M5 "5MP" does not read images / crashes

[RubenKelevra]

Checklist

• Checked the issue tracker for similar issues to ensure this is not a duplicate
• Read the documentation to confirm the issue is not addressed there and your configuration is set correctly
• Tested with the latest version to ensure the issue hasn't been fixed

How often does this bug occurs?

always

Expected behavior

The M5 "5MP" unit should be supported.

Actual behavior (suspected bug)

@turenkomv reported issues.

Error logs or terminal output

Without stack size increase:

 
[19:51:57]Guru Meditation Error: Core  1 panic'ed (Unhandled debug exception). 
[19:51:57]Debug exception reason: Stack canary watchpoint triggered (framebuffer_tas) 
[19:51:57]Core  1 register dump:
[19:51:57]PC      : 0x4037ef9e  PS      : 0x00060836  A0      : 0x820494aa  A1      : 0x3fcb4780
WARNING Decoded 0x4037ef9e: xPortSetInterruptMaskFromISR at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\freertos\FreeRTOS-Kernel\portable\xtensa\include\freertos/portmacro.h:552
 (inlined by) xPortEnterCriticalTimeout at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\freertos\FreeRTOS-Kernel\portable\xtensa/port.c:478
[19:51:57]A2      : 0x3fc9ae6c  A3      : 0xffffffff  A4      : 0x00000007  A5      : 0x3fcb47be  
[19:51:57]A6      : 0x00000066  A7      : 0x00000064  A8      : 0x00060820  A9      : 0x3fcb4780
[19:51:57]A10     : 0x00060823  A11     : 0x00000000  A12     : 0x00060820  A13     : 0x00060223
[19:51:57]A14     : 0x00000000  A15     : 0x0000abab  SAR     : 0x00000018  EXCCAUSE: 0x00000001
[19:51:57]EXCVADDR: 0x00000000  LBEG    : 0x40056fc5  LEND    : 0x40056fe7  LCOUNT  : 0xffffffff


[19:51:57]Backtrace: 0x4037ef9b:0x3fcb4780 0x420494a7:0x3fcb47b0 0x420495cd:0x3fcb47d0 0x4200f9ed:0x3fcb47f0 0x42016ada:0x3fcb48d0 0x420a5a61:0x3fcb4910 0x40384606:0x3fcb4940 0x4201a84a:0x3fcb4990 0x42019d6a:0x3fcb49d0 0x4200bc76:0x3fcb49f0
WARNING Found stack trace! Trying to decode it
WARNING Decoded 0x4037ef9b: xPortSetInterruptMaskFromISR at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\freertos\FreeRTOS-Kernel\portable\xtensa\include\freertos/portmacro.h:552
 (inlined by) xPortEnterCriticalTimeout at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\freertos\FreeRTOS-Kernel\portable\xtensa/port.c:478
WARNING Decoded 0x420494a7: vPortEnterCritical at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\freertos\FreeRTOS-Kernel\portable\xtensa\include\freertos/portmacro.h:567
 (inlined by) find_key at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\pthread/pthread_local_storage.c:77
WARNING Decoded 0x420495cd: pthread_setspecific at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\pthread/pthread_local_storage.c:199
WARNING Decoded 0x4200f9ed: esphome::logger::Logger::check_and_set_task_log_recursion_(bool) at C:\Projects\m5stack-camera-1\.esphome\build\m5stack-camera-1/src/esphome/components/logger/logger.h:298
 (inlined by) esphome::logger::Logger::check_and_set_task_log_recursion_(bool) at C:\Projects\m5stack-camera-1\.esphome\build\m5stack-camera-1/src/esphome/components/logger/logger.h:287    
 (inlined by) esphome::logger::Logger::log_vprintf_(unsigned char, char const*, int, char const*, __va_list_tag) at C:\Projects\m5stack-camera-1\.esphome\build\m5stack-camera-1/src/esphome/components/logger/logger.cpp:35
WARNING Decoded 0x42016ada: esphome::esp_idf_log_vprintf_(char const*, __va_list_tag) at C:\Projects\m5stack-camera-1\.esphome\build\m5stack-camera-1/src/esphome/core/log.cpp:56
WARNING Decoded 0x420a5a61: esp_log_writev at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\log/log.c:210
WARNING Decoded 0x40384606: esp_log_write at C:\Users\turen\.platformio\packages\framework-espidf\components\log/log.c:220
WARNING Decoded 0x4201a84a: cam_take at C:\Projects\m5stack-camera-1\.esphome\build\m5stack-camera-1/managed_components/espressif__esp32-camera/driver/cam_hal.c:541 (discriminator 1)
WARNING Decoded 0x42019d6a: esp_camera_fb_get at C:\Projects\m5stack-camera-1\.esphome\build\m5stack-camera-1/managed_components/espressif__esp32-camera/driver/esp_camera.c:384
WARNING Decoded 0x4200bc76: esphome::esp32_camera::ESP32Camera::framebuffer_task(void*) at C:\Projects\m5stack-camera-1\.esphome\build\m5stack-camera-1/src/esphome/components/esp32_camera/esp32_camera.cpp:412


