some of these downloads and installation packages may also contain malware /
viruses / adware so this route is not advisable
.
One of the advantages of compiling this yourself – if you have programming skills – is that
you will have the source code for the program which will give you a good example of how
to use the MS DirectShow API for controlling a camera (including the AF51) in your own
programs so you can eventually write your own software based on some variation of this
code to make up for the deficiencies of AmCap (e.g. its inability to save still images) as
well as add more useful features such as the low light level imaging features found in the
PARD Capture software for Linux (multi-frame integration, frame averaging, saving raw
data in floating point formats, saving the Y-only data, etc.).
On Windows 10 I compiled AmCap.exe like this:
1. Download MS software development kit (SDK) for Windows 7.1 / Vista from here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/bb980924.aspx
The SDK contains many components and examples, one of which is AmCap.
2. Download Free Community Edition of MS Visual Studio from Microsoft (you will need a
Microsoft account to do so).
3. Start (or re-start) Visual Studio as an Administrator.
In the following instructions when you first open a solution in MS Visual Studio it may ask
you to do a one-way upgrade of the solution files to the current version of MS Visual
Studio − do that when prompted.
4. File-> Open -> Project/Solution
Navigate to the SDK folder for the 'Base classes' solution in the SDK e.g.:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Samples\multimedia\
directshow\baseclasses
OptArc AF51 Camera Page 46 of 99 User Guide v1.02