Industrial low light 1080p@30fps USB camera (with h.264 on-board codec)

2014-12-10 19:12 | Categories: Projektai, Užrašai

DSC_2221_tSuperior low-light performance 1080p@30fps with h.264 on-board codec USB2.0 camera featuring Aptina sensor in an aviation grade solid aluminium sandblasted and black anodized industrial case.

 

 

 

 

About

This camera, lets call it LP0262A, besides good normal light performance also can operate in low light conditions. Of course you can’t expect very low noise on high gain operation (dark picture) from this kind of sensor, but meanwhile most USB cameras see only black picture, this camera can display a decent view. For extreme low light operations frame rate can be reduced thus enabling longer exposure rates. Daylight picture quality is also very reasonable and comparable to high quality Logitech C920.

Features

  • High quality precision industrial aviation grade black anodized aluminium case
  • 1″-20TPI thread for CS lens
  • Multiple mounting options (all side walls and top hase M3 tapped holes) for machine vision or robotics
  • 1/8″ thread for tripod mounting
  • Optional IR-block filter (on custom order any filter can be manufactured)
  • Format:  1/3-inch (5.8mm)
  • Imaging area:  2304H x 1536V (5.07mm x 3.38mm)
  • Sensor pixel size:  2.2μm x 2.2μm
  • Sensor dynamic range:  72.4dB
  • Sensor sensitivity:  1.9 V/lux-sec (550nm)
  • Double YUY2/MJPEG + h.264 streaming
  • UVC compatible

 

Pictures of a camera

 

DSC_2221_r

Side view

Perspective view

Perspective view

View without a lens

View without a lens

Untitled

Dimensions

 

Sample pictures and video

 

Synthetic test

This test shows that LP0262A camera has much greater light sensitivity, but this feature can be used in manual control mode. My lux-meter has not arrived yet, so can’t say how bright was the light. Instead take a look at comparison with Logitech C920 camera.

toy_car

Some tests with various light sources

 

Night performance

It should be noted, that LP0262A camera is set to long exposure + high gain manual mode.

dark_iphone5s

Dark frame of iPhone 5s

dark_c920

Dark frame of Logitech C920

dark_LP0262A

Dark frame of LP0262A

 

Usage cases

  • Robotics applications
  • Machine vision
  • Microscope/telescope digitizing
  • Laser 3D scanning applications (suitable for david-3d and other applications)
  • Skype conferencing

 

Note

Some engineering samples are available on ebay. Please check my listings.

Leave a comment | Trackback
  1. Saulius Lukšė
    2015-01-23 09:57
    | Quote | #1

    Some more test pictures

  2. Saulius Lukšė
    2015-01-23 09:58
    | Quote | #2
  3. Syreeta Wright
    2015-01-28 00:17
    | Quote | #3

    Wow, this looks like it is *almost* what I’ve been looking for! Could you by any chance tell me which Aptina sensor was used and if it could be customised to use an Aptina 5MP sensor for larger images? Thanks!

  4. Frederic
    2015-01-28 16:45
    | Quote | #7

    Your camera is very interesting and is offering a new approch in the indutrial camera field through its h.264 on-board encoding.

    Can you give more details on the these:
    1- The AR0330 sensor appears to be a rolling shutter. Do you have plans to offer a global shutter sensor?
    2- Is there an API or a protocol to communicate with the camera?
    3- What is the size of output h.264 stream (720p, 1080p, 2304×1536)?
    4- Is it possible to set a ROI and expect the camera to do upscaling/downscaling?
    5- Can you publish an h.264 1080p sample?

    • Saulius Lukšė
      2015-01-28 17:02
      | Quote | #8

      Hi Frederic,

      1. Indeed this is rolling shutter sensor. I am working on global shutter and linear cameras as well, but it is in early stage, so no details at the moment.
      2. Yes, I have sources and protocol description for interaction (changing compression settings, controlling GPIO, changing OSD parameters, and others)
      3. Output size is 1080p
      4. With current firmware this functionality is not implemented. But should be possible.
      5. I will upload sample files captured with VLC a bit later.

      • Frederic
        2015-01-28 17:14
        | Quote | #9

        Do you have an email address so we could get in touch with you?

        • Saulius Lukšė
          2015-01-28 17:30
          | Quote | #10

          Frederic, please check your email.

          • Frederic
            2015-01-29 16:09
            Quote | #11

            Saulius, I did not receive an email from you, but I do receive the site notifications.

          • Saulius Lukšė
            2015-01-29 18:33
            Quote | #12

            Frederic, strange. Try sending me an email to saulius.lukse@gmail.com

    • Saulius Lukšė
      2015-01-28 18:04
      | Quote | #13

      Hi I seems like I don’t have software to record h264 video, but bit-rate can be changed in a range of 1-16334 kbps. Also please check sample video: http://lukse.lt/failai/LP0262A/1080p_sample_video.avi

  5. Alexis
    2016-01-26 17:12
    | Quote | #14

    Hi,
    Industrial cameras with h.264 hardware encoding are not that common (and not usually that cheap). Have you designed it yourself?

