I just recently bought a board incorporating the Omnivision OV8865 8 MP CMOS image sensor. It was over $200. I was given access to a 165 page product specification document with Rev. 1D. I noticed there are tons of registers not described in this datasheet including the sensors and analog section. I was provided a demo code to run image capture and display and the manufacturer of the board, Terasic, explicity used all these undocumented shadow registers, set them to specific values, and the code worked. Turns out they have a NDA with Omnivision to have the full register map definitions, and that a simple hobbyist or university student would never have access to this file without an express NDA with Omnivision.
The problem is that Omnivision does not want to disclose this sensor document to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace. I’m left with skeleton code that barely makes the camera operate based on the few registers they explain in the documentation.
I feel like Terasic did not market this camera module correctly. There is nothing on there product page specifically documentating the end user must obtain an NDA to have full visibility into the full register map features of the sensor to custom tailer it to there end application.
I contacted Terasic and there very much tight lipped on the subject, nor will they disclose the fact they have the sensor documentation, nor will they help me solve my problem with the sensor, since I’m able to rotate the image I have a pink tint overlay on the whole image, those shadow registers have an effect.
Can someone please offer me a solution to this problem? I want to place partial blame on Terasic for not at least helping me set up some of these registers not documented to get the camera to work, instead of breaking the NDA with Omnivision.