[Source](https://github.com/espressif/esp32-camera/pull/765#issuecomment-3045941004)

With stack size increase:


[23:40:49][W][esp32_camera:204]: Got invalid frame from camera!
[23:40:49]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:40:51]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:40:51][D][esp-idf:000][cam_task]: W (12646) cam_hal: NO-SOI - 100 additional misses
[23:40:51]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:40:53]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:40:53][W][esp32_camera:204]: Got invalid frame from camera!
[23:40:53][D][esp-idf:000][framebuffer_tas]: W (14666) cam_hal: Failed to get frame: timeout
[23:40:53]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:40:57]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:40:57][W][esp32_camera:204]: Got invalid frame from camera!
[23:40:57][D][esp-idf:000][framebuffer_tas]: W (18680) cam_hal: Failed to get frame: timeout
[23:40:57]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:41:01]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:41:01][W][esp32_camera:204]: Got invalid frame from camera!
[23:41:01][D][esp-idf:000][framebuffer_tas]: W (22693) cam_hal: Failed to get frame: timeout
[23:41:01]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:41:01]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:41:01][D][esp-idf:000][cam_task]: W (22934) cam_hal: NO-SOI - 100 additional misses
[23:41:01]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:41:05]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:41:05][W][esp32_camera:204]: Got invalid frame from camera!
[23:41:05][D][esp-idf:000][framebuffer_tas]: W (26707) cam_hal: Failed to get frame: timeout
[23:41:05]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:41:09]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:41:09][W][esp32_camera:204]: Got invalid frame from camera!
[23:41:09][D][esp-idf:000][framebuffer_tas]: W (30720) cam_hal: Failed to get frame: timeout
[23:41:09]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:41:11]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:41:11][D][esp-idf:000][cam_task]: W (32936) cam_hal: NO-SOI - 100 additional misses
[23:41:11]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
...
[23:41:13]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:41:13][W][esp32_camera:204]: Got invalid frame from camera!
[23:41:13][D][esp-idf:000]cam_hal: EV-EOF-OVF
[23:41:13][framebuffer_tas]: W (34731) cam_hal: Failed to get frame: timeout


[Source](https://github.com/espressif/esp32-camera/pull/761#issuecomment-3040155353)

Steps to reproduce the behavior

Setup M5 "5MP" with something like ESPHome and see the esp32-camera library throw errors:

Project release version

2.1.0-ish

System architecture

Intel/AMD 64-bit (modern PC, older Mac)

Operating system

Linux

Operating system version

unknown

Shell

Bash

Additional context

No response

[RubenKelevra]

Hey @turenkomv, the m5 unit finally arrived today!

However, the bad news is: It's working flawlessly for me, with the config @Fexiven provided.

