SharpCap Forums

Hi there!
I recently obtained an ELP industrial webcam with a Sony IMX317 sensor. Sharpcap recognises it as a DirectShow "HD USB Camera" and I have been able to capture some short planetary videos. However 4K makes for a 23GB file for just 1000 frames, and I would like to be restricting the area imaged to a region of interest, but I cannot seem to figure out (a) how to consistently how to get this control to appear - sometimes it will be there but most of the time it won't appear [yes, I have tried changing the 'resolution' setting], and (b) when it IS there, I see the region indicator thing next to tilt and pan, but there is no indicator actually on the preview window to help me line it up and there doesn't appear to be any way to click on the preview window and set the ROI. Am I missing something here?
Cheers
Jeremy

Hi,

the problem is that there is no real standard for WebCams to make this sort of ROI functionality available. Often when you select a smaller resolution using a WebCam, what you get is the same image just with fewer pixels in the horizontal and vertical – i.e. it's not doing ROI at all, it's just downscaling the image size.

One thing that some cameras do is make a 'zoom' control available – I've seen cases where first selecting a lower resolution, then turning up the zoom to maximum will make the pan and tilt controls (which allow you to move the ROI area around) start working. I think Microsoft WebCams tend to work this way.

Cheers, Robin