NVIDIA Jetson Camera Toolkit

A comprehensive toolkit for setting up cameras on NVIDIA Jetson platforms, with a focus on the Arducam IMX708 on Jetson Orin Nano Super with JetPack 6.2.

Overview

Getting third-party cameras working on Jetson can be challenging. This toolkit provides:

• Working device tree overlays tested on real hardware
• Step-by-step installation guides with troubleshooting
• Python integration examples for computer vision applications
• Key learnings from extensive debugging sessions

Supported Configurations

Camera	Platform	JetPack	Status
Arducam IMX708 12MP	Orin Nano Super	6.2 (L4T R36.4.3)	✅ Working
Arducam IMX708 12MP	Orin Nano	6.2 (L4T R36.4.3)	✅ Working
Arducam IMX708 12MP	Orin Nano	6.0, 5.1.1	See RidgeRun docs
Arducam IMX708 12MP	Jetson Nano	4.6.4	See RidgeRun docs

Quick Start

IMX708 on JetPack 6.2

1. Read the guide: docs/installation.md
2. Get the driver: Use NVIDIA-Jetson-IMX708-RPIV3/driver/
3. Apply the overlay: Use docs/overlays/imx708-nvidia-csi.dts

# Quick verification after setup
ls /dev/video0
v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 --info

Repository Structure

Nvidia-Jetson-Toolkit/
├── README.md                           # This file
├── CLAUDE.md                           # AI agent instructions
├── docs/
│   ├── installation.md                 # Complete IMX708 installation guide
│   ├── ssh-setup.md                    # SSH configuration guide
│   └── overlays/
│       └── imx708-nvidia-csi.dts       # Working device tree overlay
└── NVIDIA-Jetson-IMX708-RPIV3/         # RidgeRun driver source
    └── driver/                         # JetPack 6.2 kernel module
        ├── src/                        # Driver source code
        ├── include/                    # Header files
        ├── dts/                        # Device tree sources
        ├── build.sh                    # Build script
        └── validate.sh                 # Installation validation

Key Findings (JetPack 6.2)

After extensive testing, we discovered several critical insights:

What Works

Component	Configuration
Driver	RidgeRun nv_imx708.ko with sony,imx708 compatible
Device Tree	Custom overlay merged with fdtoverlay
Capture	v4l2-ctl --stream-mmap for raw Bayer
Processing	Python + OpenCV with percentile normalization

What Does NOT Work on JetPack 6.2

Approach	Problem
jetson-io IMX477-C mode	Capture timeouts
nvarguscamerasrc	Requires missing ISP tuning files
OVERLAYS in extlinux.conf	UEFI boot ignores runtime overlays
RidgeRun's original CSI params	Wrong discontinuous_clk and lane_polarity

Critical CSI Parameters

The breakthrough was using NVIDIA's CSI parameters instead of RidgeRun's defaults:

Parameter	RidgeRun (FAILS)	NVIDIA (WORKS)
discontinuous_clk	"yes"	"no"
lane_polarity	"6"	"0"
channel	channel@1	channel@0

Documentation

Document	Description
Installation Guide	Complete installation guide with troubleshooting
SSH Setup	Configure SSH access to Jetson
Driver README	Driver build and usage instructions

Sample Output

When everything is working correctly:

$ v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 --info
Driver Info:
        Driver name      : tegra-video
        Card type        : vi-output, imx708 9-001a
        Bus info         : platform:tegra-capture-vi:1

$ sudo dmesg | grep imx708
imx708 9-001a: tegracam sensor driver:imx708_v2.0.6
imx708 9-001a: detected imx708 sensor

Capture Example

import subprocess
import numpy as np
import cv2

# Capture raw frame
subprocess.run([
    "v4l2-ctl", "-d", "/dev/video0",
    "--set-fmt-video=width=4608,height=2592,pixelformat=RG10",
    "--stream-mmap", "--stream-count=1",
    "--stream-to=/tmp/frame.raw"
])

# Process raw Bayer to color
raw = np.fromfile("/tmp/frame.raw", dtype=np.uint16)
img = raw[:4608*2592].reshape((2592, 4608))
p2, p98 = np.percentile(img, [2, 98])
img_norm = np.clip((img.astype(float) - p2) / (p98 - p2) * 255, 0, 255).astype(np.uint8)
color = cv2.cvtColor(img_norm, cv2.COLOR_BAYER_RG2BGR)
cv2.imwrite("/tmp/capture.jpg", color)

Specifications

Parameter	Value
Sensor	Sony IMX708
Resolution	4608 x 2592 (12MP)
Frame Rate	14 fps (max at full resolution)
Pixel Format	RG10 (10-bit Bayer RGRG/GBGB)
Interface	CSI-2, 2 lanes
I2C Address	0x1a

Credits

Acknowledgments

• RidgeRun - For the nv_imx708 driver and excellent Jetson camera support
• NVIDIA - For the Jetson platform and documentation
• Arducam - For the IMX708 camera module

Contributors

• Documentation and testing by the AI Companion project team

License

• RidgeRun driver: GPL v2
• Documentation: MIT

Contributing

Found an issue or have improvements?

1. Open an issue on this repository
2. Submit a pull request with your changes
3. Share your experiences on the NVIDIA Developer Forums

Related Projects

• RidgeRun IMX708 Driver - Original driver source

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Last Updated: December 24, 2025 Tested On: Jetson Orin Nano Super 8GB, JetPack 6.2, Arducam IMX708