So I was wondering:

• Do you know if there is more than one type of this unit OR if you got maybe a slightly different model?
• Did you run a different software on it, after receiving, or did you tried to flash ESPHome right away?

My current hypothesis is, that that the camera is supplying something other than JPEGs but the esp32-camera expects jpegs, and thus tries to find the start of the jpeg frame until it runs out of buffer space for the image.

[RubenKelevra]

@turenkomv The messages in your log suggests that there seems to be a JPEG found, but not at the offset 0. That's why it's not printing an error message not finding the start of the image (NO-SOI - JPEG start marker missing), because it found it, but if it's not at 0 the frame it then silently skipped.

I'll create a PR.

[turenkomv]

I currently have two units of this model (with only minor differences in their serial numbers). Both were initially tested using the official demo firmware and confirmed to be working correctly. I flashed the demo firmware using M5Burner, selecting the "UnitCamS3-5MP UserDemo" option.

After confirming the devices worked, I attempted to use them with ESPHome — including trying the driver from the demo firmware repository here: https://github.com/m5stack/UnitCamS3-UserDemo/tree/unitcams3-5mp

Despite this, both devices continue to function reliably with the demo firmware but fail to operate when flashed with ESPHome.

[RubenKelevra]

Okay, thanks!

I think I found another bug, while investigating the one above. Both could lead to the suggested behavior (I think). But I'm a bit too tired to be sure.

I'll flash the UserDemo tomorrow on my device (which looks identical) to see if it maybe changes anything, if I then switch back to ESPHome.

[RubenKelevra]

I was unable to establish what's causing the issues you're running into, @turenkomv.

Would you be so kind and share the UserDemo image you used before, privately (E-Mail address is in my profile), so I can flash it and see if this triggers any bug if I flash ESPHome afterwards?

And can you confirm, that the current version of ESPHome still has issues, if you update the ESP32-Camera library to master plus #781?

Here's a patch for ESPHome to fetch the current master plus #781 from the PR branch:

From ecfdfcbb535ea77a4b46705186a2c032cb417c49 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: RubenKelevra <user@example.com>
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2025 16:02:37 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] update esp32-camera lib to master+PR781

---
 esphome/components/esp32_camera/__init__.py | 6 +++++-
 esphome/idf_component.yml                   | 3 ++-
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32_camera/__init__.py b/esphome/components/esp32_camera/__init__.py
index a99ec3408..2a4085c29 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32_camera/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32_camera/__init__.py
@@ -333,7 +333,11 @@ async def to_code(config):
     cg.add_define("USE_CAMERA")
 
     if CORE.using_esp_idf:
-        add_idf_component(name="espressif/esp32-camera", ref="2.0.15")
+        add_idf_component(
+            name="esp32-camera",
+            repo="https://github.com/RubenKelevra/espressif_esp32-camera.git",
+            ref="2368d94-PR781",
+        )
 
     for conf in config.get(CONF_ON_STREAM_START, []):
         trigger = cg.new_Pvariable(conf[CONF_TRIGGER_ID], var)
diff --git a/esphome/idf_component.yml b/esphome/idf_component.yml
index c43b62268..186e97304 100644
--- a/esphome/idf_component.yml
+++ b/esphome/idf_component.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ dependencies:
   espressif/esp-tflite-micro:
     version: 1.3.3~1
   espressif/esp32-camera:
-    version: 2.0.15
+    git: https://github.com/RubenKelevra/espressif_esp32-camera.git
+    version: 2368d94-PR781
   espressif/mdns:
     version: 1.8.2
   espressif/esp_wifi_remote:
-- 
2.50.1

[ctrochalakis]

Hello! I am also having this issue, using your patch above on top of esphome's dev branch, I 'm getting the following error:

[17:46:56]***ERROR*** A stack overflow in task framebuffer_tas has been detected.


