Astro USB Camera FAQs

Yes, our existing 32-bit and 64-bit drivers and camera software work with the Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit releases. If you have a new or upgraded computer with Vista, simply download the LuCam or INFINITY installations from the Support -> Download centre of our website.

Windows XP, Vista 32 and 64-bit

Yes. We do certify all of our enclosed cameras for the CE mark. All board level cameras are CE ready with an appropriate CE certified enclosure.

Please contact our Support team at support@lumenera.com for more information. Please provide the camera model you are using in your email.

We require Windows XP with at least Service Pack 1.

The most recent version of the LuCam software is always posted on our website. You can determine the version you are working with by opening the LuCam Capture's application's About box. This box displays the software versions for the overall LuCam software, the LuCam API, the device driver, the camera firmware and its FPGA load.

After an upgrade to the SKYnyx release 5.0.0, all SKYnyx models will operate on 64-bit platforms running Windows XP, Windows VISTA, or Windows 7. Please click here to download the latest release.

No. This camera will only support one video stream to one application at a time. However, you can have more than one application access the camera at a time.

The exposure time can be controlled through the LuCam API. The LucamSetProperty() function with the LUCAM_PROP_EXPOSURE property provides the mechanism to control the exposure of the camera when in video mode. In snapshot mode you can set the exposure parameter of the LUCAM_SNAPSHOT structure.

The camera supports a parameter "frame rate" (set through LuCam Set Format) that allows the user to set the value to a rate that is below the maximum. The actual frame rate will be set to the nearest frame rate that is equal to, or below, this desired frame rate.

The USB 2.0 camera will work with your computer's power management scheme. The camera will turn off when your computer turns off or sleeps and turns on when the computer is awake. If you want to turn off the camera without turning off the computer or putting it to sleep you will need to unplug the USB 2.0 cable and the external power supply (if used) from the camera.

In theory, you can have up to 127 USB 2.0 devices on one USB 2.0 bus. This value includes all hubs required to connect all the other USB 2.0 devices on the bus. Assuming you wanted to connect as many cameras as possible and you assume that each hub has 4 ports, you would be able to connect, in theory, up to 94 cameras using 33 hubs. In practicality though, we do not recommend connecting more than 4 at a time as the performance of each camera will be reduced with each camera.

There are two options. Either you can purchase a USB 2.0 Adapter card for your computer with extra USB 2.0 ports or you can purchase a USB 2.0 hub.

The standard cable we provide is a 6' (2m) cable. We can provide a 10' (3m) or 15' (5m) cable upon request. Please contact info@lumenera.com if you require more information on ordering these cables

Follow these steps to correct any issues you may have with the detection of your camera in Windows:

• Disconnect the USB 2.0 cable and power supply (if applicable) from all Lumenera cameras.
• Ensure that the proper version of the LuCam software is installed in your computer.
• Connect the Lumenera camera to the USB 2.0 cable and connect the USB 2.0 cable to an available USB 2.0 port on your computer. Attach the power supply to the camera if one was provided with this camera.
• If the New Hardware Wizard runs, follow the instructions provided. The camera should now be present in the Device Manager. If not, proceed to the next step.
• Open the Device Manager.
• Find the entry in the list with a yellow question mark (?). You will find it in either of the two following locations.
• Imaging Devices Section: the camera will appear in this section as a "Lumenera USB 2.0 camera".
• Universal Serial Bus controllers: the camera will appear in this section as a "USB 2.0 device".
• Right-click on this entry and either select Update driver (in Windows XP) or Properties (in Windows 2000). If you selected the Properties menu item, select the Driver tab in the dialog box and click the Update driver button.
• The New Hardware Wizard will run to install the appropriate drivers for the camera. It should find the proper drivers automatically.
• If, after completing all the steps above, the camera is still not found in the Device Manager correctly, please contact the Support team at support@lumenera.com.

This happens when it does not find the correct drivers for the camera or the New Hardware Wizard was terminated before completion, or with an error. Please see previous question for details on correcting this issue.

This issue, known as vignetting, happens when the lensing used is too small for the camera's sensor. Make sure that you use the proper lens/optics for the camera. Your camera's datasheet will state the size of the sensor used so that you can properly match your lens/optics.

There are a few reasons why you cannot get the advertised frame rate.
The selected exposure time limits the frame rate. Make sure that the exposure time < 1/desired frame rate.
There is not enough computer resources to keep up with the current camera data rate. You will need to minimize the resource usage or operate the camera on a faster computer.

This is an issue with any development environment, not just Visual Basic. The issue is that the DirectShow filters are still trying to stream to the preview window but it is no longer available. What you need to do to avoid this issue is to stop the stream and close the preview window either by closing the preview dialog box or by calling LucamDestroyDisplayWindow(), if it was created by the LuCam API.

Yes.

Our cameras support any C-Mount based lens. You can also order cameras with either CS-Mount or microlens mount.

A Mac interface is available for INFINITY models only. It uses a QuickTime plug-in enabled through ImageJ.