Black Screen When Using OpenFlexure Microscope Camera Need Help!

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1

Hi everyone,

Iam having an issue with my OpenFlexure Microscope where the camera feed just shows a black screen instead of displaying the sample.

The microscope seems to be connected properly, and the software interface loads fine, but I can’t see any image.

I have checked the camera connections, restarted the system, and even tried a different Raspberry Pi, but the issue persists.

Has anyone else experienced this? Could it be a software configuration issue, a camera problem, or something else? Any troubleshooting suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

2

Do you have the normal Raspberry Pi OS on an SD card? It is worth checking whether you get anything using their standard camera tools, if it is still black that rules out most software issues.

Possible hardware issues include:

  • Poorly aligned illumination. You can try just shining a torch (flash light) at the lens, so you see any hints of colour change? This should mean that the camera is working but it is getting no light.
  • Broken picamera :frowning:
  • Something blocking the lens… are you using the low-cost or the high rest optics?