New Higher Res Camera for the Raspberry Pi

[festoon]

On 30/04/2020 at 16:35, WimH said:

Here's my attempt to link LSB and mV specs 🙂 Consider this as 1st-order approximation as it assumes e.g. ideal ADC being used etc.

Both mV and LSB quantify the luminosity response of a pixel under specific conditions, when expressed in mV the measurement is before the ADC (analog domain), when expressed in LSB the measurement is after the ADC (digital domain). There is no real way of comparing them unless we know for instance more about the ADC specs and settings used. IMX477 has for instance 8, 10 and 12-bit ADC settings. When looking at the IMX477 datasheet, it mentions 250LSB sensitivity and 1023LSB saturated signal. This means 10-bit ADC setting was used for the sensitivity measurement.

Furthermore, the datasheet mentions the sensor uses an analog supply voltage of 2.8V. Accepting that this is also the input signal range of the ADC (which is not 100% correct, but again, this is 1st order approximation), a 250LSB response at the output of the ADC would equate to 683mV on the input.

If Sony is really talking about mV per pixel and not mV per um2, this looks like an acceptable number, considering the difference in pixel area between both sensors (assuming both sensors have similar quantum efficiency and charge conversion rate).

 

Assuming these values are correct, if you bin the IMX477 at 4x4 the sensitivity would be 2732mV with a pixel size of 6.2x6.2um and an image resolution of 1012x760 which for the price is pretty impressive

And just to confirm what @WimH posted last week...... 200s exposures can be achieved with this camera module

[bokser01]

On 04/05/2020 at 18:25, festoon said:

Assuming these values are correct, if you bin the IMX477 at 4x4 the sensitivity would be 2732mV with a pixel size of 6.2x6.2um and an image resolution of 1012x760 which for the price is pretty impressive

And just to confirm what @WimH posted last week...... 200s exposures can be achieved with this camera module

Hi how to reach 200s exposure? Raspistill allows me a maximum of 10.2s more will not let me go! What am I doing wrong?

[pete_l]

On 30/04/2020 at 09:34, Dr_Ju_ju said:

there's a newer camera for the Raspberry Pi,

Looking at the spec sheet it has absolutely tiny 1.55u pixels, However the chip does have what it calls "Pixel binning readout and V sub-sampling function" so there could be a mode where it can be used in an astronomical setting, despite being a colour camera. If there is software that will do the binning.

[festoon]

1 hour ago, bokser01 said:

Hi how to reach 200s exposure? Raspistill allows me a maximum of 10.2s more will not let me go! What am I doing wrong?

Have you tried sudo apt update and sudo apt full-upgrade?

[bokser01]

2 hours ago, festoon said:

Vyzkoušeli jste aktualizaci sudo apt a úplnou aktualizaci sudo apt?

today I did a complete update and I will try and inform

[bokser01]

6 hours ago, festoon said:

Have you tried sudo apt update and sudo apt full-upgrade?

Even after a complete update, I won't get over 10.2s It's weird

[festoon]

9 minutes ago, bokser01 said:

Even after a complete update, I won't get over 10.2s It's weird

Is it with the new HQ camera of pi v1 or v2 camera? 

[bokser01]

2 hours ago, festoon said:

Je to s novou HQ kamerou pi v1 nebo v2? 

Yes HQ camera

 

Edit: I'll try to upgrade to the buster version

Even on a buster, it won't let me go over 10.2s

 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by bokser01

[festoon]

2 hours ago, bokser01 said:

Yes HQ camera

 

Edit: I'll try to upgrade to the buster version

Even on a buster, it won't let me go over 10.2s

 

 

I see this has also been asked on the pi camera forum. So it’s not just you  

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=272658&start=50

Might be worth asking it again in an alternative thread as no one has answered yet 

Edited May 6, 2020 by festoon

[WimH]

On 04/05/2020 at 18:25, festoon said:

Assuming these values are correct, if you bin the IMX477 at 4x4 the sensitivity would be 2732mV with a pixel size of 6.2x6.2um and an image resolution of 1012x760 which for the price is pretty impressive

And just to confirm what @WimH posted last week...... 200s exposures can be achieved with this camera module

I've been looking into this option as well to use 4x4 binning. However, if the datasheet is correct, the increased sensitivity would not do you much good if your longest possible exposure in this mode is 20ms (50fps).

