Move Over Microscopes, Cameras Peak Interest Of Hundreds of Soldering Engineers As Viable Replacement Solution

Soldering professionals from around the country joined together for the 3 day IPC APEX Expo held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas a few weeks ago.

This premier trade show, coined as "a celebration of printed circuit board and electronics manufacturing and test technology", gave professionals an up close and personal look at what new and emerging technologies are available to help increase revenue while decreasing costs.

Although attendance was down from previous years, the show was ultimately deemed extremely successful for everyone involved.

Aegis Electronic Group, with the support of both Sony VIP and Toshiba Imaging, was among the many hundreds of exhibitors on site to give attendees a first hand look at our cameras in action.

At least 8 complete camera systems were put on display, each system representing a different camera interface and/or output (Analog, USB, FireWire B, HD/SDI, SD, HD, etc.).

Our theme for this year? Getting strained eyes out of the microscope and up onto a monitor or  screen where your image can be seen clearer and more detailed.  Best of all? Whether you need to capture the display and email it or merely display it as a live image these cameras can do it all.

PRODUCTS ON DISPLAY [caption id="attachment_1513" align="alignleft" width="228" caption="Sony FCB-H11 HD Color Block Camera w/ Housing"][/caption]

Sony's new FCB-H11 HD Color Block Camera in a sleek, black customized housing with customized cabling gave people a high def view of themselves and others as they walked by the Aegis booth.

Aegis is the first distributor to offer the FCB-H11 either by itself or in a customized housing kit (complete with interface board and customized cabling (shown left)) making this industrial camera solution even more ideal for those looking at upgrading to a high quality HD block camera.

For those looking for a high quality, yet simply USB camera, PixeLINK's PL-B782U 6.6 Mega Pixel USB color camera was met with great enthusiasm.

[caption id="attachment_1518" align="alignleft" width="254" caption="PixeLINK PL-B782U USB Camera"][/caption]

Designed specifically for machine vision applications, this standard plug-n-play camera has a diverse set of features and capabilities all controllable through software. A rolling shutter and external trigger allows for synchronization and factory calibrated Digital Pixel Correction and on-board Flat Field Correction (FFC) provides image quality similar to high-end CCD cameras.

For the set-up pictured on the left we also used a ring light and Tamron lens.

Toshiba's popular new HD camera lines, IK-HD1, IK-HR1S and IK-HR1D were also met with interest as people compared the differences between high definition and standard definition images.  Add a macro zoom lens and the detail seen on a circuit board is beyond amazing! (Disclaimer: These pictures were not taken with an HD camera as you can tell!)

[caption id="attachment_1520" align="alignleft" width="249" caption="Toshiba's IK-HR1S on display with High Definition monitor "][/caption]

The Toshiba HD cameras have become highly sought after for not only microscopy but medical imaging applications due to their size and high quality pictures.  Whether looking for a remote head camera with CCU or a one piece true HD camera, Toshiba definitely does not disappoint. [caption id="attachment_1524" align="alignright" width="331" caption="Toshiba's IK-HR1D HD Remote Head Camera Close up"][/caption]

Also on display was the Sony XCD-SX90CR FireWire B camera and the mini FCB-IX11A color block camera.

The Sony XCD-SX90CR was displayed because of its unique 1/3 type Progressive Scan CCD camera that achieves up to 30 fps

at SXGA resolution while utilizing the IEEE 1394.b interface that supports the IIDC protocol, transfering images to a host PC at speeds of up to 800 Mb/s.

Ideal for industrial machine-vision applications such as object recognition, inspection, measurement, alignment and more,  multiple SX90CR cameras can be connected in a daisy-chain configuration, offering users the benefits of simplified operation in a multi-camera system.

The miniature-sized FCB color block camera, Sony's FCB-IX11A, measuring only 1-9/16 x 1-13/16 x 2-5/8 inches and weighing less than 3.5 ounces,  is ideal for space-restricted applications such as pipe inspection, photo booths and document stands.

Attendees were able to see just how tiny this actual camera is while seeing its capabilities in action.  People incorporating the large manufacturing and inspection machines into their applications take a liking to this camera because of its small, intricate size.

The FCB-IX11A camera features a 1/4 type EXview HAD™ CCD and high sensitivity of 1.5 lux (50 IRE). The FCB-IX11A camera inherits all the outstanding features of Sony's popular FCB-IX10A camera such as the same Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for high image quality, 10x optical zoom, built-in field memory and updated firmware to enhance its operability.

Last but certainly not least, the analog camera from CIS, VCC-G20E30.  This analog camera fits the standard set by most other analog cameras in that it is a perfect drop in replacement for other analog cameras that may have reached the end of their life span.  This model is a monochrome version, perfect for inspection and microscopy applications.  This type of camera is at the lower end of the scale when it comes to cost but it's reputation and durability are strong.

It's small size, light weight, and low-cost make it a perfect entry-level Machine  Vision camera.

All in all the show was great and the response to the cameras was even greater. Both engineers and managers alike came over to see what our cameras had to offer and the idea of saving time and money by incorporating cameras into microscopes and inspection machines made sense.  It will be interesting to see the transition of cameras into this market over the next few years as it is definitely coming.

[caption id="attachment_1527" align="aligncenter" width="339" caption="William giving a demonstration of the PixeLINK USB Camera"][/caption]