PCO Pixelfly Cameras¶
This module is for controlling PCO Pixelfly cameras.
Installation¶
This module requires the Pixelfly SDK and the cffi
package.
You should install the Pixelfly SDK provided on PCO’s website. Specifically, this module requires
pf_cam.dll
to be available in your PATH.
Module Reference¶
Driver for PCO Pixelfly cameras.
- class instrumental.drivers.cameras.pixelfly.Pixelfly(inst=None, **kwds)¶
- cancel_capture()¶
Cancels a capture sequence, cleaning up and stopping the camera
- close()¶
Clean up memory and close the camera.
- get_captured_image(timeout='1s', copy=True, **kwds)¶
Get the image array(s) from the last capture sequence.
Returns an image numpy array (or tuple of arrays for a multi-exposure sequence). The array has shape (height, width) for grayscale images, and (height, width, 3) for RGB images. Typically the dtype will be
uint8
, or sometimesuint16
in the case of 16-bit monochromatic cameras.- Parameters:
timeout (Quantity([time]) or None, optional) – Max time to wait for wait for the image data to be ready. If None, will block forever. If timeout is exceeded, a TimeoutError will be raised.
copy (bool, optional) – Whether to copy the image memory or directly reference the underlying buffer. It is recommended to use True (the default) unless you know what you’re doing.
- grab_image(timeout='1s', copy=True, **kwds)¶
Perform a capture and return the resulting image array(s).
This is essentially a convenience function that calls
start_capture()
thenget_captured_image()
. Seeget_captured_image()
for information about the returned array(s).- Parameters:
timeouts (Quantity([time]) or None, optional) – Max time to wait for wait for the image data to be ready. If None, will block forever. If timeout is exceeded, a TimeoutError will be raised.
copy (bool, optional) – Whether to copy the image memory or directly reference the underlying buffer. It is recommended to use True (the default) unless you know what you’re doing.
include (You can specify other parameters of the capture as keyword arguments. These) –
n_frames (int) – Number of exposures in the sequence
vbin (int) – Vertical binning
hbin (int) – Horizontal binning
exposure_time (Quantity([time])) – Duration of each exposure
width (int) – Width of the ROI
height (int) – Height of the ROI
cx (int) – X-axis center of the ROI
cy (int) – Y-axis center of the ROI
left (int) – Left edge of the ROI
right (int) – Right edge of the ROI
top (int) – Top edge of the ROI
bot (int) – Bottom edge of the ROI
- latest_frame(copy=True)¶
Get the latest image frame in live mode.
Returns the image array received on the most recent successful call to
wait_for_frame()
.- Parameters:
copy (bool, optional) – Whether to copy the image memory or directly reference the underlying buffer. It is recommended to use True (the default) unless you know what you’re doing.
- quantum_efficiency(self, wavlen, high_gain=False)¶
Fractional quantum efficiency of the sensor at a given wavelength
- set_mode(shutter='single', trig='software', exposure='10ms', hbin=1, vbin=1, gain='low', depth=12)¶
Set the mode of the camera.
- Parameters:
shutter (str) – One of ‘single’, ‘double’, or ‘video’.
trig (str) – One of ‘software’ or ‘hardware’.
exposure (Quantity or str) – Exposure time. Up to 65.6 ms with microsecond resolution.
hbin (int) – Horizontal binning factor. Either 1 or 2.
vbin (int) – Vertical binning factor. Either 1 or 2.
gain (str) – Gain of camera. Either ‘low’ or ‘high’.
depth (int) – Bit depth of each pixel. Either 8 or 12.
- start_capture(**kwds)¶
Start a capture sequence and return immediately.
Depending on your camera-specific shutter/trigger settings, this will either start the exposure immediately or ready the camera to start on an explicit (hardware or software) trigger.
It can be useful to invoke
start_capture()
andget_captured_image()
explicitly if you expect the capture sequence to take a long time and you’d like to perform some operations while you wait for the camera:>>> cam.start_capture() >>> do_other_useful_stuff() >>> arr = cam.get_captured_image()
See
grab_image()
for the set of available kwds.
- start_live_video(**kwds)¶
Start live video mode.
Once live video mode has been started, images will automatically and continuously be acquired. You can check if the next frame is ready by using
wait_for_frame()
, and access the most recent image’s data withget_captured_image()
.See
grab_image()
for the set of available kwds.
- stop_live_video()¶
Stop live video mode.
- wait_for_frame(timeout=None)¶
Wait until the next frame is ready (in live mode).
Blocks and returns True once the next frame is ready, False if the timeout was reached. Using a timeout of 0 simply polls to see if the next frame is ready.
- Parameters:
timeout (Quantity([time]), optional) – How long to wait for wait for the image data to be ready. If None (the default), will block forever.
- Returns:
frame_ready – True if the next frame is ready, False if the timeout was reached.
- Return type:
- DEFAULT_KWDS = {'bot': None, 'cx': None, 'cy': None, 'exposure_time': <Quantity(10, 'millisecond')>, 'fix_hotpixels': False, 'gain': 'low', 'hbin': 1, 'height': None, 'left': None, 'n_frames': 1, 'right': None, 'shutter': 'single', 'top': None, 'trig': 'software', 'vbin': 1, 'width': None}¶
- property bit_depth¶
- property frame_time¶
- property height¶
Height of the camera image in pixels
- property last_exposure_time¶
- property max_height¶
Max settable height of the camera image, given current binning/subpixel settings
- property max_width¶
Max settable width of the camera image, given current binning/subpixel settings
- property readout_time¶
- property supports_5us_exposure¶
- property supports_double_mode¶
- property supports_hvga¶
- property supports_ir_mode¶
- property supports_qe¶
- property supports_set_exposure¶
- property supports_svga¶
- property supports_vga2¶
- property temperature¶
The temperature of the CCD.
- property width¶
Width of the camera image in pixels