Release 0.3.14

0.3.14 Beta Release 13

Added

Changed

• All picamera2.allocators package.

0.3.13 Beta Release 12

Added

• Pi 5 support added. Includes platform detection, new raw formats etc.
• Libav encoders added. These will be used as the H264 and MJPEG encoder on Pi 5.

Changed

• Frame buffers are now cached to improve performance.
• Encoders should no longer drop frames when closed.
• FfmpegOutput should stop properly when there's an audio stream.
• Updates for the latest version of libcamera, including sensor configuration.

Release 0.3.12

0.3.12 Beta Release 11

Added

Changed

• Small bug that prevented the configuration of USB cams fixed.

Release 0.3.11

0.3.11 Beta Release 10

Added

Changed

• The search path for tuning files (after the libcamera re-organisation) has been fixed.
• The built-in configuration objects (picamera2.preview_configuration etc.) are updated to work better with raw streams now that the latest libcamera is more efficient when we use them.

Release 0.3.10

0.3.10 Beta Release 9

Added

• Support for running multiple encoders, either on the same or different streams.
• Pathlib objects now supported.

Changed

• The camera can be stopped more quickly.
• Fix problem passing modes from the sensor mode list to the configure methods.
• H264 encoder quality was having no effect on bitrate - fixed.
• ffmpegoutput - wait correctly for it to finish when we stop it.
• Amount of CMA memory required is reduced for many use cases.

Beta release 8

0.3.9 Beta Release 8

Added

• MJPEG server example added that uses the hardware MJPEG encoder.
• Example showing previews from two cameras in a single Qt app.
• H264 encoder can accept a frame time interval to be put in the SPS headers.
• H264 encoder should now advertise the correct level in streams for higher bitrates.
• Exif DateTime and DateTimeOriginal tags are now added.
• H264 encoder now supports a constant quality parameter.

Changed

• JpegEncoder chooses pixel format automatically from the stream format.
• Work around OpenGL import error on 64-bit OS Lite images.
• FFmpeg: use the audio_samplerate parameter correctly.
• camera_controls are converted to native Python types (tuples, not libcamera.Rectangle objects).
• Camera configuration will fail if an encoder is still running.
• Encoder interface tidied to make it easier to run a second encode "by hand" (example included).
• Picamera2 updated for the latest libcamera which changes colour space handling.
• Encoder outputs no longer close files that they didn't open.
• CircularOutput class now flushes the fifo correctly when outputs are closed.
• Bug fix when capturing several DNG files back to back.

Beta release 7

0.3.8 Beta Release 7

Added

• Support for cameras that have autofocus integrated properly with libcamera.
• New switch_mode_and_capture_request method.

Changed

• Fewer frame drops when recording videos.
• Fixes when closing a preview window with the mouse.

Beta release 6

0.3.7 Beta Release 6

Added

• Ability to control via the configuration "queue" parameter whether Picamera2 keeps hold of the last completed request or not. This means you may wait marginally longer for a capture in some use cases, but also that the system cannot give you the frame that arrived slightly before you requested it.

Changed

• The Picamera2.start_encoder function prototype has been made very similar to Picamera2.start_recording for consistency. Most existing calls still work, but there are a few call patterns that may need updating. The new prototype is: start_encoder(self, encoder=None, output=None, pts=None, quality=Quality.MEDIUM)
• The Picamera2.wait function now requires an argument, which is the "job" that was returned to you when you made the asynchronous call, for example instead of

picam2.capture_file("test.jpg", wait=False)
metadata = picam2.wait()

you would use

job = picam2.capture_file("test.jpg", wait=False)
metadata = picam2.wait(job)

Please also refer to our updated Qt examples.

• Some bug fixes when starting and stopping encoders.
• Risk of video frame drops during transient busy periods reduced.

Beta release 5

0.3.6 Beta Release 5

Added

• The Picamera2.global_camera_info() method will return information about all the attached cameras.
• We have introduced the ability to control multiple Picamera2 objects (all opened for different cameras) within the same Python process. They behave independently and can each have their own preview window.
• There is now limited support for USB webcams that deliver MJPEG or YUYV streams. Images can be displayed by the QT (not QTGL) preview.
• Picamera2 objects have a title_fields property which can be set to a list of the metadata fields to display on the preview window title bar (for example `picam2.title_fields = ["ExposureTime", "AnalogueGain"]).

Changed

• Resources are freed more reliably when Picamera2 objects are closed.

Beta release 4

0.3.5 Beta Release 4

Added

Changed

• Add support for outputting timestamps when using the JPEG encoder for video.
• Fix a bug which prevented the mjpeg_server.py example from working. This has also been added to the automatic test suite so shouldn't get broken again!

Beta release 3

0.3.4 Beta Release 3

Added

• Ability to record uncompressed or raw video frames.

Changed

• Releasing of camera resources has been made more reliable, so once the Picamera2 object has been closed it can be re-opened more reliably (optionally by other processes).
• Logging has been revised to work better with applications already using Python logging.
• Some reporting of, and recovery from, certain error conditions has been improved.
• Large encoded video frames are now split automatically for streaming over UDP.