cheapest camera for FireWire

[thaiski]

Hello
I have IEEE 1349 Card Bus Adapter (PCIMCIA for laptops), LV + Vision and I need the cheapest and simplest IEEE 1349 camera just for fun. It is for my training not for work. The quality of pictures is not important. Any suggestions ?

Thank you for help.

[music2131]

Cheapest I know of is the Unibrain Fire - I for around $120.

http://www.unibrain.com/Products/VisionImg/Fire_i_DC.htm

Fun to play around with, I've got one at home.

[muks]

Hi music 2131,
                        Does this firewire camera come with labVIEW drivers? Have you used it?

[music2131]

You have to choose your driver. If you use the driver (and application) that comes with it, it won't work properly in Labview (except for the USB drivers). If you choose Labview's own driver (standard 1394 IIDC), it will fully work with Labview (capture and control) but no other external applications will recognize it. I always use the IIDC driver. 

[muks]

Can you post some images?

[music2131]

Sure:

I've attached three images as examples:

Custom White Balance: Best Case Scenario, very well lit, hand picked exposure and white balance settings. Image is a Gretag Macbeth mini color checker (honestly, I love that thing)

Outside Image: Worst Case Scenario: Mostly automatic exposure settings, color balance is completely messed up (it's the exact same color checker in this image).

Current Shot: Average case: Just shot this a minute ago. Noisy, but still usable. 

[muks]

Thanx for your response.Is this best image clarity  possible? Looks like a webcam quality.

[music2131]

The bayer filter really wrecks havok on the image quality in low light situations. The Color Checker image is illuminated by a lamp sitting 4 inches away from the color checker (hence, best case scenario). In addition, very high light situations (full sunlight) seem to not go well either (I work on a robotics team, and we use a pair of Neutral Density filters totaling +6 to decrease the incoming light).

The only other Firewire cameras I can find go for a minumum of $400, and basically have the same image sensor as this one. I'm not saying the image quality is great (It is, basically, a webcam), I'm saying it's cheap and it's a great way to get started (or play around with) digital camera control and capture inside of Labview.    

[thaiski]

Hello Music2131
Tkanks for your response. Is it enough to buy Fire-i™ 3.71 drivers & application, 32 bit version, for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista ?? They do not mention about LabView ? Do I need anything else to drive that camera with LV ? I mean any additional drivers like NI-IMAQ for IEEE 1394 Cameras 2.0.1 I  do have LV and Vision.

Thank for your help

[BruceAmmons]

If you want to use the camera from LabVIEW, you will need the 1394 drivers.  I would use the IMAXdx drivers, which are the most current.  You will have to purchase the NI Vision Acquisition Software to get them.  They cost more than the camera!!!

I agree that this camera is a good starter.  I would never use it for any kind of analysis, but it useful for learning how to use a firewire camera.  It also teaches you some of the pitfalls of using a color camera - color balancing, Bayer filters, etc.

Bruce