Camera Parameters - Part 2

Please Note: This blog post is part of a series of five posts altogether. The posts include: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Gain determines the amplification of the CCD's output signal. This parameter may be adjusted manually or automatically. The amplification increases the contrast. A high gain, however, leads to noisy images:

Offset (Brightness)

The offset is added to the CCD's output signal. This parameter may be adjusted manually or automatically. Therefore, adding the offset increases all graylevels. Thus, the image looks brighter:

Auto Exposure and Exposure Reference

Auto Exposure determines whether the adjustment of the exposure time and the gain (see Shutter and Gain) is to be adjusted manually or automatically. You can use the parameter Exposure Reference to control the automatic operation. It compares the mean graylevel of the current image with the Exposure Reference. If these values are different, the exposure time as well as the gain are varied accordingly.