IMX585 kernel driver for Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi kernel driver for Sony IMX585, an 8.3 MP STARVIS 2 back-side illuminated CMOS sensor optimised for low-light and 4K applications.

• 2-lane and 4-lane MIPI CSI-2 (up to 1782 Mbps/lane)
• 10-bit and 12-bit RAW output
• 3856×2180 @ up to 60 fps, 4-lane 12-bit
• ClearHDR mode for high-dynamic-range capture
• Mono variant support
• Three sync modes for multi-camera setups

IMX585 camera modules are available at kurokesu.com

Install

Connect camera to CSI port with Pi powered off.

Update OS and reboot:

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y
sudo reboot

Important

If driver or camera stack was previously built from source, run one-time cleanup before first apt install. See migrating from a source install.

Enable Kurokesu apt archive (skip if already enabled):

curl -fsSLO https://apt.kurokesu.com/setup.sh
sudo sh setup.sh

Install driver and camera stack:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y imx585-rpi-dkms rpicam-apps

With archive enabled, apt resolves Kurokesu rpicam-apps and libcamera forks with IMX585 support as updates to stock packages. Later updates arrive with regular apt upgrade.

Edit boot configuration:

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

Make two changes:

1. Find camera_auto_detect near the top and set it to 0:

camera_auto_detect=0

2. Add dtoverlay=imx585 under the [all] section at the bottom of the file:

[all]
dtoverlay=imx585

If camera is connected to cam0 port, use dtoverlay=imx585,cam0 instead. See cam0.

Save and exit.

config.txt changes take effect after reboot:

sudo reboot

Verify camera is detected:

rpicam-hello --list-cameras

Expected output (varies by link frequency and lane configuration):

Available cameras
-----------------
0 : imx585 [3840x2160 12-bit RGGB] (/base/axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@80000/imx585@1a)
    Modes: 'SRGGB12_CSI2P' : 1928x1090 [50.00 fps - (0, 0)/3840x2160 crop]
                             3856x2180 [43.80 fps - (0, 0)/3840x2160 crop]

Start live preview:

rpicam-hello -t 0

On headless systems, capture a still image instead:

rpicam-still -o test.jpg

dtoverlay options

imx585 overlay supports comma-separated options to override defaults:

option	description	default
cam0	Use cam0 port instead of cam1	cam1
2lane	Use 2-lane MIPI CSI-2	4 lanes
mono	Enable monochrome sensor variant	off
always-on	Keep regulator powered (prevents runtime PM power-off)	off
link-frequency=<Hz>	Set MIPI CSI-2 link frequency (Hz)	720000000
sync-mode=<mode>	Multi-camera synchronization mode	internal-leader

cam0

If camera is connected to cam0 port, append ,cam0:

dtoverlay=imx585,cam0

2lane

To use 2-lane MIPI CSI-2 instead of the default 4-lane, append ,2lane:

dtoverlay=imx585,2lane

Note

Maximum framerate is roughly halved on 2-lane compared to 4-lane at the same link frequency. See the link-frequency table for exact values.

mono

For the monochrome sensor variant, append ,mono:

dtoverlay=imx585,mono

always-on

always-on keeps camera regulator permanently enabled, preventing kernel from powering off the sensor during runtime PM suspend. Useful for debugging hardware issues, since it forces CAM_GPIO high constantly.

dtoverlay=imx585,always-on

link-frequency

Default link frequency is 720 MHz (1440 Mbps/lane). Other values trade MIPI bandwidth against maximum framerate.

To change link frequency, append ,link-frequency=<Hz>:

dtoverlay=imx585,link-frequency=891000000

Frequency (Hz)	Mbps/lane	Max FPS @ 4K 12-bit 4-lane	Max FPS @ 4K 12-bit 2-lane
297000000	594	20.8 fps	10.4 fps
360000000	720	25.0 fps	12.5 fps
445500000	891	30.0 fps	15.0 fps
594000000	1188	41.7 fps	20.8 fps
720000000 (default)	1440	50.0 fps	25.0 fps
891000000	1782	60.0 fps	30.0 fps
1039500000	2079	75.0 fps	37.5 fps

Note

RPi5/RP1 has a 400 Mpix/s processing limit. Without overclocking RP1 (the Camera Frontend), effective framerate is capped at ~43.8 fps @ 4K regardless of the link frequency configured here.

Note

ClearHDR halves the framerate. 1080p 2×2 binned mode doubles it.

Warning

The driver also accepts 1188 MHz (2376 Mbps/lane), but RPi4 does not support this rate and RPi5 exhibits frame drops. Not recommended for production use.

Sync modes

The driver exposes three sync modes for multi-camera setups, selectable via the sync-mode overlay option:

Mode	Description
internal-leader (default)	Sensor runs from its own internal clock and outputs both XVS (vertical sync) and XHS (horizontal sync). Other cameras can lock onto these signals.
internal-follower	Sensor still uses its own clock, but takes in an external XVS signal. It aligns vertical sync to this input by adding or subtracting a horizontal sync pulse.
external	Sensor clock and timing are fully driven by external XVS and XHS signals. Both syncs are inputs, no outputs are generated.

dtoverlay=imx585,sync-mode=internal-follower

See the IMX585 Camera Clock Synchronization Guide for hardware wiring and timing details.

Tip

Options can be combined. Example (mono, always-on, cam0, 297 MHz link):

dtoverlay=imx585,mono,always-on,cam0,link-frequency=297000000

Build from source

Install required tools:

sudo apt install -y git
sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends dkms

Clone this repository:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Kurokesu/imx585-rpi-driver.git
cd imx585-rpi-driver/

If driver was installed from apt archive previously, remove it first:

sudo apt remove imx585-rpi-dkms

Run setup script:

sudo ./setup.sh

Camera stack, boot configuration and verification follow Install. Skip imx585-rpi-dkms there, only rpicam-apps is needed. To build libcamera and rpicam-apps from source as well, see libcamera/BUILDING.md.

Migrating from a source install

One-time cleanup before first apt install.

Remove imx585 driver modules installed by setup.sh:

dkms status | grep imx585 | cut -d, -f1 | sort -u | xargs -rI{} sudo dkms remove {} --all

Source-built libcamera and rpicam-apps install to /usr/local and shadow packaged binaries. Remove them:

Warning

Command below deletes everything under /usr/local with libcamera, rpicam or libpisp in its name, including custom scripts or files named after them.

sudo find /usr/local -depth \( -name '*libcamera*' -o -name '*rpicam*' -o -name '*libpisp*' \) -exec rm -rf {} +

Cleanup complete. Continue with install steps.

Special thanks

• Will Whang for the original IMX585 driver (imx585-v4l2-driver).
• Soho Enterprises for additional register information (passed through from Will's repo).