User`s guide

Image Capture

The Image Capture dialog box allows the user to select the

Capture Mode (Photo Image, Barcode Image or Manual) as

well as the use of illumination and aiming lights. Photo

Image and Barcode Image both use automatic focus and

exposure controls to optimize results.

Capture Mode: Barcode Image (darker image with less

noise), Photo Image (brighter image with longer capture

times) or manual exposure. If either Photo Image (Default)

or Manual Exposure mode is selected, the user can specify

how the lights and aimers behave during capture. Also, in

Manual Exposure mode, the user can override the automatic

exposure system and specify the capture exposure time, gain

factor and frame rate.

Lights Mode: If illumination LED’s are used, the user can

choose to have them come on only when a frame is being

captured or to be on continuously until capture is completed.

The four illumination LED’s consume much more power than any other component and should be used

sparingly to conserve battery life. Also, illumination LED’s are only effective when the subject is within

30 inches of the Imager.

Aimer Mode: If aimer LED’s are used, the user can choose to have them come on only between the

times frames are being captured or to be on continuously until capture completes. The two aimer LED’s

also consume a lot of power and should be used sparingly to conserve battery life.

Manual Exposure Settings

Exposure: Exposure setting in milliseconds (Range is 1 to 255. Default is 200). This setting is applied

dynamically over the frame rate to define how long a given image is exposed. Exposure time implies the

amount of time a given frame is exposed to light and therefore increasing this value increases the

brightness of the image. The negative impact of increasing exposure is that it increases the effect of blur

on the image.

Gain: Gain factor (Range is 1 to 4. Default is 1). Changing gain has the affect of 'boosting' pixel values

and giving perhaps a brighter image. The trade-off is that gain is applied generically over the image, so

that it arbitrarily increases noise as well as valid image data, so increasing gain usually decreases the

clarity of image.

Frame Rate: Number of frames per second (Range is 1 to 30. Default is 30). Frame rate applies to the

frame timing of the imager. Changing frame rate has an effect similar (both positive and negative) to

changing exposure. The benefit of being able to change both is that exposure is limited to the frame rate,

so reducing the frame rate allows you to increase amount of light captured in an image. As an example,

changing of frame rate allows Photo Image mode to get bright images at 100 ft in ambient lighting while

the Barcode Image mode gets needed darker images at 12 inches with illumination on.