCAM/examples/mini/ArduCAM_Mini_Video2SD/ArduCAM_Mini_Video2SD.ino

Q:

Unfortunately i cannot understand the pinout from camera datasheet. Is there any possibility to send me each pin connection to the arduino?

A:

Please check the hardware guide from here

https://www.arducam.com/docs/spi-cameras-for-arduino/hardware/arducam-shield-mini-5mp-plus/

About Arducam MINI 5MP Plus camera module, here are some questions:

1. When we using OV5642 Camera, can we get the JPEG compression as a result? If yes, can we know how to calculate to get a size for compressed data from RAW to JPEG? Would you kindly share the formula or calculator with us?
2. What is ratio compression or Compression Rate of Arducam OV5642 Plus？
3. OV5642 SNR?
4. The manual exposure of OV5642? What is the equivalent conversion of the exposure value (in decimal) to exposure/shuttle time? or OV5642 Exposure Time / Shutter Speed Range?

1. Yes, the OV5642 supports JPEG compression output.

2. there is no way to calculate the size of the JPEG file, but you can adjust the Ratio of the compression through the register 0x4407 bit[5:0]: Quantization scale.

3. The OV5642 datasheet doesn’t tell the SNR, sensitivity and dynamic range spec at all.

4. Manual exposure can be enabled by set register 0x3503 bit[0]. The exposure calculation can be found from the datasheet. The basic concept is that the exposure time is line based, so each line can be calculated by pixel clock and total number of the pixel per line. Then the overall exposure time is multiple of the Tline.

Is there a place where we can get the Arducam Mini 5Mp Plus camera module schematic?

Hi，
I‘m sorry to tell you that the mini 5mp plus schematic is not open source.

Is there a code demo of using a OV5642 5MP Mini Plus directly streaming to a TFT display?

@packetkillerHM

There is no demo of using a OV5642 5MP Mini Plus directly streaming to a TFT display, the problem you encountered, I have responded to you with this link.

1. Hi, is OV5642 is the best camera to used for IOT applications? if not what camera can you recommend?

2. What camera can you recommend that is flexible during day and night? for IOT application also.

Is OV5642 is the best to use than OV2640 2 MP ?