Industrial imaging Archives - Page 2 of 13 - 1stVision Inc.

April 17, 2020May 3, 2021

1stVision acquired by Next Imaging

We are excited to announce that 1stVision has been acquired by Next Imaging as of February 7, 2020. We will be doing business as 1stVision, Inc. keeping our well-known presence in the imaging market for the foreseeable future and continuing to serve the North American Market at the highest level. Industry veteran Mike Troiano [has joined us to expand our presence and knowledge.

Next Imaging also owns I mage S SpA, the largest imaging distributor in Italy. Next Imaging’s focus is to build a strategic platform for imaging distribution in the American and European markets. Together we are the only distribution partner in the world to service both North America and Europe for many of our principals.

We have helped deploy nearly 100 systems since early March for the detection of COVID-19 and for diagnostic systems to help patients recover. Global suppliers have supported us with lead times in as short as 4 business days for products that normally take 4-8 weeks in our fight. As the North American market’s largest supplier of imaging components, we have been sited by several of the world’s top healthcare organizations as a key partner and an essential supplier during this time. We remain open for business Monday through Friday 8-4PM EST.

During the difficult time caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we look forward to a bright future supporting our existing and new customers for medical, industrial and emerging imaging applications.

1stVision’s team of experts have nearly 200 years of combined experience providing a high level of technical know-how. With a large portfolio of cameras, lenses, cables, NIC cards and industrial computers, we can provide a full vision solution! Freel free to contact us for immediate technical assistnace HERE

January 14, 2020January 14, 2020

Which machine vision lens provide ultra-high resolution?

The image fidelity achievable from a machine vision camera is only as good as the optics you use! Many of the machine vision cameras used today utilize very small pixels, down to 1.25um. The crispness of the images are a result of the resolution of your machine vision lens, so matching the right lens to the camera sensor is extremely important. We classify the lens resolution in terms of line pairs per millimeter (lp/mm). So, what lenses can help resolve these small pixels?

pixel size — Click to download our quick reference chart

First, the relationship of pixel pitch can be put in terms of lp/mm as seen in the chart to the right. Machine vision lens manufacturers today typically provide the resolving power on their data sheets to help in the lens selection and ensure your matching the lens to the image sensor. If not matched properly, image contrast will suffer.

For machine vision cameras with small pixels, the Moritex ML-M-UR “Ultra high” resolution lenses are an excellent choice with the capability of resolving pixel pitches down to 2.2um with good contrast.

Click HERE for specifications on the Moritex ML-M-UR series and request a quote

The comparison images below show the Moritex ML-M-UR series compared to a conventional lens with less resolution. As you can see in the cutout of the corner, the contrast is much higher with lenses with high resolving power.

machine vision lenses - image comparison — Left (High resolution lens) Right (Legacy lower resolution lens)

Lens resolution typically has fall off to the edges of a lens. To maintain high contrast, Moritex has optimized the ML-M-UR series to have good resolving power to the edges of the lens.

The charts below represent the contrast (MTF) corresponding to image height (x-axis ) showing the contrast from lens center to lens edge. The X-axis represents the center starting at zero millimeters and mapping MTF to the edge (furthest right point) The ML-M-UR shown in the left chart demonstrates very good performance across the lens. (A relatively flat line is good!) As a comparison to another lens (right chart), contrast is degraded across the lens from center to edge.

Aside from high resolution, The Moritex ML-M-UR series are a compact, 29mm diameter design and well suited for typical 29mm cube cameras. Additionally the lenses have an anti-vibration design with maximum acceleration to 10G’s.

Click to contact — Give us some brief idea of your application and we will contact you to
discuss camera options.

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!

Ph: 978-474-0044 / info@1stvision.com / www.1stvision.com

What is a 3D camera and how is it used in machine vision?

A 3D Profile sensor (aka camera) relies on 3D Laser Triangulation techniques that have been around for a long time, but until now were expensive. 3D Laser triangulation a decade ago consisted of using separate components in complicated setups using lasers, lighting, optics and algorithms to capture 3D information. Today, this has become simplified into a single package. Teledyne Dalsa Z-Trak profile sensor puts the optics, lasers and cameras into a single package with comprehensive free software.

Ask us for a quote on Z-trak!

How does the Z-Trak Profile sensor capture 3D information?
As shown in the image below, a laser stripe is projected on the object and imaged on an image sensor. This gives the position of the laser stripe and provides lateral information and depth giving X and Z axis data. By moving the object in the Y-Scan direction the Y-axis data point is provided then giving full X, Y & Z dimensional information.

What applications do 3D laser triangulation solve?
Z-Trak laser profile cameras are GigE Vision compliant permitting it to be used with any image processing software that supports 16 bit acquisition using the GigE Vision protocol. Using 3rd party and open platform software development packages such as Dalsa Sapera Processing 3D, Sherlock 8 3D, Stemmer CVB, GeniCAM tools and MvTec Halcon many applications can be solved.
A partial list of applications is as follows:

Teledyne Dalsa provides free software packages consisting of Sapera Processing with run time licenses and Sherlock 3D. Easy to use demo programs are also included. A few examples using the Sapera source code are as follows:

Full specifications, Data sheets and manual for Teledyne Dalsa Z-Trak can be found HERE.
or request a Quote HERE

Ph: 978-474-0044 / info@1stvision.com / www.1stvision.com

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019

IDS uEye cameras now focus automatically! Learn how to optimize your application

IDS Imaging has released its new contrast-based autofocus features in the popular LE board level cameras. These additions take advantage of standard liquid lenses from Varioptic with resolutions up to 18 megapixels. The uEye software now comes with an intuitive GUI with adjustable regions of interest and various image sharpness measurement algorithms.

As much as “Auto focus” seems like it would be the flip of a switch, its important to understand the various methods used in the image analysis. In order to focus an image, algorithms are needed to measure image sharpness which is relayed to the liquid lens to make adjustments. These methods as based on principles in measuring edge sharpness to analyzing histogram values of the pixel grey scales.

Measuring image sharpness additionally has various algorithms which which can be run providing more exact methods versus basic analysis. It is important to understand these methods as additional processing power is required, effecting the overall camera frame rate.

IDS Imaging has a “Tech Tip” which covers various auto focus methods, defines the characteristics of search algorithms and how they effect speed and provides application examples. Click the icon below to download.

Ph: 978-474-0044 / info@1stvision.com / www.1stvision.com

Related Blogs & Products
IDS UI-1007XS – AutoFocus, 5MP camera for < $300 Click HERE for details

Low Cost imaging solutions starting @ $120 address remote focus and zoom up to 5MP