Problem with 1424 and dalsa ca d1 256A

[frank_1424]

Hello friends.

Im using a PCI card 1424 with a dalsa CA D1 256A camera and Im facing a problem.

When I try to do a snap with MAX the image I get is a white square.

But If I click several times in the snap button of MAX the image slowly appears and in the 10th click aprox it shows the image correctly.

I guess is something related to the saturation of the CCD in the camera. I have tried to close/open the iris of the lens, point the camera to bright/dark objects and I can only get a clear image when I click several times the snap button.

Also I would like to know how can I control the shutter speed of the camera? This camera is digital and have no switches or jumpers.

Please can somebody tell me what is happening?

Regards

Frank

[Robert_Eastlund]

Dear Frank,

You can adjust the camera settings in Measurement and Automation under the Camera Attributes tab.  There, you should find settings for binning, frame rate, camera clock and framegrabber clock.  What are these values currently set to?

-Robert

[frank_1424]

Hello Robert.  Thanks for your answer

Yes, I was experimenting with the properties you mention. 

Mi current camera settings are:

Binning                    -> Off      

Frame rate              -> Max   (Default setting was "User select" I changed to "Max" and now the snap works)

Frame rate value    -> 256

Pixel clock              ->  Camera clock

Frequency              ->  16.0 mhz         

The solution was to change the Frame Rate from "User select" to "Max"

Now with the Frame Rate set to "Max" the snap works OK. Im doing the snap in MAX and my software (IMAQ and C++ Builder)

But please could you explain me what this properties means? What is the binning? the pixel clock? and the others properties?

Im developing a top speed application for potato inspection and I need to set the camera shutter to the maximum speed because the potatoes are moving in the conveyor very, very, very fast.

The camera dont have many properties to set. I guess this is good, its not so complicated.

So please could you  explain me or redirect me to some documents who explain this properties?

I guess the shutter speed needs to be calculated based in the number of parts/second with some formula. 

I have a large experience with the card 1408 and 1409 and th JAI CV-M50 camera. But now we are jumping to digital using 1424 and the DALSA CA-D1 256A and I dont have much experience with it.

Thanks

Frank

[Adam_H]

Hi frank,

The camera attributes are specific to each camera.  I tried to find a manual for you camera but did not have any luck so I cannot say for sure what the different properties stand for.  However below is a list of what I would assume they mean.

Binning:  A method of combining the charge of two consecutive pixels and returning a single pixel value with a greater charge, producing a smaller, brighter image.

Frame Rate:  How fast the camera is acquiring images.  Typically in frames per second.

Frame Rate Value:  I would assume this is where you set the frame rate if you are using User Select Mode

Pixel Clock:  Where the source of the pixel clock is.

Frequency:  I think this is the rate of the Pixel clock.

[frank_1424]

Hi Adam

Good to hear from you

Yes I was  researching in the ni site and I found explanations to many of the properties of this camera.

Now Im facing one question:

I need to set the shutter speed of the camera  to the minimum possible value, because im analizing potatoes moving in a fast conveyor.

In MAX I cannot find any property  for specifying the shutter time. Here I send you zip file with images of my MAX configuration.

I connected my camera and it works OK but I dont know what shutter speed is currently using.

Please any help will be useful, also I send a mail to dalsa and they send me the manual of the camera,

I wrote them asking this question and Im waiting for their response.

Regards

Frank

[frank_1424]

Hi Adam

Good to hear from you

Yes I was  researching in the ni site and I found explanations to many of the properties of this camera.

Now Im facing one question:

I need to set the shutter speed of the camera  to the minimum possible value, because im analizing potatoes moving in a fast conveyor.

In MAX I cannot find any property  for specifying the shutter time. Here I send you zip file with images of my MAX configuration.

I connected my camera and it works OK but I dont know what shutter speed is currently using.

Please any help will be useful, also I send a mail to dalsa and they send me the manual of the camera,

I guess the shutter speed is set in the .icd file

Regards

Frank

[Adam_H · Accepted solution]

Hi frank,

I think the attribute you are looking for is frame rate. The shutter speed in most cases will set how fast the camera is acquiring. Setting this to MAX like you have should give the most frames the camera is capable of acquiring. The attributes you listed appear to be all of the attributes in the camera file. Your camera may or may not have more but for some reason the manual dose not list them.

[frank_1424]

Hi Adam

Yes, I guess the attribute is the frame rate of the frame grabber and I think right now the camera is working at his full speed.

Im doing some tests here with a small simulator and the images are acquiring ok, but I would like to control and understand what is really happening. But if there is no more settings in the camera or the frame grabber then I guess there is nothing else to do.

I hope that in triggered acquisition the frame grabber send the correct signals of synchronization to the camera.

I remember in our first systems we build, we used a 1408 frame grabber and a JAI CVM50 camera, and it was very difficult to synchronize the board and the camera in triggered acquisition. But this was an analog system. Since the 1424 is digital I guess the syncronization is done in a better way.

Thanks for your help Adam!

Frank