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IDSPeak

Summary:

Controls IDS Peak cameras

Author:

Lars Kool

License:

BSD

Platforms:

Windows (compatibility with Linux untested)

Devices:

IDS Peak USB cameras (should work with ethernet cameras as well).

Adapter Version:

1.1

Available Since Version:

2.0.3 (Dec 11th 2023)

Requires IDS peak drivers (version 2.0.0 or higher), which can be downloaded from the IDS site.

Supported features

  • Monochrome and color cameras. The available modes/bit depths can be selected in the properties browser (“Pixel Type”).
  • Gain.
  • Auto white-balance.
  • Binning.
  • ROI.
  • Multi-camera support.

Notes

  • For color, currently only the modes “BGRA8” is supported.
  • Only 8-bit color depth is supported.
  • Gamma correction is deactivated.
  • For multi-camera setups, one can load multiple cameras cameras from the Hardware configuration wizard. The settings of each camera can be changed separately. To record simultaneously with IDS cameras, one should also load the “Utilities->Multi camera” Device Adapter. The “Multi Camera” device adapter should be listed as the default camera. After finishing the “Hardware configuration wizard”. One should go to the “Device Property Browser” and under “Multi Camera - Physical Camera X” select the desired cameras.

Known limitations

  • The maximum framerate of the 32bit RBGA pixel format is much lower than advertized or with IDS Peak Cockpit.
    • This is indeed true, the problem is that the camera doesn’t support recording BGRA8, which is the only accepted color format of Micro-Manager. Hence, the image has to be recorded in a different pixel format (in this case Bayer RG8) and then converted to BGRA8 on the fly. The maximum obtainable framerate then depends heavily on the (single core) processing speed of your PC. A potential solution is to not do the conversion (just pass the raw bayer data) and perform the debayering after all data is collected. However his methods is not yet implemented.
  • The minimum interval during the Multi-Dimensional Acquisition (MDA) is approximately 200 ms, even at low exposure times (e.g. 10 ms).
    • This is a limitation of how MDA events are processed. When the interval is set to less than the exposure time, it will record at the maximum framerate possible ~1/exposureTime. Otherwise it will perform something like a timelapse, where it will start the process of acquiring an image after the interval has passed. Sadly the second process has a lot of overhead, which leads to a maximum framerate of ~5 fps. We’re currently thinking of ways to fix this.
  • When MM is open, I can’t open any IDS camera in another software (e.g. IDS Peak Cockpit)
    • Currently, when MM is started, it opens all cameras and keeps them open untill MM is closed. This allows quicker switching between cameras. But this means that none of the other softwares can communicate with any of the connected IDS cameras (even when they are seemingly not in use by MM).