ObscuraCam software released
 

Hello all! The ObscuraCam software -- which currently only supports the Silicon Imaging SI-1300CL industrial camera -- has been released. It is free/open source, available under the GPL.

It works -- on my system anyway -- but is still very much under development. The web site -- http://www.obscuracam.com/ -- is also in a very rough state.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Wow Rob, that is excellent news! I had no idea you continued this, sorry we
lost touch. I'm sure gonna check it out. Do you have any screenshots of the
capture & convert software? (you can inline upload them these days)

Hope everything is well over there!

All the best,

Hey Rob! I will try to put in some screen shots tomorrow.

Rob -- what a coincidence! I was about to post to Wayne, that I still had no contact for Ben syverson (who had coded a converter called linbayer), and I wondered whatever happened to "the two Robs" working on capture/convert. Then I see this thread! Great news. Can you tell us more about it, particularly how it might be used with other cameras. For example, I have a Sumix M73 which I believe uses the same sensor as the SI 1300 (?), so how easy would that fit? Great to see you back, Rob, and congratulations.
John.

Other cameras
 

John, right now the software is quite modular internally, but current it is hard-wired to the SI-1300 to some extent. My next task is to pull out the SI-specific code and design a plugin interface to support other types of cameras.

As I get further along, I will be posting documentation in the ObscuraCam site.

Supporting Sumix camera
 

John, I downloaded the documentation and software for the Sumix M73 and it looks like it should be straightforward to support. For 24 fps, though, the M72 appears to be a better choice -- you can get larger pixels (and larger imaging area) at 1280x1024.

I would love to add support for the Sumix, but I'm a little strapped for cash at the moment. If you could find someone to get me a loaner ...

Edit: Do you happen to know what "Global reset" means? I assume (hope) it's similar to global shutter. If that's the case, the M73 might be a better choice after all, since the M72 does not have the global reset feature.

Screen shot
 

It's not much to see, but here is a screen shot from ObscuraCap in capture mode. It's not perfect yet -- note the "0.0 fps" display. The upper portion of the screen is a 640x360 16:9 "eyepiece" preview. There is also a 4:3 mode. It's a full-screen interface: no menus (etc.) during shooting.

Rob -- forgot to ask: is this software Linux-only? I made a mistake earlier, the M73 is more like the SI 3300, not the SI 1300. "If you could find someone to get me a loaner..." -- I'm using mine imminently for a short film, and I don't think Sumix will lend one themselves. For more info on the M73 camera see Noah Yuan-Vogel's thread here on Alt Imaging called "My little DIY camera project". Noah is doing his own modification to the supplied camera application so you might like to speak to him; he's much more clued up on the camera and going much deeper with the software than me.

Regards,
John.

No, it's Windows-only at this point. Most of the code is general enough to be easily ported, however.
I may contact Sumix anyway; they might see this as an opportunity to market to indie filmmakers.
Thanks, I'll check in with him.

Rob, is there someway to get past the rolling shutter. I mean, does the software allow you to double the frame rate while only capturing every other. such as 48fps becomes 24fps. and if it can do this, what max resolution can this be done with the Si-1300. im guessing the sensor runs at 48mhz, or can it be overclocked to do 60mhz without being a a rocket scientist, i am very limited in hardware and software skills.

That's definitely something I'm shooting for, though it would require a higher-end CameraLink frame grabber that I currently have.
I'm pretty sure the sensor can be overclocked in this fashion, but again, it depends on how many frames you can suck out of it in a timely fashion.

Rob -- "I may contact Sumix anyway" -- good idea. The Sumix support people have always been very helpful to me, though I've not had contact with their marketing people.

John.

rob so will the camera directly hook up to a pc or does a frame grabber need to go inbetween. if so, how much is it for the whole package, (the si-1300 camera and frame grabber) thank you.

The SI-1300 uses CameraLink, so you will need a frame grabber. If I can find a way to support the Sumix camera, it would plug directly into the USB port.
I believe the SI-1300 is ~$2000 and the three grabber options are $500, $1000 and $1500 (32 bit/33 MHz, 32 bit/66MHz, 64 bit/66 MHz). So the basic price would be $2500 (plus computer).

The reason for a higher-end grabber would be to pull in a higher frame rate, and throw away every other frame; this would reduce the rolling shutter artifacts substantially.