User`s manual

Sensor Bit Depth, Pixel Formats, Tap Geometries, and Clock Speeds AW00098504000
142 Basler ace Camera Link
9.1 Sensor Bit Depth
As mentioned in the "Functional Description" section of this manual, the camera’s imaging sensor
can be set to acquire image data at either 10 bit or 12 bit depth.
When the sensor is operating at 10 bit depth, it operates significantly faster than at 12 bit depth. So
when the sensor is set for 10 bit acquisition, the camera can be operated at a higher maximum
frame rate.
Keep in mind that the data depth of the pixel values actually reported out of the camera will depend
on the camera’s current pixel format setting.
For more information about pixel formats, see Section 9.2 on page 143.
Setting the Sensor Bit Depth Using Basler pylon
You can use the pylon API to set the sensor bit depth from within your application software. The
following code snippet illustrates using the API to set the exposure mode:
// Set the sensor bit depth to 10
Camera.SensorBitDepth.SetValue( SensorBitDepth_BitDepth10 );
// Set the sensor bit depth to 12
Camera.SensorBitDepth.SetValue( SensorBitDepth_BitDepth12 );
You can also use the Basler pylon Viewer application to easily set the parameters.
For more information about the pylon API and the pylon Viewer, see Section 3.1 on page 19.
Setting the Sensor Bit Depth Using Direct Register Access
To set the sensor bit depth via direct register access:
 Set the value of the Sensor Bit Depth register to 10 Bit Depth or 12 Bit Depth.
For more information about direct register access, see Section 3.2 on page 21.