NOVEMBER 24, 2008--PicSight Gigabit-Ethernet and smart cameras are now fitted with a fully integrated socket, enabling motorized lenses with C or CS mountings to be connected directly to them. Using three H-switches for the aperture, depth of field, or the focus, respectively, the operator is able to select either a positive or negative operating voltage, which can then correspond to two directions of movement (e.g., for zooming in and out, depending on the function required). Potentiometer positions of the three functions can be read by an ADC and evaluated by the software to give the user full control over the motorized zoom lens for auto-focus and auto-iris functions. This enables object-tracking systems, for example, to permit a work piece to be monitored sharply over a large distance range.
Leutron Vision
Konstanz, Germany
www.leutron.com
For related information, visit the Gigabit Ethernet and Smart Cameras topic centers.
------
LEUTRON VISION adds a motorized-lenses option to its modular PicSight cameras for VISION 2008
Always in focus
Konstanz, 19 September 2008. If your quality control requires an image to be automatically adapted to different object sizes, LEUTRON VISION's PicSight modular camera solution is exactly what you are looking for. PicSight Gigabit-Ethernet and smart cameras are now fitted with a fully integrated socket enabling motorized lenses with C or CS mountings to be connected directly to them. Using three H-switches for the aperture, depth of field or the focus respectively, the operator is able to select either a positive or negative operating voltage which can then correspond to two directions of movement, e.g. for zooming in and out, depending on the function required. The potentiometer positions of the three functions can be read precisely by an ADC (Analog Digital Converter) and evaluated by the software. Thus, the user is given full control over the motorized zoom lens and, using the corresponding software, is in a position to achieve auto-focus and auto-iris functions. As Meinrad Simnacher, CEO of LEUTRON VISION GmbH, explains, "This means that fully automated lens control is not only available for video-surveillance cameras, but now for industrial cameras with high resolution and high quality sensors, too."
The PicSight series, a fundamentally new modular camera concept first launched at the end of 2005, provides the user with extensive flexibility and economic efficiency. The modular nature of the camera concept enables cameras to be individually tailored to the specific needs of each user and to be supplied very quickly. Application engineers have a selection of 28 different types of sensor to choose from, either CCD monochrome or colour, ranging from VGA resolution up to 1628 x 1236 (UXGA) pixels, or CMOS with resolutions of up to more than five million pixels. Image transmission is possible via a number of digital interfaces such as Gigabit-Ethernet, Camera Link or USB 2.0. A variety of different sensor-, interface- and processor modules can be combined with each other, as desired, to produce as many as 300 different types of cameras including smart cameras.
As mentioned above, PicSight models with the selected GigE-Vision interface can now also be supplied with a socket for the control of motorized lenses. This enables systems for traffic surveillance to be adjusted easily to suit the most varied lighting conditions or for object-tracking systems, for example, to permit a work piece to be monitored sharply over a large distance range thanks to the auto-focus function. These are only a few of the many possible fields of application. "Now our modular PicSight cameras will be interesting as IP cameras for video surveillance purposes," adds Simnacher.
The new option offering the PicSight GigE cameras with motorized lenses will be presented for the first time at the specialised trade fair VISION 2008 in Stuttgart on the LEUTRON VISION AG stand (4B17) in Hall 4.
Leutron Vision AG, with headquarters in Glattbrugg (Switzerland), is one of the leading providers of industrial image acquisition systems. More than 30 years experience in the development of image processing components, such as frame grabbers, means the company's extensive knowledge puts it way ahead in the camera business that took off at the end of 2005. "We see ourselves increasingly as a 'One-Stop-Shopping-Provider' for image acquisition components," says Mathias Leumann, who founded Leutron Vision in Zürich in 1979. Leutron Vision is a worldwide supplier of cameras, embedded vision PCs, frame grabbers, lenses, LED lighting and other products, and is one of the pioneering forces in standardisation organisations such as GenIcam. The company has wholly-owned subsidiaries in Germany (Konstanz), the Czech Republic and the USA as well as a worldwide network of distributors.
