This disclosure is directed to camera systems including a camera array, data buses shared by the cameras, and one or more processors that process images captured by the camera array. In one aspect, a camera system (450) includes a camera array (452), a controller (454), a number of camera buses (458-465), and a computing device (456) connected to the controller. Each camera is connected to one or more adjacent cameras and includes one or more processors. Each camera bus connects a subset of cameras of the camera array to the controller. And each camera can be operated to send to the controller only the image data used by the computing device to generate virtual images and receive instructions from the controller over a camera bus.