Sony XCI

[Johan_De_Pontieu]

Does anybody have any experience with the Sony XCI Smartcamera.

I can use it from within VBAI 3.

However we have a existing LV-Image application on a PC we want to port to that platform.

The existing application uses a firewire camera and that is (I think) the only part which should be changed.

So, is there a library we can use to talk to the XCI smartcamera instead of the firewire library.

Thanks for any replies.

[J.R.]

Hi Johan,

I don't think you will need to use specific library wroten for the Sony XCI Camera. Of course it's no more needed to use the IEEE functions.

I found there a Getiing started guide for XCI Camera. Check here.

Regards,

[Johan_De_Pontieu]

Hi Roland,

I allready installed the VBAI on the camera and I can work with all the functions.

However I would like to make a dedicated LV application without VB.

How would I do that ? How can I talk to this camera from within LV?

[J.R.]

Johan,

To be able to use the Vision functions in LabVIEW you will need to install the Vision software on your PC.

Those software included all the functions to be used in programing environment like NI LabVIEW.

Best Regards,

[Johan_De_Pontieu]

Roland,

We have LV7.1, Vision 7.0 and firewire acquisition drivers. I don't think we can use these to access the camera.

Does Vision 8.0 (or higher) provide functions specifically to access the Sony XCI ? I know you can export LV8 code from the VB but could not try it yet since I have the evaluation version.

We want to use LV instead of VB-AI because then we have more control over the GUI for the operator.

[Johan_De_Pontieu]

I've been reading through the different possibilities of NI Vision and came to the following conclusion.

What I need is the Vision Development Module and NOT the Vision Builder for Automated Inspection.

The VDM contains also, and I quote,

Driver software for thousands of cameras, including GigE Vision and IEEE 1394 cameras

Question is however, does it also contain driver software for the Sony XCI smart camera ?

[J.R.]

Johan,

Could you be alittle more specific over your camera? Which is the exact model you are working with?

So I will be able to check it out.

Regards,

[Johan_De_Pontieu]

The camera is a Sony XCI-SX1 smart camera

http://www.sonybiz.net/biz/view/ShowProductCategory.action?site=biz_en_EU&category=SmartCams

[J.R.]

Johan,

I found a very insteresting link there. I think you can have a look it could help you a lot.

Best Regards,

[Kyle_V]

Johan,

Writing a LabVIEW application for the Sony Smart Camera is not going to be a straightforward process.  Even if you installed LabVIEW and the Vision Development Module onto the XP version of the camera, you would still need to create a LabVIEW driver to acquire images from the sensor and a driver to control the camera's I/O.  I'm not sure how difficult this would be.  I know the NI Vision R&D team spent a lot of time getting Vision Builder AI to work well with the Sony Smart Camera.

If you really want to use LabVIEW on a smart camera, then you might consider looking that the new family of NI Smart Cameras that were introduced at NIWeek 2007 and will be released later in the year.

Good luck,

Kyle V.