New Machine Vision Camera?

[Keith Wilkinson]

Some few years ago I built a Telecine rig using a modified Eumig 610D running at 3- 6Fps feeding a Hitachi 3CCD HV-D30 with a macro lens.. It had only an analogue output, so I fed S-Video into a USB grabber. I used a Hall effect transistor for synch. Results seemed to me quite good at the time.
See this example of a transfer I made from a 1973 Standard 8mm film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FQglkuQ7dU
I have been reading the progress on the Hawkeye project on this forum, and wonder if it is time to go HD with a new machine vision camera from The Imaging Source. They are expensive, however, it has been suggested I go for DFK27BUR0135 which has a global shutter at £245. Does anyone think this would be worth the expense to get a better quality than my previous set-up? I would be interested in any views anyone has. Thanks

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

My current camera of choice is, believe it or not, Standard Definition DV camcorders (higher-end consumer 3CCD model such as Sony TRV900, Panasonic GS400 for example). Why?
- Adequate manual control for me.
- Image quality is pretty good - when done right.
- Performance/Price ratio is excellent for me.

Another alternative would be a mirrorless camera. Panasonic GH series sould tick every box in the list (excellent image quality/electronic shutter/wired remote shutter release/fully customizable/etc.) And since this will record directly to the SD card it is then possible to make it as standalone unit - no longer any need to tether this to any computer.
Haven't tried this alternative however since my good'ole GS400 seems to still work OK to my need. But if my camcorder eventually gone busted I might consider this in the future.

[Keith Wilkinson]

Well, I decided to go for it and spend the money on the DFKBUR0135 and the results have been much better than my efforts in the past. OK, max resolution is 1280 x 960 so no 2K , but for the price it seems OK, and it is able to be triggered from my Hall sensor, so I will recommend it. Now is the time to rescan my films.