Edmund debuts USB 2.0 cameras

Edmund Optics has announced its EO family of intelligent machine-vision cameras with USB 2.0 interfaces. The EO family offers four combinations of resolution and speed, ranging from 752x480 pixels at 87 fps to 2560x1920 pixels at 6 fps. Lower-resolution cameras are available in monochrome or color versions, while the higher-resolution models are color-only. Each camera in the family features a progressive-scan CMOS sensor, software-based exposure control, C-mount lens fittings, and a USB 2.0 interface. The cameras have the same 34x32x27.4-mm dimensions, allowing users to interchange cameras without needing to modify the machine-vision system.

The intelligent EO cameras come with software support that lets users adjust the frame rate by setting a specified area of interest (AOI) within the image. Frame rate can also be adjusted using binning or subsampling. Software also allows the user to control signal gain, set exposure time, and set frame rate as well as establish trigger and digital output delays and durations. Users can set exposure, gain, and white balance manually or allow the camera to handle these parameters automatically.

The high-speed USB 2.0 interface coupled with the camera’s intelligence permits the camera to provide data in a variety of modes. Software supplied with the camera allows image capture in JPEG or bitmap file formats or video capture in AVI format, both with hot-pixel correction. The camera can also perform edge enhancement, image mirroring, and image binning in both vertical and horizontal directions. Drivers for the camera are available for Microsoft’s DirectShow/Windows Driver Model (WDM) and ActiveX as well as for TWAIN applications programs. In addition, a software development kit (SDK) and documentation are available.

Base price: $695 to $1195. Edmund Optics, www.edmundoptics.com.