Redlake ES 11000 12 bit isn't really 12 bit

[Tom-G]

Hi,

a while ago we bought the Redlake ES 11000, which is supposed to be a 12 bit camera and the Software that came with it seemed to support that statement, since it's possible to select 12, 10 and 8 as bit depth. I'm using the 1394 interface rather than a frame grabber to interface with the camera controller.

Today I found out that even though the intensity values delivered by the camera span over a range of 4096 (with an offset of 32768), if I plot a histogram it shows that intensity values are spaced by 16 rather than 1, which results in an actual bit depth of 8 bit (see attachment).

I took images with Redlake's "MegaPlus Central", NI's "Measurement & Automation Explorer" and an application I wrote myself. They all showed the same result when selecting "12 bit" bit depth.

Has anyone discovered similar behaviour and solved it to get real 12 bit out of the camera?

Cheers,

  Tom

[Robert_Eastlund]

Dear Tom,

The camera should certainly be able to output a 12-bit image.  Have you selected Format 7, Mode 0 and Mono 16-bit for the output?  Please upload a MAX screenshot of your camera's settings.

-Robert

[Tom-G]

I'm pretty sure, I've got the settings right. I made a copy of the icd file created by the Measurement & Automation Explorer and attached the settings screen for the MegaPlus Central. That will do, will it?

Maybe the controller is running an old firmware but I couldn't get much out of redlake's current website.

Tom

Message Edited by Tom-G on 08-27-2008 08:45 AM

[Robert_Eastlund]

Dear Tom,

Is the appearance of the 8-bit and 12-bit image on the display identical?

The last time that I had a similar situation with a camera the cable connecting the camera head to the controller was defective.  Your camera may need to be checked out by the manufacturer.  Princeton Instruments is the current owner of the Megaplus product line, see http://www.piacton.com/support/default.aspx.  The technical support contact is listed at the bottom of the page.

-Robert

[BruceAmmons]

I noticed the camera has both camera link and firewire interfaces.  Is it possible that only the camera link interface has true 12 bit output, while the firewire is limited to eight?

Bruce

[seVEMes]

Tom,

Did these suggestions resolve your issue or are you still not able to view a 12 bit image?

[Tom-G]

Hi,

the problem is solved. I'm not sure what I've done wrong before but MegaPlus Central now saves and displays data in real 12 bit and after realising that I had to change exposure times and gain settings quite a bit, I had another thought about the data structure and it turns out that

ShiftPixelBits = 0
SwapPixelBytes = 0
instead of

ShiftPixelBits = 1

SwapPixelBytes = 1

lets MAX save 12 bit data, too.

Sorry for the trouble,

Tom