OV5640 on OPI0+: How to reach higher fps and color spaces

Robert LabTeam · July 11, 2017

Hi guys,
I have just completed to build my "development workspace" including OpenCV, Qt5 and working OV5640. I've noticed that people reach about 30 fps of the frame rate using VGA/QVGA resolution. Datasheet says about 120 FPS for QVGA and 90FPS for VGA. I was working with this camera chip on STM32Fx and I got much better results than OPI0+ Is it weird, it is?

I am wondering what is a limitation to get better performance and quality on this camera. I plan to write drivers myself, however I want to be sure it is only driver limitation. Any advice will be appreciated.

@lex · July 29, 2017

On 7/11/2017 at 3:47 PM, Robert LabTeam said:

I was working with this camera chip on STM32Fx and I got much better results than OPI0+

I asked this question on linux-sunxi googlegroups mailing list long time ago and nobody answered, during this time i worked on available stock drivers (ov5640 and gc2035) and improved it as i could.

The lesson i have learned so far:

* You need NDA to have access to some documentation / undocumented features of the chip

* Is is about Data transfer, you can't have a 60 FPS (1920x1080) rate when there is no bandwidth available for that, i think here is where MIPI helps.

I think you have answered your own question, it only about to set the right registers and increase Data transfer on the CSI/VFE subsystem.

You already have the right registers on your STM32Fx so it just a matter of setting it on the current available driver.

I would love to see even a 30 FPS (1920x1080) on my A64 (5 times faster than STM32Fx ???).

I am looking forward to seeing your results, please post your progress.

Robert LabTeam · August 3, 2017

Public available datasheet is enough to set higher fps/get better quality. I meant 640x480 not FHD resolution when I wrote about STM32. Now, I got it working on 60FPS/VGA (I can increase it but it is not needed now) with good quality results. In free time I will try to get the highest FPS on FHD. Firstly, I want to make my own camera board to reduce noises etc.

I had to modify the driver, because controles did not work at all. I think it is VFE/V4l2 issue, so I used QUERY_... to control brightness, exposure time and so on.