ORCA-ER 1394, snap/grab images only once, time out for further tests

[volkmer]

I use an Hamamatsu ORCA-ER camera to aquire images with Labview 7.0 . The camera is supported by the NI-IMAQ for 1394 Drivers and I can grab/snap images with MAX or the Labview NI-IMAQ 1394 sample applications. Unfortunately the camera aquires images only for the first time. Each further tests gives me the message "Error 0xBFF68002, Time out". In order to continue I have to switch off/on the camera or reinstall the NI-IMAQ 1394 driver. I seems to me that the camera or some connected resource is not released after leaving the IMAQ application.

Is there a simple way or function to put the camera in the initial state it had before start aquiring images?

The software/version I use:

Hamamatsu ORCA-ER 1
394
NI-IMAQ for 1394 1.51.
NI-IMAQ 2.60.0
IMAQ Vision 7.0.0

Thanks
M. Volkmer

[Julie S]

When using IEEE-1394 cameras there are various video modes and image sizes to choose from. When using certain cameras such as the Hamamatsu ORCA in mode 0, depending on the image size selected, you may get a timeout when trying to acquire.
This is caused by an incorrect setting in the "bytes per pixel" parameter. Setting the value to 3440 usually solves the issue. For other models of cameras you will have to look in the manual to get an appropriate value for the "bytes per pixel" parameter.
Hope this helps -
Julie S
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Dr. Hamid]

Hi;
This message is for Julie who said that one should
"Setting the value to 3440 usually solves the issue. "

Now my question is what value should be set? Time out value or bits per pixels?
Bits per pixels can not be 3440? where this figure comes from?

Regards
Hamid

[Joach_k]

Hi,

I have exacctly the same error on my setup with IMAQ for ieee1394 2.0.0.
The camera is a Basler A602f.

NOTE : I DIDN'T HAVE this error with IMAQ ieee1394 1.5

Now I can't even take a single picture bcz of this bug.

I am reverting to old version, which is furthermore not littered by license management. At first I tought it was bcz I didn't register it but after registration I got exactly the same problem.

Joachim

[RManion]

Hi Joachim,

Most likely the behavior you are seeing is not a bug, but rather the device is not configured properly. I have a Basler A602f here on my desk and have no trouble recording images with the 2.0 driver.

The error code that was previously mentioned is the numeric code associated with a Timeout error. Timeout errors can occur for a great number of reasons, and we should properly troubleshoot yours on an individual basis.

What video mode were you trying to acquire in? Can you give details on the resolution, bytes per packet, offsets, etc? Were you attempting a snap or grab? Have you tried power cycling the camera?

Lets see if we can figure out what was going wrong.

Robert

[Joach_k]

Hi,

I am sorry not to have answered sooner.
I have reverted to IMAQ 1.5.2 because I couldn't find a solution with IMAQ 2.
I am going to reinstall the whole thing (Labview + IMAQ2.0) on a separate windows partition when I got time. Furthermore I need the most recent IMAQ1394 because it seems the 1.5.2 version isn't very fast with buffers, and no configuration of buffer size.
I will tell you exactly when this happens. From what I can remember, all the video modes provoked this error. It seems the packet size couldn't be defined properly also. I was trying the camera in MAX, so it was not a VI-related problem. When I modified packet size, I could get a rubbish image then a timeout.

Thanks for your answer, I am going to post again as soon as I got the alternate version running.

Joachim

[wpang]

I have a similar problem as the initial post by volkmer. However, I get a -51050 error on the second acquisition attempt from the Configure Acquisition VI. This only seems to happen after I do a grab session, or when I change video modes, when I use Mode 1 triggering for One Shot acquisition.

Any Suggestions?

Regarding the bytes per pixel setting ... can this be set in MAX? All I see is "Packet Size". It appears as a listing in the Acquisition Attributes, but it is not writable and is set to a value of 2.

Orca C4742-80-12AG
NI-IMAQ 1394 v 2.0.0
LabVIEW 7.1
NI-DAQmx 7.3.0f0

[RManion]

Hi,

The Bytes per pixel referred to by Julie was probably meant to be Bytes per packet. Bytes per pixel is something determined by the camera and normally you have a small amount of choice: i.e. 8 bits, 10 bits, 12 bits, etc. (8 bits per pixel is 1 byte, anything between 8 bits and 16 bits is stored as two bytes.)

Bytes per packet on the other hand is sometime changeable in format 7 mode, and determines how many bytes are sent for your image in each packet. The firewire bus can handle a maximum of 4096 bytes per packet.

Robert

[wpang]

Thanks for the clarification Robert. My camera is already set to 3440 bytes/packet. Is there any other reason why I would be getting the previously mentioned errors?

[RManion]

Hello again,

The error that volkmer mentioned towards the beginning of the post is a timeout error, which is generally the most vague of all the error messages. Typically these error messages should be troubleshot on an individual basis, with a number of tests and more detailed information.

A couple of things to keep in mind include to test first in MAX, and additionally remember that it is not possible to have an interface open with the camera from both MAX and LabVIEW at the same time. The latest version of the driver is always a plus.

one other thing that can often be easier than reinstalling the driver: within the C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI-IMAQ for IEEE 1394\Data folder the driver stores settings for each camera. You can sometimes delete these files to fix problems caused by the current settings of a camera. Note that you will lose any saved changes to the particular camera files.

Hope this helps!

Robert