Re : Camera problem possibly with different drivers?

[akang]

We are using the Firefly camera with part number: "MV FFMV-03MTM" with a standard rate of 60HZ.  We use the camera with the National Instrument IMAQ Software. The system installed two drivers  the "Legacy N_-IMAQ IEEE 1394 IIDC Digital Camera"  and "NI-IMAQ IIDC Digital Camera".

For the camera we are using right now, when using the "NI-IMAQ IIDC Digital Camera" driver, it works at 60Hz perfectly, however, with "Legacy N_-IMAQ IEEE 1394 IIDC Digital Camera" , it can only work at about 30Hz.   We can set the driver to be the right one in the MAX and it works fine.

However, when I grab the image in Labview It is supposed to use the settings in the MAX, but it always only work at 30Hz whatever I set in the MAX and save the setings.   I just use the standard IMAQ capturing software procedure, and it has no place to set the driver to use. It seems that IMAQ software automatically chooses the wrong driver and works at a lower speed.

Do you have any idea on where the problem is?  Is there a way to uninstall and switch the order of the driver in MAX?

The attached is the interface at "MAX" and the test IMAQ procedure I am using.

Thanks

Cindy

[TiTou]

Hi Cindy,

Which camera file (*.icd) are you using ? By default, MAX comes without any camera file for Firefly camera... If you go to NI's Camera advisor you can download a camera file corresponding to your model (MV FFMV-03MTM), it says it works at 60Hz, if you haven't done it yet, save this camera file in C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI-IMAQ\Data
and select it in MAX  >> Device n Interface >> Legacy IMAQ... >> cam0 >> Camera

I also took the liberty to modify your VI... hope this helps 😉

[akang]

I cannot find the file to the file you are talking about, could you give me the link?

Also, I am using Labview 7.1 and I am not ready to switch to 8.0 yet, so I cannot open your file, do you have a version for Labview 7.1?

Thanks

Cindy

Message Edited by akang on 12-15-2006 04:49 PM

[akang]

Another question, what is the newest version of IMAQ 1394 image capturing library that works with Labview 7.1?

Thanks

Message Edited by akang on 12-15-2006 05:01 PM

[TiTou]

Hi,

Here is the link to get the support file for you camera : http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/nipc.product?pid=7788

I don't know what is the latest NI 1394 driver for LV 7.1 since I have the last one that is for LV8.20 but it might be the same... I assume it is compatible.

Get the support file from the link above, set it up in MAX and check if it works at 60Hz, then if this works I'll try to find time to save in LV7 the VI I sent.
Good luck !

[akang]

The file I got here is a Camera Compatibility Report, The file seems quite different from other camera files I had on the computer. Is this the one you suggest to use?

 ftp://ftp.ni.com/support/imaq/camera_support/camera_files/digital/Point%20Grey/Point%20Grey%20Firefl...

Thanks

Cindy

[TiTou]

Hmmm... well... indeed...

I didn't try to download the file so I didn't see it was just a compatibility report...
At least this document testify that the camera works, so the file must exist somewhere. I suggest you go to the Machine Vision forums and post a new question (with a link to this one) to ask for this camera file, on my side I will try to see if it's possible to get a camera file that is similar and modify it, I did that once for camera that was not supported and it worked, it's worth a try I think 😉

[TiTou]

Hey... one more question before... I've just checked the compatibility report and saw that the camera works at 60fps in mono 8 mode and only 30fps in mono 16 mode... which is quite normal.
Could it be the source of your issue ? Could you double check that MAX is set to mono 8 ?

[mgerceker]

No. I have checked it that it is 8bit mode.
Actually I modified the code and use the IMAPdx API and find that it works for 60Hz.
So, it seems that the Legacy code and API that is designed for the compatability reason for IEEE 1394 IMAQ API seems not working that well.

Thanks

Cindy