Sigma LBA-708, LBA-710 Digital Camera Operations, Integration Operation, Digital Camera Control

Note: Do not confuse this type of integration control with features on high-end digital cameras that have externally programmable integration controls. These later types of cameras are programmed by issuing serial commands to the camera’s internal microprocessor. See section 5.4 for a discussion of these types of cameras.

5.3.1Integration Operation

The Integration control is found in the Options, Capture, dialog box. If you purchased a digital camera from Spiricon that is compatible with external integration capabilities, then the Integration edit control will become operational when the matching camera type has been selected. The Spiricon supplied camera power cable will have the integration circuits prewired into the cable.

The only thing required to enable multiple frame integration is to set the Integration value to a number greater than 1. This number represents the number of frame periods that the camera will use for each frame of output video.

5.4 Digital Camera Operations

The largest growing segment of the camera market involves a rapid increase in the numbers and types of digital cameras available for both commercial and scientific uses. As a result, most of our recent efforts in camera testing and evaluating have involved digital cameras. Most all RS-422 and RS-644 (LVDS) digital cameras can be interfaced to any of Spiricon’s new LBA-7XXPC-D (digital option) frame grabbers. The only major limitation has to do with the size of the image that can be captured. This limitation is impacted by the throughput of the frame grabber and the pixel clock and video frame format of the camera. In most cases this impact is limited to a reduction in the frame size or frame resolution that can be reliably acquired from the camera. The Spiricon supplied camera configuration files will take these limitations into account and will adjust the image size or resolution to insure stable operation.

The following section will discuss some of the operating features often seen in modern digital cameras and how those features may or may not be used with the LBA-PC software.

5.4.1Digital Camera Control

Digital cameras often have a large number of control features. The number and methods for controlling these features varies greatly from one manufacturer to another. The basic control methods fall into two categories. The oldest control method employs switches and dials located on the outside and inside of the camera. More modern designs employ micro-processors inside the camera that can control the operations via serial commands issued from your PC’s serial port. The manufactures of these cameras usually provide a camera control console application that must be run on your PC. A few manufactures require you to write your own control application. Some cameras have simple command protocols and can be controlled by typing commands into a simple terminal emulator program like Windows Hyper Terminal.Most digital cameras will power up in a default mode of operation. Some can have the default mode changed by the user. Others will always start operating in one mode and the user must change it to the desired configuration every time power is restored. The LBA-PC camera files are very specific to how certain of these features are configured. The camera file name will often include a reference to a critical feature. Most often these critical settings concern the image format of the camera.

5.4.1.1Digital Camera Binning Effects

Many digital cameras support electronic pixel binning. This feature is usually used to increase the frame rate of the camera by decreasing the total number of pixels in the image. If a camera

Operator’s Manual 124 LBA-PC