Sony digital IEEE 1394
camera family extended to include raw colour models for high speed industrial applications
Fastest achievable colour camera on a 400Mbps bus |
Sony Europes Image Sensing Solutions division, one
of the pioneers in IEEE 1394 technology, has announced two new additions to its range of
progressive scan digital machine vision cameras, the XCD-SX910CR
and XCD-X710CR. Both models offer
raw colour output for enhanced colour fidelity, allowing customers to apply their
proprietary colour conversion routines. With their superior frame rates and excellent
resolution the cameras can improve throughput and increase productivity in high speed
machine vision applications such as sorting / inspection in the food, textile, printing
and medical / pharmaceutical industries, and in quality critical production lines.
The XCD-SX910CR and XCD-X710CR
are the first digital cameras from Sony to offer raw colour output. The new CR (Colour
Raw) cameras deliver the raw luminance of each R, G, and B pixel, providing enhanced
colour fidelity. In some applications it is preferable that the colour output is from a
known reference and that the colour processing takes place outside the camera at the
computer level. These units use a CCD with a Bayer RGB colour mask filter and output raw
pixel values as Mono-8 (8-bits per pixel) in 8-bit mode or Mono-16 (16 bits per pixel) in
10-bit mode. The colour conversion in the computer is supported by Sony's IEEE 1394 driver
and most 3rd party IEEE 1394 (Firewire) compatible software.
The XCD-SX910CR
is based on a 1/2-inch type IT (interline transfer) progressive scan 1,450,000 pixel CCD
for SXGA resolution (1,280 x 960) at up to 15 frames per second. The XCD-X710CR is a 1/3-inch type IT
progressive scan 800,000 pixel CCD camera offering XGA resolution. Both models feature
plug-and-play IEEE 1394 interfaces with a new firmware implementation that provides
compliance to version 1.3 of the standard. The XCD-X710CR has been
optimised to use the IEEE 1394 bus at its best to provide the fastest colour camera
possible on a 400 Mbps bus 30 fps at up to 1024 x 768 resolutions in 8-bit mode.
An assortment of convenient features such as partial scan
(256 zones at 16 x 16) to get increased frame rates and selectable output modes (frame
rate/bit depth) make these cameras extremely flexible. The XCD-SX910
and XCD-X710 operate from an 8-30
Volts DC supply with a power consumption of 3 Watts. The cameras are housed in compact,
rugged steel cases measuring 44 (W) x 33 (H) x 116 (D) mm and each weighs 250g.
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