Analog Control Features and Nodes

Analog control features in Emergent Vision Technologies cameras enhance image quality and adaptability under varying conditions. They provide precise control over the camera's response to light and color.

By adjusting gain, offset, white balance, and color correction, these features allow you to optimize image brightness, contrast, and color fidelity. Look-up table (LUT) settings further tailor the image's look directly in the camera, reducing post-processing work. Frame and region of Interest (ROI) controls enable focusing on specific scene parts, and fixed pattern noise (FPN) correction improves image clarity by reducing noise in line scan cameras. Together, these controls offer extensive flexibility, ensuring high-quality image capture across different lighting and shooting scenarios.

You can use the features with Emergent's eCapture Pro application. Alternatively, you can use the features with Emergent's eSDK API and the feature nodes. The \EVT\eSDK\Examples\EVT_AnalogControl directory contains example code that demonstrates how to programmatically use the analog control features.

Note: Each Emergent camera provides some or all of the following features and nodes, depending on the camera model.

Gain and offset

Gain and offset controls manage the camera's sensitivity to light and the baseline signal level. Gain adjustments amplify the signal from the sensor, making the camera more sensitive to light, which is useful in low-light conditions but can introduce noise. Offset controls adjust the baseline level of the signal, which can help in fine-tuning the image's brightness and contrast. The automatic gain features adjust the gain based on the brightness of the image to achieve a desired signal level.

Gain and Offset Features and Nodes

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Look-up tables

LUT settings are used for color grading and correcting the image in-camera. Enabling LUT allows for predefined color transformations, which can adjust the image's contrast, brightness, and color saturation directly before the image processing pipeline. This is particularly useful for achieving a specific look or correcting color imbalances without post-processing.

Look-Up Table Features and Nodes

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White balance

White balance settings control the camera's color balance, ensuring that the colors in the image appear natural under different lighting conditions. Adjustments to the red, green, and blue gain values help in correcting color casts caused by varying light sources. The auto white balance features automatically adjust these values to maintain color accuracy, while the hold and gain rate adjustments provide control over how quickly these adjustments are applied.

White Balance Features and Nodes

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Color correction

‍Color correction features adjust the overall color tone and fidelity of the image. The color correction matrix is a sophisticated tool that can compensate for color mismatches and enhance color accuracy, making it essential for high-quality image reproduction. Adjusting the color temperature can help in achieving a more natural look under various lighting conditions by matching the camera's white balance to the light source's color temperature.

Color Correction Features and Nodes

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Frame and region of interest

Frame and ROI features allow for the dynamic adjustment of the captured image's size and position. By setting the size (X and Y dimensions) and offset (X and Y positions), users can focus on a specific area of interest within the frame. This is particularly useful for cropping out unnecessary parts of the scene or focusing on a specific subject without physically moving the camera.

Frame and Region of Interest Features and Nodes

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Fixed pattern noise correction

FPN correction features reduce or eliminate fixed pattern noise, a type of image noise that appears as consistent pattern artifacts in images captured by digital cameras. The dark and lit FPN calibration settings allow the camera to adjust for these patterns under different lighting conditions (dark or lit), significantly improving image quality by reducing noise artifacts.

Fixed Pattern Noise Correction Features and Nodes

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For information about other types of camera features, see Camera Features Overview.