connect a microscope camera to Labview

[EQub]

Hi,

I need to connect and acquire images from a microscope camera ( Leica DFC310 FX  with FireWire- IEEE1394b) in Labview.

Is it possible? Can I do it directly or do I need a Frame Grabber?

Thanks

[BruceAmmons]

Make sure the camera meets the firewire standards for the NI drivers.  If your camera uses compressed video, it won't work with LabVIEW.

You need:

Firewire card in PC to connect camera to.

NI Vision Acquisition Software - drivers for acquiring firewire images into LabVIEW.  You can download these with a 30 day trial to test things out.

This will get images into LabVIEW.  If you want to do a lot of image processing, you will want the Vision add-on for LabVIEW.

Bruce

[toto26]

Hello,

You need a firewire B board in your computer if you want full performances.

But if you have a firewire A port (wich is the case for most desktop) it will also work as it is retrocompatible. You can find B to A cables.

If you use a laptop equiped with a firewire A port, you will need a powered hub as the firewire port is not powered on all laptops, and your camera needs to be powered throught the firewire.

Regards

[rkoo]

Hi,

Did you get to control your Leica camera with LabVIEW?

I have similar problem trying to control Leica DFC425, not DCAM compliant, camera.  I realized that NI-IMAQdx won't work with non-DCAM compliant camera, so I tried TWAIN, but still LabVIEW fails to communicate with the DFC.  Leica susposedly provided a SDK (FxLib.dll?), but I can't use it with .NET constructor node (dll is not .NET assembly), or Call Library Function Node (no prototype defined).  Nor can I import it as Shared Library (no .h provided).  Leica does not provide tech support.  I am stuck.  Please advise.

Thanks.

[neallord]

The Leica DCF series cameras are not DCAM compliant.  We have a Leica DCF280 working with LabVIEW but had to use the Baumer FX.dll with information from their SDK in 2006.  We just moved the Leica DCF280 from a Windows XP/LabVIEW 7.1 computer to a Windows 7/LabVIEW 2011 computer and needed to update the camera firmware from 1.8.0 to 1.9.0 and use the 2011 version of the Baumer FX.dll to make it work.

You'll want to check out the Baumer GAPI SDK which is free.  If you need the camera firmware update to run under Windows 7, it is available in the Leica DCF camera downloads in a DCFTwain-for-PC_V7.7.1_ENU software download and needs to be run on the Windows XP system.  Be careful as you can't go back and the we found camera was no longer recognized by the 2006 version of the FX.dll on the Windows XP system.  The combination works well and depending on image size (0.3 MP ro 1.2 MP) we get 70 to 20 frames per second respectively while acquiring images and displaying the live view.

[Yang_Liu]

Hi Neal,

Thanks for the reply.  I am interested in controlling the Leica DFC450 using LabVIEW 2011 under Windows 7.  Currently the camera is working under LAS 4.1, Twain 7.6.0.0, FxLib 5.1.0.10570, and the firmware version is 1.0.11.  The firmware version seems off from what you quoted of 1.9.0, but that's probably because its a different model.  As it is working under Windos 7 already, I suppose I don't need a firmware update.  Can you outline the steps needed to have a LabVIEW program control the DFC?

Thanks,

Richard