Exposure Settings

Open the Exposure Settings dialog to adjust the exposure settings of the camera and to optimize it for the current lighting condition. The MOBOTIX camera is equipped with several automatic features so that the best possible images can be created under all weather and lighting conditions. Normally, only extreme conditions call for manual modifications of the exposure settings. When modifying settings manually, you should always start with the factory default settings.

Notes:

Some of these settings can be changed using the pull-down menus above the image on the Live screen.
Click on the More button to display all options of the dialog.

Description of Parameters

Image Program

Quality: This is the default mode which can be used to get the best images under the most common circumstances.
Security Application: This mode uses shorter exposure times (in ranges higher than 1/90 sec). If the Night Improvement parameter has been set to Auto, it uses this mode. Both measures result in images with high contrast and low motion blur, but higher image noise.
Web: This mode is best for country panoramas, which show areas that are too bright or too dark otherwise. This setting is also useful for cameras that get direct sunlight for a certain portion of the day.

Automatic Contrast

The automatic contrast should always be activated in order to create high-contrast images under all lighting conditions.

Brightness

Changing the Brightness parameter will adjust the entire image area.

Notes:

Configure the Exposure Windows first (see below). This is usually sufficient to achieve good image exposure.
If setting the exposure windows does not produce satisfying images, you may want to use the Brightness parameter for fine tuning.
Selecting high values for this parameter that are too high may lead to overexposure of bright image areas.

Backlight

This parameter also is used for adjusting the brightness of an image. However, it only affects the darker portions of an image.

Notes:

Configure the Exposure Windows first (see below). This is usually sufficient to achieve good image exposure.
If setting the exposure windows does not produce satisfying images, you may want to use the Backlight Correction parameter for fine tuning.

Night Improvement

This feature improves the contrast of dark images.

Note:	Activating this parameter may result in an increase of image noise.

Lens F-Number

Select a an F-stop number in order to correct the exposure of the camera.

Exposure Window

Exposure windows are defined image areas that are used for exposure and color adjustments. To facilitate exposure window positioning, you can select from a number of pre-defined exposure windows.

Notes:

If your camera is a dual lens model, you can define different exposure windows for each lens.
You may also use the exposure windows to perform the automatic White Balance adjustment.

Pre-defined Exposure Windows:

All	Uses the complete image area for exposure control.
Quarter	An exposure window at the image center that covers a quarter of the viewable image area.
Center	One exposure window at the image center.
Spot	One small exposure window at the image center.
Top	One horizontal exposure window at the top of the image.
Middle	One horizontal exposure window at the image center.
Bottom	One horizontal exposure window at the bottom of the image.
Right	One vertical exposure window at the right border of the image.
Vertical	One vertical exposure window at the image center.
Left	One vertical exposure window at the left border of the image.
Right & Left	Two vertical exposure windows at the left and right borders of the image.
Extra	Select this value if you would like to define customized exposure windows in the configuration file.

Exposure Weighting

Using this parameter, you can define how much the exposure windows are to be considered for exposure control--relative to the remainder of the image.
Values: Total .. 0% .. 100%

The factory default setting is 100% which means that only the exposure windows are used for exposure control.

White Balance Weighting

Using this parameter, you can define how much the exposure windows are to be considered for white balancing--relative to the remainder of the image.
Values: Total .. 0% .. 100%

The factory default setting is Total which means that the entire image is used for white balance.

Average Brightness

Using this parameter, you can influence the average brightness within the exposure windows. Note that too high a value may affect the exposure time.
The factory default setting is 40%.

Minimum Average Brightness

This parameter controls the average brightness that will maintained by the software amplification in dark images. Note that a value that is too high may increase image noise.
The factory default setting is 20%.

Show Window

on: Shows exposure window(s) as green box(es).

The other options (Histo Raw Inside, Histo Raw Outside, ...) show additional histograms with parameters of specific image processing features.

Exposure Program

The factory default setting is the exposure program 0. Select a negative value to use a program with shorter exposure times. This will reduce motion blur, but may increase image noise. Select a positive value to use a program with longer exposure times for images with less image noise.

Max. Exposure Time

Set the maximum exposure time in seconds.

Min. Exposure Time

Set the minimum exposure time in seconds.

Frequency of Power Supply

This parameter sets the camera to the power supply frequency of the respective country to prevent interference.
The factory default setting for Europe is 50 Hz. For Canada, the U.S.A. and Japan, set the power supply frequency to 60 Hz.

Note:	The camera displays the current exposure settings of the image sensors at the end of the dialog.

Storing the Configuration

Click on the Set button to activate your settings and to save them until the next reboot of the camera.

Click on the Close button to close the dialog. While closing the dialog, the system checks the entire configuration for changes. If changes are detected, you will be asked if you would like to store the entire configuration permanently.

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