    Do you know its weight (camera and package) and its power consumption?

    Thank you in advance.

    • Saulius Lukšė
      2016-01-26 17:30
      | Quote | #15

      Hi Alexis,

      To be correct I’d say industrial camera has to have global shutter, where this one has rolling one. On the other hand mounting options and possibility to secure USB cable with screws let’s it call industrial one. All depends on your application.

      I designed, assembled and tested this camera by myself.

      Power consumption @ 5V:
      * 350mA – h.264
      * 290mA – MJPEG

      Camera itself weighs 53g, and shipping package 150g.

      —
      BR,
      Saulius

  6. fa1404
    2016-02-07 00:33
    | Quote | #16

    Hi Saullus,

    I needed a USB camera that supports a zoom lens, and first I found your Logitech C920 enclosure, and then realized that you also have this camera which seems much more convenient. Do you know if this is also compatible with the Raspberry Pi (many people are using the C920 on Raspberry Pis)? This looks very, very interesting :)

    • fa1404
      2016-02-07 03:19
      | Quote | #17

      Also, just to give some more context, I plan to live stream the camera to an RTMP server and multicast it to several clients on the same LAN. Do you have an idea about how much delay I can expect in the video stream at 1080p? Would it be feasible for it to be in the 100-200ms range or is that unrealistic?

    • Saulius Lukšė
      2016-02-07 08:49
      | Quote | #18

      Hi,

      Thank you four your interest. Sure this camera works with Raspberry Pi.

      I was experimenting with C920 some time ago with gstreamer and carambola baord (which is less powerful than RPI) and could achieve ~150-300ms lag depending on settings in 1080p/MJPEG mode. Have not tested with C1 camera, but should be very similar.

      —
      BR,
      Saulius

  7. Franz
    2016-03-18 13:09
    | Quote | #19

    Hi,

    I would like to test your LP0262A camera for computer vision (electronics pick and place application) in combination with Linux+OpenCV. My former plan was to use C920 in combination with your case. But I think the LP0262A has a better size for my use-case. Is the LP0262A fully UVC compatible or do I need a special driver? Couldn’t find any software information on your website.

    Kind regards, Franz

    • Saulius Lukšė
      2016-03-18 13:19
      | Quote | #20

      Hi Franz,

      This camera is fully UVC compatible. No special drivers needed.

      —
      BR,
      Saulius

      • Franz
        2016-03-18 17:24
        | Quote | #21

        Thanks for the prompt answer. I contacted you via your shop regarding payment details.

  8. stephan schulz
    2016-05-02 19:33
    | Quote | #22

    hello saulius

    i wrote my own UVC controller which works well with logitech c920.
    would you know the vendorID and productID for this camera?
    for the c920 cam i used : vendorId = 0x046d; and productId = 0x82d;

    thanks, stephan

  9. Dimitar Petkov
    2016-05-17 08:17
    | Quote | #23

    Hello, first – great works!
    My case is very similar to Franz’s. I founded this article about converting web cam to “digital microscope” (http://operationalsmoke.blogspot.bg/2014/05/diy-usb-soldering-microscope.html). Could You advise me which one of two cameras(LP0262A or C920) will be more suitable. The lens will be C mount 50mm F1.4 CCTV (C to CS converter will be used). And finally – what other lens will give better results? Thank You!

  10. Dimitar Petkov
    2016-05-17 08:57
    | Quote | #26

    Thank You for your quick response. Could You give me the shipping costs to Sofia,Bulgaria for one C1 and one 5mm extension ring.
    Regards!
    Dimitar

    • Saulius Lukšė
      2016-05-17 09:24
      | Quote | #27

      There are few options to select during check out. Please check.

  11. Dimitar Petkov
    2016-05-17 09:13
    | Quote | #28

    I place my order! Thank You!

  12. Stefan Krüger
    2016-05-24 12:07
    | Quote | #31

    Hello Saulius,

    just a short question –
    is your 2.8-12mm CS lens (http://www.kurokesu.com/shop/CSLZFA2812)
    Infrared compatible?
    iam thinking of buying a C1 + a lens to do some night vision and Infrared Computer Vision hobby experiments..
    and is it possible to change the IR Block filter of the C1 with a IR Pass filter easily?
    (would like to use the cam for both things over time..)

    sunny greetings
    stefan

    • Stefan Krüger
      2016-05-24 12:47
      | Quote | #32

      Hello Saulius,

      a second question regarding Infrared/Nightvision:
      do you know what IR Wavelength for LEDs should i prefer to have a maximum visibility?
      (cam without a filter)

      sunny greetings
      stefan

      • Saulius Lukšė
        2016-05-24 12:51
        | Quote | #33

        850nm – sensor is more sensitive to this light, but there will be faint red-ish visible light from LED’s

        940nm – if you are looking for invisible to naked eye light – this is a wavelength to go.

        —
        BR,
        Saulius

1 trackbacks

Show Hide
  1. » New cameras and near future plans Pingback | 2019-03-25
You must be logged in to post a comment.
« »
TOP