Arducam IMX477 on Jetson: the need for lighter weight and smaller size.
After the release of the Raspberry Pi HQ camera and the breakthrough in the IMX477 Jetson driver, the market has seen an increasing need for Jetson-compatible IMX477 camera modules.
To meet that need, Arducam released the IMX477 cameras to use with the Jetson Nano and Xavier NX months ago and received positive feedback from our users. However, as more people got their hands on our camera module, the needs of users got refined over time. People start to throw new questions like size and weight issues. Some people have limited space and weight capacity in their applications, especially those battery-powered ones.
Introducing a more powerful camera module in the same form factor
To address the issues above, the Arducam team now shrinks the standard Arducam IMX477 Jetson camera into an RPI-CAM-V2 sized camera board. Since both the form factor and mounting holes are the same as the V2 camera, it’s better compatible with off-the-shelf camera mount or housing.
The mini version of the IMX477 HQ camera will be the best choice for the handhold/head mount or the drone applications in which the size, the weight matters.
Comparison between standard Arducam IMX477 HQ camera and the Mini version
Standard HQ Camera | Mini HQ Camera | |
board size: | 38x38mm | 25x24mm |
weight(including the lens) | 70g | 10g |
Lens options: | M12/CS/C | M12 only |
Compared to standard IMX477 HQ camera, the mini version has the same electronics and software performance. But the standard HQ camera has a bigger lens mount that can use CS and C lens, or even M12 lens with an adapter, while the mini version can only support the M12 lens. The board size of the mini HQ camera is much smaller than the standard one, and the overall weight is much less as well.
Comparison between IMX477 Mini HQ camera and RPI V2 IMX219
IMX477 Mini | RPI V2 IMX219 | |
Optical size | 1/2.3″ | 1/4″ |
board size | 25x24mm | 25x24mm |
Resolution/ Frame rate | 4032×3040@30fps 1920×1080@60fps | 3280×2464@21fps 3264×1848@28fps 1920×1080@30fps 1280×720@60fps/120fps |
Compared to the RPI V2 IMX219 8MP camera, the IMX477 mini HQ camera has a much bigger image size which means more sensitivity and low noise. The resolution and frame rate is also a huge bump up from 1080p 30fps to 4K 30fps, while keeping the board size the same for backward housing and mounting mechanism compatible.