Industrial digital cameras are the popular choice for machine vision, scientific imaging, and automated test systems. If you already have an analog camera system, NI makes it easy to migrate to digital. If you prefer analog cameras, NI offers several options below to help with your applications.
Figure 1. This diagram illustrates both migration paths, with all changing system components represented in green.
Benefits of Digital
Digital camera technologies and standards offer equivalent and superior camera options compared to analog cameras. In general, with digital standards, you can
Choosing a Digital Standard
You can choose from a variety of digital standards. Table 1 compares the digital options to analog.
Table 1. Comparison of Analog with Digital Technologies
How the Change Affects Application Software
When moving from analog to digital cameras, consider how the following two options may affect your application software code:
Figure 2. The One-to-One Correlation between the NI-IMAQ and NI-IMAQdx Drivers as Seen through the Similarities in the LabVIEW Function Palettes
Figure 3. This LabVIEW VI is performing image acquisition and thresholding using (a) NI-IMAQ and (b) NI-IMAQdx.
If you need to continue using your analog camera, you can choose from the following options including third-party products.
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