espcamera blocks network requests after capture until deinit called

[brentru]

CircuitPython version and board name

Adafruit CircuitPython 10.0.1 on 2025-10-09; Adafruit Camera with ESP32S3

Code/REPL

import os
import time
import ssl
import binascii
import digitalio
import adafruit_pycamera
import board
import wifi
import socketpool
import adafruit_requests
from adafruit_io.adafruit_io import IO_HTTP, AdafruitIO_RequestError

aio_username = os.getenv("ADAFRUIT_AIO_USERNAME")
aio_key = os.getenv("ADAFRUIT_AIO_KEY")

print(f"Connecting to {os.getenv('CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID')}")
wifi.radio.connect(
    os.getenv("CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID"), os.getenv("CIRCUITPY_WIFI_PASSWORD")
)
print(f"Connected to {os.getenv('CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID')}!")

# Create initial connection to get/create the feed
pool = socketpool.SocketPool(wifi.radio)
requests = adafruit_requests.Session(pool, ssl.create_default_context())
io = IO_HTTP(aio_username, aio_key, requests)

# Adafruit IO feed configuration
try:
    # Get the 'camera' feed from Adafruit IO
    feed_camera = io.get_feed("camera")
except AdafruitIO_RequestError:
    # If no 'camera' feed exists, create one
    feed_camera = io.create_new_feed("camera")

print("Feed ready:", feed_camera["key"])

# Initialize memento camera
pycam = adafruit_pycamera.PyCamera()
# Turn off TFT backlight
pycam.display.brightness = 0.0


# Capture an image and send it to Adafruit IO."""
print("Focusing camera...")
pycam.autofocus()
print("Capturing image...")
jpeg = pycam.capture_into_jpeg()
print("Captured image!")

if jpeg is not None:
    # Encode JPEG data into base64 for sending to Adafruit IO
    print("Encoding image...")
    encoded_data = binascii.b2a_base64(jpeg).strip().decode('utf-8')
    print("JPEG sz:", len(jpeg), "bytes")
    print("Encoded sz:", len(encoded_data), "characters")

    # Attempt to send encoded_data to Adafruit IO camera feed
    print("Sending image to Adafruit IO...")
    io.send_data(feed_camera["key"], encoded_data)
    print("Sent image to IO!")
else:
    print("ERROR: JPEG frame capture failed!")

Behavior

code.py output:
Connecting to Transit
Connected to Transit!
Feed ready: camera
Found AW9523
Initializing camera
Found camera OV5640 (240 x 176) at I2C address 3c
colors 16777215
colors 16777215
/lib/adafruit_pycamera/ov5640_autofocus.bin
init done @ 2.681
No SD card inserted
Focusing camera...
Capturing image...
Captured 2687 bytes of jpeg data
Resolution 240 x 240
Captured image!
Encoding image...
JPEG sz: 2687 bytes
Encoded sz: 3584 characters
Sending image to Adafruit IO...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "code.py", line 59, in <module>
  File "adafruit_io/adafruit_io.py", line 604, in send_data
  File "adafruit_io/adafruit_io.py", line 548, in _post
  File "adafruit_requests.py", line 725, in post
  File "adafruit_requests.py", line 649, in request
  File "adafruit_connection_manager.py", line 331, in get_socket
  File "adafruit_connection_manager.py", line 248, in _get_connected_socket
KeyboardInterrupt:

Description

Network requests after pycam object initialization seem to fail. This previously worked on CircuitPython 9.x projects like the IoT Doorbell

I ruled out simple memory issues via gc analysis and deleting large objects (like the jpeg object)

Workaround (below) is to call pycam.camera.deinit(), then pycamera.camera.init() between captures

Additional information

Adding a call to pycam.camera.deinit() causes the code to succeed.

    # Attempt to send encoded_data to Adafruit IO camera feed
    print("Sending image to Adafruit IO...")
    pycam.camera.deinit()
    io.send_data(feed_camera["key"], encoded_data)
    print("Sent image to IO!")

Output:

Auto-reload is on. Simply save files over USB to run them or enter REPL to disable.
code.py output:
Connecting to Transit
Connected to Transit!
Feed ready: camera
Found AW9523
Initializing camera
Found camera OV5640 (240 x 176) at I2C address 3c
colors 16777215
colors 16777215
/lib/adafruit_pycamera/ov5640_autofocus.bin
init done @ 2.67798
No SD card inserted
Focusing camera...
Capturing image...
Captured 2527 bytes of jpeg data
Resolution 240 x 240
Captured image!
Encoding image...
JPEG sz: 2527 bytes
Encoded sz: 3372 characters
Sending image to Adafruit IO...
Sent image to IO!

Code done running.