SharpCap Forums

I am using the SV Bony camera (2Mp) SV105 with the Sharpcap software, and have been wanting to increase the exposure time beyond 1 second. The camera data sheet states that maximum exposure is 10 minutes, and the Sharpcap software has an LX  mode that is supposed to enable exposures of more than 500 ms. 


However, it doesn't work.


Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong please?

Rfi

Hi,

sorry to say that SharpCap can only enable longer exposures on older webcams that have been hardware modified to allow the exposure time to be controlled via a serial or parallel port - see https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/2.9/#Modified%20Webcams. This is not possible on newer cameras.

The exposure limit you are seeing is implemented by the people who either wrote the DirectShow driver for the camera (if it has a special one) or the manufacturers who implemented the firmware on the camera - basically SharpCap asks the camera driver what's the maximum exposure time and gets an answer of 0.5s. I have a USB board camera with an AR0130C sensor on which also maxes out at 0.5s. I did try ignoring the limit and sending requests for longer exposures, but the camera just ignored them

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin, and thanks for your really prompt response. Oh dear! Are you conscious of any work around? I have contacted the manufacturers, but have yet to receive a response. The only help I've found online is this rather terse remark on a Q&A site:

Q:What is the exposure time and range of SV105? How to extend the exposure time?
A: 50ms—500ms. Connect SV105 with Computer， then, open the software SharpCap, Select the camera and enter the shooting state. The toolbar on the right adjusts the camera parameters - exposure time. The exposure time of the SV105 can only be adjusted at 50ms and 500ms, and cannot be increased to 2 seconds, 10 seconds and 10 minutes. If you need, pls change the higher end chip

The phrase "pls change the higher end chip" doesn't help me much!

Also, the spec sheet that came packaged with the product states:

(a) Exposure Time = 50us-10min, and,
(b) This SV105 eyepiece camera is a standard UVC device,SV105 could work with Windows 7, 8 & 10. Windows system will automatically install the driver.


I conclude that if I was only smart enough I could maybe get this to work. By the way, I too tried typing in higher exposure times, but to no avail.


Rfi

Hi,

my reading of that is that the 500ms is a hardware limit on that particular model ('cannot be increased to 2 seconds, etc') and that they are saying you need to buy a higher spec model for longer exposures. What you are observing certainly agrees with that rather than with the 10 minutes in the spec sheet.

Note that it's perfectly possible for DirectShow cameras to give exposures about 0.5s, so it's not a limit of the technology or SharpCap - it's just this particular camera maxes out at 0.5s.

cheers,

Robin