Using Sony XC-75 Camera with MAX / Labview / Vision (using PCI 1409 and IMAQ-A6822)

[GregUSA]

Objective:  I want to use the XC-75 camera with Labview/Vision/MAX to capture images that are singe frames.  I also want to know the time interval (with uncertainty) between each frame. 

I am using a XC-75 camera which allows me to set the shutter speed of the camera to one of the following:  OFF, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000, 1/10000.  The default setting is OFF.

Some initial questions:

1.  The default setting is OFF.  What does this mean, 1/60 sec?

2.  Is there a maximum frame rate supported by Labview or the PCI 1409 card?

My understanding is that the IMAQ Grab Acquire will acquire every image that comes from the camera through the PCI 1409 card.  Does the MAX software control whether or not the image captured is a frame or a field?  How to I ensure it is a single frame? 

I also want to know the exact time interval between images.  I guess this is directly related to the shutter frequency.  Is the time to open and close the shutter already accounted for or sufficiently small so as not to factor in?

The other option is to control the shutter using an external trigger (the camera uses a trigger shutter S-DONPISHA function).  I was leaving this as an option only if using the manual shutter settings was not possible.

Thank you for your assistance.

[Allison_S]

Greg,

    I'll try and answer as many of your questions as I can.  First, the "OFF" setting on your camera could mean a few different things possibly 1/60 sec, but I would assume that that would be documented in a user manual for the camera.  If you don't have one, perhaps it is available on the manufacturer's website, or you could call them.

    As far as the frame rate, 30fps is the limit on the 1409 because it's a standard card, non-standard cameras work with our 1410 card which can do 60 fps for instance.

    The Grab function in LabVIEW does grab every frame, as if it were recording video.  There is another function that also has a set of example VI's called Snap, and that takes a single frame at a time - it sounds like snap is what you might want to use.

    The time it takes for the shutter to open and close does not have to be factored in.  Every 1/60 of a second, our card sends a signal to the camera to take an image, then the image data is transferred back to the card.  The only time the shutter speed would affect the acquisition speed is if the shutter time was greater than it (e.g. the camera would not be able to acquire at 1/20 if the shutter was at 1/10).  You should be fine not using an external trigger.  Let me know if you have more questions, thank you!

-Allison S.

Applications Engineering

[GregUSA]

Thank you for the information, it was verfy helpful.  I think I will continue to use the IMAQ Sequence VI (example provided on your site) to capture a series of consecutive frames and save them to files.

The information regarding the acquisition rate and camera shutter frequency was particularly helpful.

Greg