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Medical Forum / General / Dentistry / May 2004Getting the most out of USB intraoral camera
I purchased a USB intraoral camera by Lightyear and a Dell laptop to use in an operatory. I've only taken a few pictures so far and have not really had time yet to get the settings just right. The main drawback so far is the delay between pressing the capture button (on the camera) and the actual capturing of the frame. This results in you taking a picture of what you see on the screen, but actually what you get is what the camera is 'seeing' about .5 seconds later. In other words you have to press the button then hold the camera still for another second. I know this sounds easy, but when you get 'the' shot you need sometimes its not easy to hold it there and press the button at the same time. The other thing is that the shutter speed it too slow and you end up with blurred captures. When you increase the shutter speed in the software, the image is too dark. When you adjust the gamma to correct that, the image gets bluish. I'm sure there is a learning curve to this and I'm just used to having the assistant hit the foot pedal when I say "ok" with our analog camera. Any input to solving these problems or just general advice on these USB cams is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) Is it really a better deal financially to buy a camera set-up that way? My set-up has a fraction of a second delay before the image appears on the screen. After I say "freeze" the image is captured, but it takes a few tenths of a second for the image to display. Part of that is the fact that I am using 5 year old PC's in the treatment rooms. They are not as fast as the new stuff. I might suggest comparing the camera performance to what the salesman has for demonstration purposes. CEREC requires that you hold the scanning camera still for a second after tapping up on the foot pedal. You do get used to doing that pretty quickly.  Signature~+--~+--~+--~+--~+-- Stephen Mancuso, D.D.S. Troy, Michigan, USA .................................................... This posting is intended for informational or conversational purposes only. Always seek the opinion of a licensed dental professional before acting on the advice or opinion expressed here. Only a dentist who has examined you in person can diagnose your problems and make decisions which will affect your health. ...................... > I purchased a USB intraoral camera by Lightyear and a Dell laptop to use in > an operatory. I've only taken a few pictures so far and have not really had [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Any input to solving these problems or just general advice on these USB cams > is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) Since the practice will be in a new location later this year, I didn't want to hardwire the new cam into existing infrastructure. Also, I will take a backup of my Eaglesoft data home every day with the laptop and its all done via wi-fi so I can move the whole thing on a cart (theres a small photo printer attached too) until I get in the new office. > Is it really a better deal financially to buy a camera set-up that way? > [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] > cams > > is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) Do you have Eaglesoft networked? Is it better for you to use an expensive laptop, than a cheap PC? Part of my thought process was that there could be loss of speed in running through the laptop. Signature~+--~+--~+--~+--~+-- Stephen Mancuso, D.D.S. Troy, Michigan, USA .................................................... This posting is intended for informational or conversational purposes only. Always seek the opinion of a licensed dental professional before acting on the advice or opinion expressed here. Only a dentist who has examined you in person can diagnose your problems and make decisions which will affect your health. ...................... > Since the practice will be in a new location later this year, I didn't want > to hardwire the new cam into existing infrastructure. Also, I will take a [quoted text clipped - 58 lines] > > cams > > > is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) Yes, Eaglesoft will be networked soon, so I can use the laptop in more than one operatory. Eventually, I probably will have a small tower type PC in each operatory and can leave a USB cable ready to accept the camera as needed. I'm think the laptop should be fast enough to not cause the lag. Its 2.4 mhz P4, 64 mb video, 500mb ram so I wouldn't think it was the computer. I'm not that concerned with the lag because like you say you get used to that. The image quality is what seems to be lacking. This camera is a 1.5 megapixel ccd camera so should be fairly clear. I get a lot of 'noise' in the pic though. And the color is off. I'm going to give Lightyear a call to see if they can help (but I'm still open to any ideas from you or others). > Do you have Eaglesoft networked? Is it better for you to use an expensive > laptop, than a cheap PC? Part of my thought process was that there could be [quoted text clipped - 92 lines] > > > cams > > > > is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) My I/O cameras are direct wired to a PC in each room via S-Video cable. I have not tried USB cameras, but see no reason why they should be any lower in image quality. Eaglesoft imaging software has capabilities for setting various things which effect image quality. Are you using Eaglesoft for image acquisition? Signature~+--~+--~+--~+--~+-- Stephen Mancuso, D.D.S. Troy, Michigan, USA .................................................... This posting is intended for informational or conversational purposes only. Always seek the opinion of a licensed dental professional before acting on the advice or opinion expressed here. Only a dentist who has examined you in person can diagnose your problems and make decisions which will affect your health. ...................... > Yes, Eaglesoft will be networked soon, so I can use the laptop in more than > one operatory. Eventually, I probably will have a small tower type PC in [quoted text clipped - 113 lines] > > > > cams > > > > > is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) > My I/O cameras are direct wired to a PC in each room via S-Video cable. I > have not tried USB cameras, but see no reason why they should be any lower > in image quality. Eaglesoft imaging software has capabilities for setting > various things which effect image quality. Are you using Eaglesoft for > image acquisition? I believe John Chewter said that USB 2 / FireWire had some definite drawbacks as to versatility vs the cameras connected via PCI cards. This may be similar in the USB set-up. I would think that USB data transfer to the