Camera bug and Suggestions to locate green

[Green2]

Ahh.... Thanks for clearing that up Ryan. It make so sense now.

[Greg McKaskle]

The wrap around of the red end of the spectrum is annoying, and I don't know of a good workaround except to do a color lookup on the original image. This per pixel operation is of course not free, so to avoid it, I've generally selected a different white balance that will not wrap the pink color. From our testing Fluorescent 1 seemed to be a good all around choice, though as long as you are willing to adjust the other parameters, many of the other built-in colors and even a calibrated WB will work fine.

As for fixed exposure, if it works for you, great. I have had limited access to fields and when I'm on one I'm usually helping teams understand the lighting and camera settings, so I have left it set to auto believing that the camera will then be able to handle a larger variation of lighting. Do you have images taken with fixed exposure that you'd be able to share? The ones that'd worry me are the big lighting differences you get due to field orientation and with and without the black curtain behind the scoring table.

Greg McKaskle

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Greg McKaskle

The ones that'd worry me are the big lighting differences you get due to field orientation and with and without the black curtain behind the scoring table.

Isn't that the whole point of fixing the exposure? it will see the targets the same brightness, no matter what the background is...

[Gary Bonner]

How long do the "hold current" values remain in the camera? Do they have to be reset every time you power up the camera?

[Greg McKaskle]

Fixing the exposure will give consistent timing to the exposure, but not necessarily consistent brightness. That would depend on how consistent the lighting is. As I said, to me the proof is in the images. If you have images, or if I can have time on the field I'll try this out. I'm comparing what I have tested to what I haven't but someone else has. I want more data.

Greg McKaskle

[Tom Bottiglieri]

On a related note, for those who have done experimentation with camera settings at events, how do you think the lack of stage lighting will affect the cam calibration in the Georgia Dome? Reference

I can only assume the top target washout teams have been experiencing will be basically eliminated.

[Greg McKaskle]

The lights under the upper level act similar to the stage lighting, but it may be less even. It also depends on whether the ceiling curtain is open or closed. Atlanta is another reason why I'm curious to compare the fixed exposure to the auto.

Greg McKaskle

[Green2]

Unfortunately, we did not save any images to illustrate the differences.

As for Georgia dome, it would depend on what your camera sees. If there are a large variation of back lighting conditions based on where the camera is pointed, then I would recommend fixing exposure. If the background is relatively the same in all directions, then I think auto exposure would work better.

I would argue that the variation in background would be much more than the variation of light hitting the target. Yeah, in some areas of the field you might have slight dimming, but it should not be nearly as bad as exposure change due to a black background vs. a roll of lights.

I would recommend the teams going to nationals to hop on the field when ever possible to check things out and test the different settings.

[Greg McKaskle]

Bummer about the lack of images. I have tons, but they are taken with auto and there is no info about the exposure.

I agree with you about the lighting on field versus the background. I want to see the range difference when oriented different directions on the field and looking into the lights. I think that with the right calibration procedure, this may also produce good results. Hopefully better.

Because of the procedure, we still can't make this the default, but we can document it as a good alternative. Specifically, the camera will often lose a few frames before it adjusts the exposure, and it would be nice if those lost frames were back.

If someone can capture images using the Camera Field Test utility, that would be great. I'll see if an NI AE can grab them and share with everyone.

Greg McKaskle