[17:46:56]Backtrace: 0x403768c9:0x3fca7240 0x4037bd61:0x3fca7260 0x4037c972:0x3fca7280 0x4037d7eb:0x3fca7300 0x4037ca78:0x3fca7320 0x4037ca6e:0x00000000 |<-CORRUPTED
WARNING Found stack trace! Trying to decode it
WARNING Decoded 0x403768c9: panic_abort at /home/yatiohi/.platformio/packages/framework-espidf/components/esp_system/panic.c:469
WARNING Decoded 0x4037bd61: esp_system_abort at /home/yatiohi/.platformio/packages/framework-espidf/components/esp_system/port/esp_system_chip.c:87
WARNING Decoded 0x4037c972: vApplicationStackOverflowHook at /home/yatiohi/.platformio/packages/framework-espidf/components/freertos/FreeRTOS-Kernel/portable/xtensa/port.c:563
WARNING Decoded 0x4037d7eb: vTaskSwitchContext at /home/yatiohi/.platformio/packages/framework-espidf/components/freertos/FreeRTOS-Kernel/tasks.c:3689 (discriminator 7)
WARNING Decoded 0x4037ca78: _frxt_dispatch at /home/yatiohi/.platformio/packages/framework-espidf/components/freertos/FreeRTOS-Kernel/portable/xtensa/portasm.S:451
WARNING Decoded 0x4037ca6e: _frxt_int_exit at /home/yatiohi/.platformio/packages/framework-espidf/components/freertos/FreeRTOS-Kernel/portable/xtensa/portasm.S:246

my config is

# https://gr.mouser.com/new/m5stack/m5stack-u174-b-camera/
# https://docs.m5stack.com/en/unit/Unit-CAMS3%205MP
# https://www.reddit.com/r/Esphome/comments/1dt768b/esp32_camera_for_m5stack_cams3/
esp32:
  board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1 #This is the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 module
  flash_size: 16MB
  framework:
    #type: arduino
    type: esp-idf
    #version: "5.3.0"
    #platform_version: "6.9.0"
    #sdkconfig_options:
    # CONFIG_ESP32S3_DEFAULT_CPU_FREQ_240: "y"
     #CONFIG_ESP32S3_DATA_CACHE_64KB: "y"
     #CONFIG_ESP32S3_DATA_CACHE_LINE_64B: "y"

psram:
  mode: octal
  speed: 80MHz

logger:
  level: VERBOSE

esphome:
  name: m5cams3cpy
  friendly_name: m5cams3cpy

esp32_camera:
  name: camera
  external_clock:
    pin: GPIO11
    frequency: 20MHz
  i2c_pins:
    sda: GPIO17
    scl: GPIO41
  data_pins: [GPIO6, GPIO15, GPIO16, GPIO7, GPIO5, GPIO10, GPIO4, GPIO13]
  vsync_pin: GPIO42
  href_pin: GPIO18
  pixel_clock_pin: GPIO12
  reset_pin: GPIO21
  resolution: 320x240 #800x600 #1600X1200
  jpeg_quality: 12
  #max_framerate: 10 fps

[RubenKelevra]

Hey @ctrochalakis,

yeah, the default stack size seems to be too small, I already reduced the debug logging to reduce it. I'm still not sure what's using up all that stack in those cases.

I temporarily raised the stack size for this task, to circumvent this. Here's a snippet from my test config:

esp32:
  board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
  flash_size: 16MB
  cpu_frequency: 240MHz
  framework:
    type: esp-idf
    version: latest
    sdkconfig_options:
      CAMERA_TASK_STACK_SIZE: "8192" 
    advanced:
      enable_idf_experimental_features: yes

external_components:
  - source: github://pr#9771
    components: [esp32_camera]
    refresh: 0s

psram:
  mode: octal
  speed: 80MHz
  enable_ecc: true

I'm also testing on top of ESPHome 2025.7.4, to avoid running into not well tested code in the dev branch.

Fetching PR esphome/esphome#9771 is unnecessary, unless you want to test out the PSRAM-DMA mode, which will currently just crash the device reliably ;)

Btw: i2c_pins: is deprecated ;)