Help with acquiring a clean image wih MAX using PCI-1410

[hbchao]

Hi,

I am currently using the PCI-1410 in External H-Lock mode with my nonstandard camera to acquire images of cell tissues.  I have a perfectly working board from muTech but I needed to integrate my application with Labview so I upgraded to the 1410.  By creating a custom camera file (as described online) I am able to obtain an image from the 1410 board with the correct image size.  Because I still have my old system set up, I am able to tell what the image should look like on the 1410.  Clearly, I have two big issues when obtaining images from the 1410...

1) There are large areas of black spots scattered throughout the image

2) The image as a whole seems to be much darker than the image acquired from the muTech card

I have attached the expected image and the image acquired from the 1410.  I have tried to play with all sorts of clamp settings within MAX but have had no luck finding the correct range.  I know that for the muTech card there is a parameter for a DC offset used for the video input.  However I cannot find such a setting within MAX or the camera file.  I am unsure if this has anything to do with my problems or not.

Also, I image that the darkness factor can be corrected by creating a custom LUT??  For whatever reason with the 1410 the image looks very black or very white with little grey areas.  The image acquired with the muTech card is much better in having a wider set of greyscale values.

I am feeding both boards the exact same signal so it is expected for the images from each card to be the same.  Although the darkness issue could even be corrected within Photoshop, the large areas of black spots are a HUGE concern.  There are times when the amount of dark spots increases or decreases by itself.  I can sometimes come back from lunch and the image will almost be perfect.  However five minutes later the black spots appear again.  Is there some sort of parameter that I need to change?

Much thanks in advance,

Howard

[DJ_L.]

Hey Howard,

What non-standard camera are you using? Also, what camera file are you using and where did you get the camera file? Did you create the camera file, or did you get it from somewhere else? What camera file does the Mutech card use? Can you attach your camera file to this thread? Have you tried any LUT's yet? If you have, which ones? What bit depth is your camera? 8-bit, 10-bit, etc? What settings do you have when the image looks correct before it gives you the black spots again?

Please provide a little more information about your system and setup. Thanks, and have a great day.

Regards,
DJ L.

[hbchao]

Hi DJ L,

Thanks for the reply.  I am actually an undergrad student coming back from spring break so I have not had a chance to reply any earlier.

The non-standard camera is not really a camera in the common sense.  All I can really tell you about the camera from my knowledge is that it is part of a Confocal microscope system.  In fact, this web-site sums it up fairly well and much better than I can...

http://www.physics.emory.edu/~weeks/confocal/

Basically, the "camera" we are using is actually a detector which feeds the video voltage signals to the 1410.  The sync signals that are being fed are generated based on the speed of the scanning mirrors.

I created the custom camera file following the directions of the document linked below:

http://forums.ni.com/attachments/ni/200/7240/1/Configuring%20the%201410%20for%20Non-Std%20Cams.doc

The camera file for the muTech card is an ini file.  That is attached to this message.  The camera file I have created is attached as well.

I have yet to play around with the LUTs because the main concern for the moment is to get a clear and crisp image.  However I will begin experimenting around with that this week.

The camera depth is 8-bit.  When the image randomly became good again, the clamp settings were set to 40-50.  However the image quality quicky degraded again.

Two months ago I knew absolutely nothing about analog cameras when I started working on this project.  Sorry I cannot explain much more about the system.  If you need more information about the system setup, please let me know and I can probe by supervisor for more details.

Thanks again!

Howard

[David S.]

Hi hbchao -

As you probably already know, the NI Camera File Generator is provided to our customers for situations in which NI is not able to create a camera file for your camera.  We're happy to provide the tools and advice needed to create your own file, but the ultimate success of the file relies on the end-user's own expertise and familiarity with the camera.  I say this because, although I'm happy to provide advice and suggestions for troubleshooting, I can't guarantee that we'll be able to get your file working perfectly.

Looking at your images and the camera file, I noticed some things that may help:

1. Both the muTech and the NI images are the same size. This tells me that every pixel is acquired with the NI frame grabber, so the PCLK, HSYNC, and VSYNC signals are most likely properly synchronized. You shouldn't have to play around with those.
   
2. The clamp setting should be between 100 and 120.  If you set it outside this range, your value will be coerced to the min or max.  (see page 3-6 of the NI-1410 User Manual.)
   
3. I noticed horizontal banding in both images, but this is only common with interlaced signals.  Can you explain the source of the bands?  Might it be pertinent to the problem?
4. The NI image is darker because of the range of our analog-to-digital converter (ADC).  This range is set with the White Level and Black Level.  Although your BL can't go below 0 (which it's currently set at), you can reduce the WL to effectively increase the dynamic resolution of the ADC.  (This is equivalent to increasing contrast in the image -- it gives a more varied gray-level range at the expense of image saturation.)  I recommend doing this before using a LUT.  (Think of the LUT as a post-processing function.  If the original data isn't correct, you won't get much improvement out of messing with it after it's acquired.)

I hope this helps.  Let me know any progress you make, and I'll see what else we can do to help!

[hbchao]

Hi David,

I am under the impression that the NI Camera File Generator is not for analog cameras??  I have downloaded the utility but cannot find the proper settings.  Am I missing something here?

Thanks!

Howard

[David S.]

Hi hbchao -

I didn't mean to mention the CFG, which is for digital frame grabbers only.  You were manually editing your camera file according to the document you posted, which is currently the necessary method.

I apologize.