Cheetah Python Camera with USB3 Interface
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User Manual
December 5, 2017
Page
69
of
78
Rev 1.0
5.7.2 Digital Gain
The camera enables digital gain from 1x (0 dB) to 15.9x (24 dB) with a precision of 0.001x.
There are 15,360 gain steps from 1x gain to 15.9x gain. Each step increases the gain by
0.00097x. Digital Gain does provide any improved contrast and should be used cautiously.
5.7.3 Digital Offset
Digital offset is a digital count added or subtracted from each pixel. The range is +/- 512
counts.
5.7.4 Black Level Auto-calibration and Offset
The camera automatically adjusts black level based on measurements of the dark
reference lines at the start of each frame. Imperx recommends leaving the black level
auto-calibration engaged. If auto-calibration is disabled, you can set the Black Level Offset
and adjust it by +/- 512 counts. Black level will vary with temperature and gain settings.
5.8 Data Output Format
5.8.1 Bit Depth
The sensor digitization level is 10 bits. The Cheetah Python cameras can output 10- or 8-
bit data formats. In 8-bit output, a standard bit reduction process truncates the least
significant bits.
10-bit digitization
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If the camera is set to output 10-bit data, sensor data bits map directly to D0
(LSB) to D9 (MSB).
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If the camera is set to output 8-bit data, sensor data most significant data bits
(D2 to D9) map to D0 (LSB) to D7 (MSB).
MSB
Camera Output
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10 bits
LSB
D9
D8
D7
D6
D5
D4
D3
D2
D1
D0
P10
P9
P8
P7
P6
P5
P4
P3
P2
P1
MSB
Camera Output
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8 bits
LSB
D7
D6
D5
D4
D3
D2
D1
D0
P10
P9
P8
P7
P6
P5
P4
P3
Figure 42: 10-bit internal Digitization with 8 and 10-bit outputs.
5.9 Pulse Generator
The camera has a built-in pulse generator. You can program the camera to generate a
discrete sequence of pulses or a continuous sequence (Figure 43). You can use the pulse
