Initializing Image Acquisition with FLIR Black Fly camera

I am using Image Acquisition tools set with a FLIR Blackfly S BFS-U3-515SM camera. In my code I perform the following steps to initialize:

% Connect camera
cam = videoinput('mwspinnakerimaq', 1, 'Mono12Packed');
camProps = getselectedsource(cam);

% Set exposure and Gain
camProps.ExposureAuto = 'Off';
camProps.GainAuto = 'Off';
camProps.ExposureTime = 30001;

The first time I run this code after conencting the camera (USB3) I get the following error message:

Attempt to modify currently read-only or inaccessible property: ExposureTime.
Use IMAQHELP(OBJ, 'ExposureTime') for information.

If I run IMAQTOOL, select my camera in Mono 12 bit packed mode, and then click on "Start Preview" I see the image, and the camera is clearly working properly. I next click on "Stop Preview" and then I exit IMAQTOOL.

Once I have previewed the image in IMAQTOOL the above code suddenly works.

Is there an initialization step I am missing?

Answer 1

[Anshika Chaurasia]

Hi Mike,

You can refer to the following similar MATLAB Answer post:

How Do I set Camera Exposure in MATLAB? - MATLAB Answers - MATLAB Central (mathworks.com)

Hope it helps you!

[Mike]

Thanks Anshika,

I can work around the issue by doing the following:

imaqreset;
cam = videoinput('mwspinnakerimaq', 1, 'Mono12Packed');
camProps = getselectedsource(cam);
preview(cam);
closepreview(cam);

One "preview" executes it leaves the camera in a state where I can control all aspects. It works but it definitely lacks elegance. There is obviously a known methodology to properly initialize the camera otherwise the preview function would fail. The above steps are a hack. It would be nice if someone, be it MathWorks or FLIR actually documented their products so that it was possible to use them properly.