Notes on setting up a camera from the USB 2 uEye series:

1. Set up options

2. Sequence when setting up image

1. Set up options:

After measurement program has been started and the video display selected either by

           

                       

you will be able to access the following camera settings: Image 3 - brightness

and contrast

which you can use to set up the display of the image.

Please note that the settings depend on the parameters in the second tab

( image 4 ) (see below).

Image 3: Values after clicking on "Standard value"

Image 4: Values after clicking on "Standard value"

The standard values depend on the type of camera and can vary. In this

example the uEye 1540 C camera was used.

The ranges of adjustment for pixel frequency and  frame rate depend

on the type of camera.The frame rate ( images per second ) is directly

dependent on the pixel frequency, the read-out speed of the sensor.

The pixel frequency also affects the image brightness - the higher the pixel

frequency the darker the image.The higher you set the pixel frequency then

the higher can be the frame rate.

Further, the frame rate affects the image brightness and contrast.

The brightness decreases with increasing frame rate.

You can use the "Gain" slider to increase the basic gain, should brightness

and contrast alone not be sufficient. The noise in the image will be greater

at higher levels of gain.

You can use the "white balance" to adapt the colour image display to your lighting.

2. Sequence for the image settings

With USB cameras you can make the following settings:

On the tab: IDS uEye:

Pixel Frequency:

read-out speed of the camera chip

Frame Rate :

number of images per second

Exposure Time: 

corresponds to a "mechanical aperture"

Gain: 

for colour cameras, a slider for enhancing the colours allowing

for the values of the white balance

Gamma = correction slider, which corrects for the imbalance with the image

display due to different hardware. 

Additional: white balance and scaling (not available for all camera versions)

On the tab: Parameters:

Brightness

Contrast

Aim: to show an image with a good contrast at the highest possible image

refresh rate (frame rate).

In principle the pixel frequency and the frame rate are set up to the right stop.

The maximum pixel frequency depends on the type of camera and the performance

of the computer.If the image stops being updated the pixel frequency is reduced

towards the left in steps until the image again becomes "live". The reduction of

the pixel frequency leads to an automatic reduction in the frame rate (which is appropriate).

.

Brightness, Contrast and Gamma can be set using the button for standard values.

If the image is too bright then first reduce the image to the display as desired using

the slider for exposure time.Only then should adjustments be made using the

brightness and contrast sliders.

For images that appear too dark set the exposure time to the maximum and then

adjust using the sliders for brightness and contrast. If this is not sufficient then you

can increase the gain. Too high a gain leads to noise in the image.

If even this is not enough then the image brightness can be increased by reducing

the pixel frequency and thus also the frame rate.

The gamma slider should only be used where absolutely necessary since gamma

"distorts" the relationship between brightness and contrast. Test to see how the

image changes.Therefore: only use gamma as a last result.

The point where a particular adjustment has reached its limit and the next option

for adjustment has to be used can only be tested directly on the object.