Point Grey, a producer of imaging products, today announced the launch of the next-generation Flea3 series of ultra-compact IEEE 1394b and GigE Vision digital cameras.
The first available Flea3 models incorporate an 800 Mbit/s 1394b (FireWire) interface and are based on mono and color versions of the Sonyr ICX618, a 1/4-inch EXview HAD CCD that runs at 120 FPS, and ICX414, a 1/2-inch CCD that runs at 76 FPS. The Flea3 measures just 29 x 29 x 30 mm, and offers new features such as opto-isolated GPIO for industrial triggering and strobe output, non-volatile flash memory for user data storage, and on-camera frame buffer.
"We designed the Flea3 to build on the success of the Flea2," says Vladimir Tucakov, Director of Sales and Marketing at Point Grey. "It has the same form factor as many industry-standard analog cameras, adds new CCD image sensors, enhanced functionality, and even better imaging performance, making it ideal for applications in 2D and 3D metrology, electronics, semiconductor inspection, medical, and bioscience. The new models will also give users more alternatives. The Sony ICX618-based model offers an unbeatable price-to-performance ratio, while the ICX414 model, with its large pixels, boasts high sensitivity for high-precision imaging."
Every Flea3 camera is equipped with an industry-standard C-mount lens holder, removable optical window for sensor dust protection, and 12-bit analog-to-digital converter. Additional features include automatic control of most camera properties, such as gain, exposure, and white balance; user configuration sets for defining custom power-up settings; gamma and programmable lookup table; customizable region of interest settings; and pixel binning. The Flea3 also complies with the new IIDC v1.32 specification, which allows it to be used with many third-party software packages. Included with every camera is the FlyCapturer SDK, a full software library that provides a common interface to control all Point Grey digital imaging products under both Windows and Linux.
"Point Grey's plan is to introduce sixteen Flea3 FireWire models, made up of 8 monochrome and color Sony CCD sensor options, by the end of Q3 2010," adds Mr. Tucakov. "We also plan to provide the first GigE Vision-compliant models this year, which at just over 1 cubic inch will make the Flea3 the smallest GigE camera in the world."
The FL3-FW-03S1 (1/4-inch VGA 120 FPS), list priced at USD $595, and the FL3-FW-03S3 (1/2-inch VGA 76 FPS), list priced at USD $845, are available to order now from Point Grey and its network of distributors. The first GigE Vision models are planned to be released to production and available to order by the end of Q2 2010.
Written by Point Grey.
