No software is needed with the optional TFT or other TV or composite video monitor.
These instructions are for the standard neutron camera, with the supplied software.
If you have the EMCCD neutron camera, you need these instructions instead.
If you have the Laue neutron camera, you need these instructions instead.

Install the latest version of the EzCAP Driver

To record and analyse the image on a PC, a video frame grabber is needed, such as the USB-2 EzCAP device supplied from version-3 of the camera or available as an optional extra for version-2. Before plugging it in, first install the latest version of the EzCAP108 driver from the EzCAP website, or from the NeutronOptics CD, reboot your computer, and then plug in the EzCAP frame grabber. (It does work under Windows-7, so ignore any error messages). Do NOT install the older driver or any software from the EzCAP CD.

You can check that the driver is installed by right-clicking "My Computer/Properties" and selecting "Hardware/Device Manager" (or "Devices and Printers" under Windows-7). When the EzCAP device is plugged in, it should be listed under "Sound, video and game controllers" as "USB 2861 Device" and "USB EMP Audio Device". (The driver for the audio device will be missing under Windows-7, but is not needed). If you haven't already done so, connect the camera using the supplied 10m video cable plugged into the yellow composite video socket of the EzCAP frame grabber, then follow the camera operating instructions under Help.

You should now be able to display the camera video using Windows media display software, such as AMCap, VLC, VirtualDub or RoboRealm.

Using the supplied AMCap Video Capture Software

A licensed version of AMCap v9.20 will be found on the NeutronOptics CD. Install it to a folder "AMCap" at the same level as your ImageJ folder (if you use ImageJ). With the "USB 2861 device" plugged in, click the AMCap "Devices" menu and select it as the camera. Set the "Options/Video Capture Filter" to "PAL", and the "Options/Video Capture Pin" to the maximum video size (720x576) at a frame rate of 25 hertz and maximum quality (1.0). The "Video Crossbar" should be set to "Video Composte In" and "Video Decoder Out".

To display the crosshair, useful for positioning targets, first choose "VMR9 Windowless mode" under Capture/Setup/Options then select Window/Crosshair.
(If necessary, you can reset all AMCap options simply by deleting the "amcap.ini" file).

With AMCap, you can monitor the camera in real time and save a snapshot by pressing the "Enter" key. (Ignore the fussy Windows-7 warning the first time you do this :-) You can remove noise, colour or do almost everything else with the free ImageJ software.
Top of the page

Introduction to ImageJ and Advanced Image Analysis

ImageJ is recommended for more complex image analysis. Acquisition with ImageJ allows integration over longer periods to produce 12-bit images, as well as the automatic stitching together of two cameras to form mosaic images extending the field of view. ImageJ acquisition is required if you have the 2-CCD Laue Camera or the EMCCD camera.

As well as the functions listed as menu items, a great number of custom macros and plug-ins are available. In particular, you can download our AMCap video camera capture plugin for Windows, which installs the small camera icon shown above.

Using ImageJ functions to treat camera images

Drag an image to ImageJ or use the File /Open menu. The Image menu allows you to adjust the image brightness, contrast etc, while the Process and Plugins menus allow more powerful operations. For example, here we see the use of the Process/Noise/Despeckle function to remove hot pixels from a long exposure.

The large number of ImageJ menus may at first seem challenging, but the basic functions are similar to other image treatment applications, and are fully documented. The big difference is that ImageJ can be scripted to do everything, runs on any computer, and is free.
Click on the illustrations to enlarge them.

Using the RoboRealm Video Capture Software

RoboRealm is an alternative to AMCap/ImageJ that allows you to capture, transform and record photos or videos of the camera output using a single application. RoboRealm is free to download for a 30 day test.

When you first launch RoboRealm, with the USB frame-grabber plugged in, click the "Camera" button at the bottom of the display window. Then click the "Options" window at the top and select the "USB 2861 Device" as the camera. Click on "Video Capture" and for the Video Standard select "PAL". Then for the "Video format" button choose the maximum video size (720x576).
Top of the page

Filters and Image Treatment in RoboRealm

RoboRealm filters (left side of the interface) are applied sequentially.

For the neutron camera try:
  • Filters/Salt_Pepper: removes hot pixel noise visible with long exposures.
  • Transformations/Rotate-Mirror: correct the camera's mirror image.
  • Transformations/Radial: correct pincushion & barrel distortion.
  • Try Histogram/Normalize: or especially Histogram/Equalize: after filtering.
  • Adjust/Intensity: and Adjust/Contrast: also adjusts these properties.
  • Histogram/Levels: provides an interactive interface for adjusting these levels.
  • Colors/Pseudo_Color: colours the image according to intensity.
  • Edges/Canny: finds and emphasises edges in the image.
  • Webserver: allows remote monitoring of the image over the WWW.
  • Loading/Saving: applies to AVI videos and GIF, JPEG, TIFF etc images.
You can store a series of transformations so that they are automatically applied to every image. You can take a snapshot image at any time, save it in various formats and later re-open it in RoboRealm or ImageJ to correct it off-line. The simplest format is Portable Gray Map (*.pgm) which contains just an ID line P5/P6, the image dimensions (720x576), then the maximum gray level (255) followed by an array of binary 0-255 levels.

Using alternative free software such as VideoLan VLC

VLC is a popular free alternative to the Windows media player, and also displays input from capture devices such as the EzCAP frame grabber. With the camera connected, select the "Media/Open Capture Device" menu of VLC. With the default "Direct Show", select "USB 2861 Device" as the "Video Device" and click "Play" to display the camera.

If the display appears small or otherwise incorrect, before clicking "Play" click "Configure" the 2861 device, select PAL as the video format, and set the video size to 720x576. The rightmost control on the display will allow you to adjust video effects such as contrast, brightness, rotation of the image etc. VLC's "Video/Snapshot" (or "Shift-S"), will save a snapshot of the display, while the "Tools/Preferences/Video" menu will allow you to set the format for this image file, as well as the directory where it will be saved (after re-opening the capture device).

Once you have configured VLC, you can open video input with "Ctrl-C" then hit "Return" to initialise the default stream and "Shift-S" to save a snapshot. Then use ImageJ or other free image treatment applications to remove noise (Despeckle), measure intensities etc.
Top of the page