The Machine Vision camera “Sleepability factor”!?

machine vision camera

sleepy cameraThe sleepability factor, or how saving $50 on a machine vision camera could cost you thousands!

As an independent machine vision camera distributor, we are asked about the manufacturers we represent.  Out of all them, we have chosen to only carry products from a few machine vision camera and lens companies of which we have not really changed this over the 20 years we have been in business.  Why is this?

These days, there are probably over 30 different camera manufacturers making products for the machine vision marketplace, many using the identical image sensors.  Considering anyone can just put up a web page and start selling, how can a user know which product to purchase?  Are there really any differences?  Should I just purchase on price?  Should I buy from a distributor or from the manufacturer direct?  All great questions, that we will attempt to answer.

The very simple and quick answer is that if you just need to get a image in good light, pretty much any camera from any vendor will do that job.  No matter if it is from a large company or a 2 person startup, when you take the product out of the box, you should see a “good” image.

But if you said, “I want this camera to run 24/7 for the next 5 years, I want to be able to develop complex software to integrate into my machine, I need the image sensor plane to be within a certain tolerance for each machine,” this changes the situation.

IDS imaging camera
IDS Imaging USB3 cameras

The reason we have chosen the camera manufacturers we sell products from is because each of them has a proven track record of reliability.  Each of the companies we represent ships 6 figures of cameras per year.  IDS Imaging for instance ships close to 200,000 cameras per year and has a return rate of under 0.3%.

 

Allied vision camera
Allied Vision GigE Cameras

Allied Vision was the first company to incorporate the Precision Timing Protocol (PTP) which allows for precise multi camera sync, enabling our clients to not only make sure the application will work, but it doesn’t take years to develop it.

 

 

 

Dalsa line scan cameras
Teledyne Dalsa Line Scan cameras

 

Teledyne Dalsa, besides being a leader in line scan technology,  has a SDK that has been built upon for over 30 years.

 

 

JAI’s prism technology is so good that its competitors actually have JAI

JAI cameras
JAI 3-CMOS Prism camera

manufacture for them.  This isn’t to say there aren’t other camera companies with such characteristics.  There are, and many of the other camera companies have excellent products as well.  It is just that we have chosen these companies, and we have stood with them for 15+ years for good reasons… sleepabilty!

What does this mean to you as a client?  Yes, you can purchase a camera from any vendor, which on a $500 camera, you might even be saving $50 a camera.  If you purchase 100 cameras a year, this adds up to a reasonable savings of $5,000.  But what happens if your machine, which you sell globally, has a camera that fails.  What is the cost of the line going down at your client?  How do you look in your client’s eyes?  What is the cost for you to fix it?

If you had your choice of buying a camera with the same characteristics at roughly the same price, but one company makes 20,000 a year, and the other makes 200,000 a year, which would you choose?  The same is true if you can choose between a company that has offices all over the world, or just in one country.  Or one that has many application engineers to answer your questions, or just one.

We just want to point out that if you are making a purchase on price alone, depending upon your circumstances, it might not really be a savings at all.  In fact, it might actually not only be costing you money, but it might even be costing you your sleep!

Contact us

1st Vision’s sales engineers have over 100 years of combined experience to assist in your camera selection.  With a large portfolio of lenses, cables, NIC card and industrial computers, we can provide a full vision solution!

 

Allied Vision Manta G-040 & G-158 provide great replacements to legacy CCD cameras

Allied Vision is Allied vision industrial cameraexpanding  its line of Manta machine vision cameras, releasing the Manta G-158 and Manta G-040 GigE Vision cameras.  Featuring the second generation Pregius CMOS image sensors from Sony.  These are great replacements for Legacy Sony ICX424 and Sony ICX445 image sensors found in the Manta G-032 and Manta G-125 cameras.

The G-158 camera features the 1.58 megapixel Sony IMX273 image sensor, which has a 3.45 µm pixel size and achieves a frame rate of 75.3 fps. The Manta G-040 camera features the 0.4 megapixel Sony IMX287 image sensor, which has a 6.9 µm pixel size and achieves a frame rate of 286 fps. Higher frame rates can be achieved on both models in burst mode.

Contact 1st vision for pricing

Allied Vision Manta Specifications and comparisons to older Sony CCD sensors as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

Allied Vision Manta features include:

  • Power over Ethernet options (PoE) with Trigger over Ethernet for single cable solutions
  • Angled Head and Board level variations allowing for custom OEM designs
  • Video-Iris lens control for challenging lighting conditions
  • Three look up tables (LUT)
  • Gige Vision compliant with support for popular third party image processing library’s including Cognex VisionPro, Mathworks, MATLAB and National Instruments

To Learn More about the Allied Vision Manta cameras

View more information on the G-158.
View more information on the G-040.

UPDATE:  See this new video from Allied Vision (6/19/18)

1st Vision’s sales engineers have over 100 years of combined experience to assist in your camera selection.  With a large portfolio of lenses, cables, NIC card and industrial computers, we can provide a full vision solution!

Contact us

Additional References:

What are the attributes to consider when selecting a camera and its performance?

