Re: [PATCH v5 2/2] media: i2c: Add Sony IMX908 image sensor driver

[Dave Stevenson]

Hi Sakari and Laurent

On Tue, 20 Oct 2026 at 13:56, Laurent Pinchart
<laurent.pinchart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hello Sakari,
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 01:47:11PM +0300, Sakari Ailus wrote:
> > On Mon, Oct 19, 2026 at 10:47:20AM +0900, Lachlan Michael wrote:
> > > The IMX908 is an 8.39 MP (3856x2176) CMOS image sensor with a MIPI CSI-2
> > > output interface. The driver supports RAW10 and RAW12 output formats,
> > > exposure and analogue gain controls, image flipping, blanking controls
> > > and test pattern generation.
> >
> > The imx908 appears to be a Starvis 3 sensor. How close is it to the Starvis
> > 2, for which Dave (Cc'd) is working on a driver (see
> > <URL:https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/atdAsDGw_jvhaydM@kekkonen.localdomain/T/#m0c50ea017ef9ae0d3d76a36b840db9b6f7ac296c>)?
> > The register defines in the two drivers appear to be quite well aligned.

Asked and answered at v1
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/TY6PR01MB17839FF48671E744E7E23A93E92D42@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

> The current version of the driver implements very few features of the
> IMX908 sensor, as crop support has been removed pending the raw camera
> sensor model, and Clear HDR3 is being developed. I expect more
> differences to appear when those features will be merged, so I believe
> it makes sense to have a separate driver here.
>
> In the future, I expect the raw camera sensor model to open the door to
> more code sharing and more drivers supporting a wider variety of
> devices. We can decide then if the imx908 should stay a standalone
> driver, support other sensors as well, possibly across the Starvis 2 and
> 3 families. I'm willing to help with the refactoring at that point if
> needed, the maintenance burden won't be on you (and I'm sure that
> Lachlan and his team will of course maintain the code base).

Agreed.
I have compared the datasheet for imx908 against the Starvis2 ones,
and when we start looking at HDR modes they diverge a reasonable
amount.

Even the later Starvis2 sensors (IMX585 and IMX676) have minor changes
to the earlier ones, so adding Starvis3 would need some care.

  Dave