LapTop is a slow process. I know that when I connect my Fuji 6900 with the close up lens to my TV-Video recorder, the data transmission is practically instantaneous. I snap the picture of the teeth, turn around, that there the image is already there. When I transfer the images to my iBook (like the ones I showed you at Easter) the process is s..l..o..w.. in comparison. That's why I keep the little Magnasonic TV in my operatory. It is not a hi-def digital screen, but it gets the message accross. I'm going to find a video printer and use that for saving in the charts. Further, I thought that for clarity of image, digital cameras are generally supposed to have at least 2 megapixel image chips in them. Maybe this is part of the problem. Further still, I know my Fuji takes good pictures, but it is noticibly slower that a film camera to take the picture. Maybe the same is true of digital I/O cameras vs analog ones... Just a thought. Choos SP Choos SP SignatureTo reply: take out the TRASH... One other thing to be aware of.......... The difference between USB and USB2 USB2 is 20x faster than USB1 or 1.1 So if you have a USB2 camera plugged into a USB1 socket it will have USB1 performance - makes the video look very jerky and odd with a long lag. If you have a USB1 camera in a USB2 socket you get USB1 performance. If you have no USB2 sockets you can get a PCI card with 4x USB2 sockets on it for around $20 or if you have a laptop you can get a PCMCIA card with USB2. for about double that, Has the camera no composite or SVHS video output? I find USB1 perfomance almost unusable. USB2 is OK can product smooth video on a fast machine at 640x480 - with a 0.5 to 1 second buffering lag - but not as good as a PCI Video capture Card To get around the jerkyness issue, I have a technique in my software, which I'm not going to reveal here, that greatly improves the 'apparent' speed performance of USB dental cams. I did this because not everyone has a 2GHZ machine and this extends its usasblilty down to the 300MHz dinosaurs > > My I/O cameras are direct wired to a PC in each room via S-Video cable. I > > have not tried USB cameras, but see no reason why they should be any lower [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > Choos > SP > One other thing to be aware of.......... > The difference between USB and USB2 [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Has the camera no composite or SVHS video output? Are those outputs (composite or SVHS) what what allow me to connect my Fuji digital camera directly to the _Video In_ plug on my TV? ....And get an image that is almost instantaneous? > I find USB1 perfomance almost unusable. USB2 is OK can product smooth video > on a fast machine at 640x480 - with a 0.5 to 1 second buffering lag - but [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > performance of USB dental cams. I did this because not everyone has a 2GHZ > machine and this extends its usasblilty down to the 300MHz dinosaurs You don't have to answer, but I'd bet a Guiness that you tackle this issue using a standard 'Fuzzy-Logic' signal processing routine. There are even some cameras that use them now to combat jerkiness, especially when hand-held. Choos SP SignatureTo reply: take out the TRASH... > Are those outputs (composite or SVHS) what what allow me to connect my Fuji digital camera directly to the _Video In_ plug on my TV? ....And get an image that is almost instantaneous? Yes thats them > > To get around the jerkyness issue, I have a technique in my software, which greatly improves the 'apparent' speed performance of USB dental cams......... > You don't have to answer, but I'd bet a Guiness that you tackle this issue using a standard 'Fuzzy-Logic' signal processing routine. No not even close. > > Are those outputs (composite or SVHS) what what allow me to connect my > Fuji digital camera directly to the _Video In_ plug on my TV? ....And get an > image that is almost instantaneous? > > Yes thats them Good... Thanks > > > To get around the jerkyness issue, I have a technique in my software, > which greatly improves the 'apparent' speed performance of USB dental [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > No not even close. Good... I stand corrected. ;-) Choos SP SignatureTo reply: take out the TRASH... No, I'm not using Eaglesoft presently for acquisition. I'm using the software that came with the Lightyear camera. Sounds like I should go with an analog camera with input into a pci capture card. > My I/O cameras are direct wired to a PC in each room via S-Video cable. I > have not tried USB cameras, but see no reason why they should be any lower [quoted text clipped - 157 lines] > > > > > cams > > > > > > is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) Did you buy Eaglesoft imaging software? Signature`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ Stephen Mancuso, D.D.S. Troy, Michigan USA =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= . > No, I'm not using Eaglesoft presently for acquisition. I'm using the > software that came with the Lightyear camera. [quoted text clipped - 177 lines] > > > > > > cams > > > > > > > is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) In my experience, the USB camera's are usually made cheaply, and are not well suited for image quality as of yet. The USB bus is slow which causes the lag times. I have not seen or tested a USB 2.0 device yet, but this should offer an improvement. Also, the LED lights do not provide enough illumination for the CCD. That is the reason you are gettting "noise" in your picture. Low light = noise in capture. The bluring is most likely caused by the movement of the camera coupled with the lower illumination. Under these cirumstances it is very difficult to capture a good image. > I purchased a USB intraoral camera by Lightyear and a Dell laptop to use in > an operatory. I've only taken a few pictures so far and have not really had [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Any input to solving these problems or just general advice on these USB cams > is a appreciated. (John Chewter?) I aggree with most of that but here is my 2 cents... > In my experience, the USB camera's are usually made cheaply, and are not > well suited for image quality as of yet. Some are very (example SpectraVu SVDx) - the cheap ones however reflect the price. > Also, the LED lights do not provide enough illumination for the CCD. That is the reason you are gettting "noise" in > your picture. Low light = noise in capture. Not all use LED Lights - some USB cameras use the new long-life Metal Hallide lights down a lightpipe but are still USB. Illumination from these is excellent with good color rendition and they usually have good optics. They cost 50% more but the image is vastly better/ |
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