3

The raspistill -o image.jpg command successfully captures images. But when I try capturing from a really simple Python script, I get an error. The script is 

from picamera import PiCamera

cam = PiCamera()
cam.capture('image.jpg')
cam.close()

The error is

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/pi/Documents/CamTest.py", line 6, in <module>
    camera.capture('image.jpg')
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/picamera/camera.py", line 1423, in capture
    'Timed out waiting for capture to end')
picamera.exc.PiCameraRuntimeError: Timed out waiting for capture to end

What am I missing here? Need help.

[OS: Linux raspberrypi 4.9.59-v7+ | picamera v1.13 | Raspberry Pi Camera Rev 2.1]

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13
  • Are you sure there's not a bit more to your script? I'd expect that to fail with NameError given you're initializing cam but trying to execute a method on camera
    – Dave Jones
    Nov 13 '17 at 12:47
  • Sorry, my bad. Typing mistake. But, still doesn't solve the issue.
    – MAAI
    Nov 14 '17 at 11:12
  • After hours of digging and trial-and-error I have some insight about the issue. Using cam.('image.jpg', use_video_port=True) I'm able to acquire somewhat "grainy" looking image. This is because images taken via still port by raspistill undergoes a strong noise reduction algorithm i.e. appear as higher quality compared to the video port Refer to picamera.readthedocs.io/en/latest/fov.html#the-still-port. I think the error is related to Encoding as indicated by pycamera/camera.py line 1423 @DaveJones
    – MAAI
    Nov 15 '17 at 0:56
  • It might not be relevant but I'm running raspbian 4.9.41-v7+, the 2017-09-07 release on raspberrypi.org. My pi isn't on a network where it can get updates. I can't reproduce the error, the image is captured fine. Do you have a spare card to test the older version?
    – Craig
    Nov 15 '17 at 13:27
  • I could try this older version but where do I download it from? Seems the official site only provides the latest versions. And I'm guessing you are using the Desktop not the Lite one(?). @Craig
    – MAAI
    Nov 15 '17 at 14:08
1

I can't exactly reproduce your problem (i had the "Out of resources (other than memory)" error), but I still think your code lacks a crucial part : closing the camera after use.

So your code may work, but only one time : after that, the camera ressource will be locked, until reboot.

Adding a simple line may be enough for your minimal exemple : 

from picamera import PiCamera
cam = PiCamera()
cam.capture('image.jpg')
cam.close()

For a real world code, you may want to use one of these syntax, that close camera even on unexpected error : 

camera = PiCamera()
try:
    # do something with the camera
    pass
finally:
    camera.close()

or 

with PiCamera() as camera:
    # do something with the camera
    pass

References taken from : https://picamera.readthedocs.io/en/release-1.13/api_camera.html

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  • Well, Its not working either. Even if it was the case I should get at least one image. 'Timed out waiting for capture to end') picamera.exc.PiCameraRuntimeError: Timed out waiting for capture to end error exists as before. @Technico.top
    – MAAI
    Nov 15 '17 at 11:53
-1

This is the answer:

camera.capture('image.jpg', use_video_port=True)
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