Motor vehicle camera device with histogram spreading

A method for operating a camera device for a motor vehicle, comprising:

• providing a raw image of an environment of the camera device by an image sensor of the camera device;
• and
• generating an output image from the raw image by an image processing device, which determines from a respective input pixel value of each pixel of the raw image each one output pixel value of a corresponding pixel of the output image by a spreading function of a histogram spreading,
• wherein at least one parameter value of the camera device depending on a brightness of the environment is acquired and a limit value for the output pixel values is set in the spreading function depending on the at least one acquired parameter value, and
• wherein the limit value is set independently of a histogram of the input pixel values of the raw image,
• wherein a minimum value is set for the output pixel values by the limit value, and
• wherein the minimum value is inversely proportional to the brightness of the environment.