Need higher resolution? – Learn about Allied Vision’s high-resolution Prosilica GT now with 12, 16 and 25MP ON Semi PYTHON sensors

Visit our “Knowledge Base” to learn more about camera technology, machine vision lenses and lighting.

 

Allied Vision’s high-resolution Prosilica GT now with 12, 16 and 25MP ON Semi PYTHON sensors

Allied Vision GT camera

Allied Vision Cameras

Allied Vision extends its Prosilica GT Large Format camera platform with three high-resolution ON Semi PYTHON image sensors (Python 12K, Python 16K & Python 25K)

Combined with robust thermal housing designed to operate in extended temperature ranges and fluctuating lighting conditions, the new Prosilica GT Large Format cameras are ideal for high-definition imaging applications with demanding requirements of robustness and design-in flexibility. They provide a great option for high-quality imaging for anyone looking to switch over from existing CCD cameras to CMOS cameras with similar resolutions and optical formats.

Features include:

  • Extended temperature range (-20 deg. C to + 50 deg. C)
  • NIR sensitivity up to 1100nm
  • Modular concept providing various lens mounts (M58, M42, and EF-mount)
  • Fixed Pattern noise correction,  Defect Pixel Correction, and Trigger over Ethernet.

Prosilica GT5120, Prosilica GT4096, and Prosilica GT4090 at a glance

AVT GT specifications

See full specification for the series below:  

Prosilica GT5120,  5120 x 5120, 25MP

Prosilica GT4096, 4096 x 4096, 16MP
This is a great replacement for the KAI-16000 CCD sensors!

Prosilica GT4090, 4096 x 3092, 12MP

Now that you have a great high resolution camera, what lens works best?Kowa F-mount lens

High resolution cameras with the ON Semi Python sensors are great, but only as good as the lenses you use!  It is imperative to have the sensor sizes matched with the lens formats.  Additionally, we need to make sure the lens resolution is adequate for the image sensor pixel size.

To aid in the lens selection, we have the following recommendation on lens series.  Recommendations as follows

Prosilica GT5120,  5120 x 5120, 25MP:  This camera has a  32.58mm diagonal image sensor, so a F-mount lens is required.  Two options are Kowa and Schneider
KOWA – F mount series
Schneider – F mount series

Prosilica GT4096, 4096 x 4096, 16MP:  This camera has a 26.06mm diagonal image sensor, also requiring a F-mount lens.
 KOWA – F mount series
Schneider – F mount series

Prosilica GT4090, 4096 x 3092, 12MP :  This camera has a 23.09mm diagonal image sensor which falls into a 4/3″ format.
KOWA 4/3″ lens series

As a note, as the pixel size is 4.5um, this is not as demanding on the lens resolution and will only require 111 line pairs/mm (lp/mm) making these adequate selections. 

Need more help in understanding lens terminology and format sizes?  Here are some related links

1stVision has experienced engineers to help you develop and further understand the best camera and lens combination for your application.

Contact us to talk to an expert!

71MP camera now with support for Cognex priced below $10K!

71 Megapixels just got even more attractive! 

The Crowley Company has lowered the price to $9,995 for the MACHCAM industrial camera and has implemented several improvements.

Now with support for Cognex Vision Pro, this makes this camera an excellent candidate for machine vision applications requiring ultra-high resolution.

Contact us for pricing now!

For high resolution applications that required multiple cameras, you can now replace them with a single camera!

Applications include aerial surveillance, metrology, document scanning, quality control inspection & medical research to name a few.

The following enhancements have been made to the MACHCAM 71 Megapixel camera.

  • Price, Price, Price!!!   – With pricing below $10K, this truly is the lowest price per pixel now on the market!
  • Cognex Vision Pro capable / USB3 compatible – Software is now released to be compliant with Cognex Vision Pro software and other key industry 3rd party vision packages.
  • Continual improvement to noise reduction –  Noise reduction has been significantly reduced via software improvements
  • Real-time pixel correction has been implemented in the software to enhance image clarity.
  • Internal fan option  Fan options available for active cooling.
  • Color calibration creation – It’s critical to represent accurate color when capturing color images.  To accommodate this, MACHCAM users are provided with procedures to calibrate color based on the camera’s physical environment.  Additionally, The Crowley Company is offering color consultation services to help identify and correct for environmental issues (lighting, stability, etc.).   This is very important in document scanning when considering the camera for FADGI compliance.

Click here now for full camera specifications 

Key features of this camera include

  • Ultra High resolution, 71 MP @ 3 fps using the CMOSIS CHR70M image sensor
  • Small camera case for the sensor size (83 x 83 x 63.5mm ) for easy integration.
  • USB3.0 compatible / Cognex Vision Pro capable
  • Pleora Software development kit (SDK)
  • F-mount standard
  •  Available in color and monochrome.
  •  Meets NARA, FADGI and Metamorfoze image guidelines for document imaging

UPDATE Jan 1, 2019 – Crowley MACHCAM 71MP Camera VIDEO to Outline key features

https://youtu.be/Uvr06VcqxCA

1stVisions sales engineers have 25+ years of experience in the industrial imaging market.  Contact us to discuss your application. 

Lenses for large format cameras can also be a challenge to select.  Click here now to read about considerations in lens selection for large format image sensors / cameras.