8193 – RPi Camera (B)/en

Documentation notice: This technical documentation was independently rewritten from an archived supplier source. Check technical details and commands against the product version and manufacturer documentation before use.

Summary

The Waveshare RPi Camera (B) uses an OV5647 sensor with 5 megapixels and a manually adjustable 6 mm lens. It connects via the CSI interface on all Raspberry Pi boards and is compatible with both libcamera and Raspicam.

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Technical overview

Sensor: OV5647, image size 1/3 inch, aperture f/2.0, diagonal field of view 75.7 degrees
Fixed focal length: 6 mm, manually adjustable; lens thread M12 x 0.5; lens outer diameter 14 mm
Still-image resolution: 2592 x 1944 pixels
Video formats: 1080p at 30 fps, 720p at 60 fps, 640 x 480 at 60 or 90 fps
Connection: CSI port located between audio jack and HDMI port on classic Pi boards; on Pi Zero the CSI port is next to the power connector
On Raspberry Pi 5, two CSI ports are available; either can be used
Bookworm configuration: edit /boot/firmware/config.txt, set camera_auto_detect=0 and add dtoverlay=ov5647
Bullseye configuration: edit /boot/config.txt, change camera-auto-detect=1 to camera_auto_detect=0 and add dtoverlay=ov5647
Two cameras can be connected simultaneously using cam0/cam1 assignment in config.txt
Mounting holes: four holes with 1.5 mm diameter

Commands and examples – verify before use:

sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
rpicam-hello
rpicam-jpeg -o test.jpg
rpicam-jpeg -o test.jpg -t 2000 --width 640 --height 480
sudo libcamera-hello -t 0
sudo libcamera-hello -t 0 --camera 0
sudo libcamera-hello -t 0 --camera 1
rpicam-still
rpicam-vid
rpicam-raw
rpicam-detect
raspistill
raspivid
raspiyuv

Notes and version constraints

Exact commands for rpicam-still, rpicam-vid, rpicam-raw, rpicam-detect, raspistill, raspivid and raspiyuv are only listed as headings in the source; full parameters must be derived from the documentation
Configuration file version sensitivity depends on the OS used (Bullseye vs. Bookworm)
Auto-focus only works with official Raspberry Pi camera modules; the RPi Camera (B) has a manually adjustable focus
When connecting two cameras, the cam0/cam1 assignment must be correct, otherwise default cam0 applies
For IMX290 on Pi 5, an additional JSON file must be installed; this does not apply to the OV5647 camera
The compatibility list includes many sensor models; whether all actually work should be verified before purchase

Source and revision record

RPi Camera (B) - Waveshare Wiki
Source revision: 89228
Captured: 2026-08-29T09:15:55+00:00
SHA-256: 354c0e88c2269b76762ec0de7969e7a55a8b52958fc4d5afcd49d3b5bc628230