Cameras

Brands

• Point Grey: these come highly recommended by John Stanley.
• Lumenera: had good luck with these in NZ.
• Allied Vision

Sensors

• Resolution - try to balance the need for detail with functionality. High-resolution can capture fine detail, but will impact image transfer speed, data storage requirements, and image processing. E.g. you'll never transfer an image cube of 12MP images through a MiFi connection.

• Type - Camera sensors typically come in two types CCD and CMOS. Traditionally CCD were higher quality (and more expensive) than CMOS, but recent improvements in CMOS technology have made them more comparable (but CMOS is still significantly cheaper).

• Size - The physical dimensions of the sensor will contribute to the overall size of the camera, as well as influencing the potential quality of the overall image by capturing more light. Also, certain lenses will be available for certain sensor sizes, so plan according to field of view, target distance, and financial resources.

Camera Interface

When selecting a camera, consider which type of interface will be appropriate for your application. Speed, cable length, and computer hardware may play a role. Some common interfaces for transferring imagery are:

• GigE
• USB 3.0
• FireWire

Also, consider your need for synchronization between multiple cameras. Some cameras are easier to establish a hardware trigger which can synchronize image capture between multiple cameras. Hardware triggers send a voltage signal to the camera(s) directly and tend to have timing accuracy on the order of microseconds rather than milliseconds typically achieved through software triggers. Point Grey offers a technical document on synchronizing their cameras with hardware triggers through built-in GPIO ports that may be helpful when getting started. Other solutions for cameras that don't have dedicated ports for hardware triggers have been found by members of the community, that utilize audio channels and GPS timestamps in post-processing.