Today the correct 1.2V LDO arrived, so I replaced it on the shield, replaced the camera sensor (in case I fried this one with the incorrect 1.5V) and tried again. And... nothing again.

With the help of Jeff Epler, I checked the signals on various pins, and as far as my toy scope can tell, they are all correct. In other words, it should all work, but somehow doesn't.

Next I'm going to look for a different example, not involving CircuitPython, to see if maybe that will work. I also have a Chinese module with the same camera, that I want to try.

In any case, the shield doesn't seem to need any electrical fixes, so I went ahead and ordered the second version, with slightly nicer traces, and i2c pins in a more traditional place — so it can be used together with other shields.