[WimH]

On 06/05/2020 at 22:08, bokser01 said:

Yes HQ camera

 

Edit: I'll try to upgrade to the buster version

Even on a buster, it won't let me go over 10.2s

 

 

There seems to be a fix for this, see this thread:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=273358&p=1658103#p1658078

I received my camera + 16mm lens today. I did a fresh install of Raspbian on a spare RPi3b and played with CLI commands a bit, trying different exposures of 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s. Note that I manually fixed as many parameters impacting the exposure as possible to avoid the camera to take exposure related decisions for me.  Everything below 10s worked fine but didn't get it to work just using e.g. following command for a 16s exposure. The embedded text in the image showed the exposure as 10.2s instead, same upper limit as you were hitting.

raspistill -ISO 100 -ex verylong -ss 16000000 -a 16 -o test.jpg

However, when I forced the sensor mode to mode 3 (see camera guide p.110) with below command, the image data did effectively show the captured image had a 16s exposure (15.999-something to be exact) and subjectively it indeed looked 1 stop more exposed than the 8s exposed image.

raspistill -md3 -ISO 100 -ex verylong -ss 16000000 -a 16 -o test.jpg

Note that it takes a long time to take a long exposure (approx. 5-6 times the exposure time). The reason why is explained at the bottom of the linked thread, still something to be fixed. Will play a bit more with this the coming days, including a proper recompile of the raspistill as mentioned on the linked forum thread.

Edited May 12, 2020 by WimH
Fixed typo in 1st CLI command

[SamAndrew]

Have just recieved my camera, had a quick play, but haven't tried long exposures yet. Plan to build a new all sky camera to improve on my current one based on a ASI 120MC-S

I bought this lens for £6.29

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332924301365

Although they have sent me the wrong one (got an 8mm). Will be interesting to see how this lens does, as the whole package is going to be very cheap if it works.

[SamAndrew]

Well for £5 the 8mm lens from the same seller above is absolutely fine.

this is a screen grab at 100%

The guys on the Pi forum saying you need to spend hundreds to get a good lens are forgetting the size and resolution you can get out of a camera phone

[SamAndrew]

Posted this in another thread, but just adding it here too, I see from the discussion on the pi forum there is a patch that allows you to start the image capture in burst mode that means it only takes a couple of seconds on top of the exposure length to take the photo. 

I just did sudo rpi-update and then the following allows you to go straight into busrt mode, e.g. 25 second exposure at gain 10:

raspistill -t 10 -md 3 -bm -ex off -ag 10 -ss 25000000 -st -o Desktop/test8.jpg

second image is gain 1, 200s. Obviosuly the cheap lens isn't perfect, but certianly serves the purpose of checking the sky is clear. Hope to get hold of the 2.8mm lens next week.

[ediazc]

Looks great to me. Would be great to know your final setup of lens. I am looking to prepare my own allsky cheap cam and this can be the perfect solution in my case.

[ediazc]

I've got an HQ cam for my raspberry and tested several lenses to get a 180º fisheye view.

After several testing, I found that the lens that came with my ASI 290MC cam is a perfect match to make the allsky cam. It only loses a bit of the top and bottom images.

Now I only have to prepare the casing and software to get the night timelapses and everything else. Hurrah!

 

[nfotis]

I am wondering, would this sensor be useful as a planetary camera via a C mount to 1.25"?

The dimensions are near an ASI290, but the resolution is higher.

Quite an intriguing sensor, I have to admit, despite the tiny pixels.

 

N.F.

[Ags]

Some promising pictures here:

https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/116765/new-pi-camera-any-good-for-astrophotography

Also good thread on CN:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/707144-new-raspberry-camera-v3-ascom-driver/

Definitely on the radar for me - nice project with a 3D printed case and little TEC cooler on the back. Same chip size as my ASI 178 MM so this could be used to shoot star color. Might also be interesting as a planetary camera.

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by Ags

[Ags]

Some more pictures:

https://terramex.neocities.org/astro/

Edited January 16, 2021 by Ags

[Jonk]

I've just bought an rpi4b and have installed an allsky application from GitHub - thomasjacquin/allsky: A Raspberry Pi operated Wireless Allsky Camera

I may have seen this mentioned on SGL somewhere already.

It's not perfect and I have some suggestions for improvements, but I cannot do it myself as I don't code to that level (or much at all)

What it does do, it does very well - have a look.

The best feature is a web server so any device on your LAN or even internet (with the correct port forwarding etc) can see the latest image, stored images, generated timelapse. generated keogram etc.

I'm afraid Windows + Allskye (others are available of course) has been surpassed.

The PI has the poe hat for 1 cable operation and as mentioned above, there should be enough power for a dome heater.

Tonight's test using a ZWO 178MC and Fujinon fisheye lens under an older scratched dome. It should also work well with the new Pi camera.

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Jonk