pco 2.5.0

This class provides methods for using pco cameras.

The Python package pco is a powerful and easy to use high level Software Development Kit (SDK) for working with PCO cameras. It contains everything needed for camera setup, image acquistion, readout and color conversion.

Now also including a class to control Excelitas XCite light sources

The high-level class architecture makes it very easy to integrate PCO cameras and XCite light sources into your own software, while still having access to the underlying pco.sdk and pco.recorder interface for a detailed control of all possible functionalities of the camera.

• Documentation: Please visit pco.python and open the Documentation tab

• Website: https://www.excelitas.com/product-category/pco

• Support: [e-mail]

• Examples: Please visit Github-Samples

Installation

Install from pypi (recommended):

$ pip install pco

For cameras with USB interface on linux you will need to add usb rules to the system. This can be done with executing the following command (sudo permissions required):

[ ! -f "/etc/udev/rules.d/pco_usb.rules" ] && sudo mkdir -p "/etc/udev/rules.d" && echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb" , ATTR{idVendor}=="1cb2" , GROUP="video" , MODE="0666" , SYMLINK+="pco_usb_camera%n"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/pco_usb.rules > /dev/null && udevadm trigger || true

To use the XCite class for controlling the Excelitas XCite light sources, on linux you need to make sure to have access to the serial ports, i.e. that the current user is in the group dialout. This can be done with executing the following command (sudo permissions required):

sudo adduser $USER dialout

Basic Usage

import pco
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

with pco.Camera() as cam:

    cam.record(mode="sequence")
    image, meta = cam.image()

    plt.imshow(image, cmap='gray')
    plt.show()

Recorder Modes

Depending on your workflow you can choose between different recording modes.

Some modes are blocking, i.e. the record() function waits until recording is finished, some are non-blocking. Some of them are storing the images in memory, the others directly as file(s) on the disk. However, for the recorder modes which store the images as files, accessing the recorded images is identical with the modes which store the images in memory.

record modes

Mode	Storage	Blocking	Description
sequence	Memory	yes	Record a sequence of images.
sequence non blocking	Memory	no	Record a sequence of images, do not wait until record is finished.
ring buffer	Memory	no	Continuously record images in a ringbuffer, once the buffer is full, old images are overwritten.
fifo	Memory	no	Record images in fifo mode, i.e. you will always read images sequentially and once the buffer is full, recording will pause until older images have been read.
tif	File	no	Record images directly as tif files.
multitif	File	no	Record images directly as one or more multitiff file(s).
pcoraw	File	no	Record images directly as one pcoraw file.
dicom	File	no	Record images directly as dicom files.
multidicom	File	no	Record images directly as one or more multi-dicom file(s).
camram segment	Ram	no	Record images and stop if cam ram segment is full
camram ring	Ram	no	Record images and use cam ram segment as ring buffer

Image Formats

All image data is always transferred as 2D or 3D numpy array. Besides the standard 16 bit raw image data you also have the possibility to get your images in different formats, shown in the table below.

The format is selected when calling the image() / images() / image_average() functions of the Camera class. The image data is stored as numpy array, which enables you to work with it in the most pythonic way.

image formats

Format	Description
Mono8,mono8	Get image as 8 bit grayscale data.
Mono16,mono16,raw16,bw16	Get image as 16 bit grayscale/raw data.
BGR8,bgr	Get image as 24 bit color data in bgr format.
RGB8,rgb	Get image as 24 bit color data in rgb format.
BGRA8,bgra8,bgra	Get image as 32 bit color data (with alpha channel) in bgra format.
RGBA8,rgba8,rgba	Get image as 32 bit color data (with alpha channel) in rgba format.
BGR16,bgr16	Get image as 48 bit color data in bgr format (only possible for color cameras).
RGB16,rgb16	Get image as 48 bit color data in rgb format (only possible for color cameras).

Logging

Logging is implemented according to the python logging package (https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.html). Supported logging levels are:

• ERROR

• WARNING

• INFO

• DEBUG

logger = logging.getLogger("pco")
logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
logger.addHandler(pco.stream_handler)

...
[2023-10-16 16:33:10,450] [3.930 s] [sdk] open_camera_ex: OK.
...
[2023-10-16 16:33:13,485] [0.001 s] [rec] copy_image: OK.
...

Documentation (overview)

The full Documentation can be found on our pco.python page in the Documentation tab

The pco.Camera class offers the following methods:

• __init()__ Open and initializes a camera with its default configuration.

• __exit()__ Close the camera and cleans up everything (e.g. end of with-statement).

• close() Close the camera and cleans up everything.

• default_configuration() Set default configuration to the camera

• record() Initialize and start the recording of images.

• stop() Stop the current recording.

• wait_for_first_image() Wait until the first image has been recorded.

• wait_for_new_image() Wait until a new image has been recorded.

• get_convert_control() Get current color convert settings.

• set_convert_control() Set new color convert settings.

• load_lut() Set the lut file for the convert control setting.

• adapt_white_balance() Do a white-balance according to a transferred image.

• image() Read a recorded image as numpy array.

• images() Read a series of recorded images as a list of numpy arrays.

• image_average() Read an averaged image (averaged over all recorded images) as numpy array.

• switch_to_camram() Set camram segment for read via image functions.

• set_camram_allocation() Set allocation distribution of camram segments.

• configureHWIO_1_exposureTrigger() Configure the hwio connector 1 of the camera (input, which is exposure trigger)

• configureHWIO_2_acquireEnable() Configure the hwio connector 2 of the camera (input, which is acquire enable)

• configureHWIO_3_statusBusy() Configure the hwio connector 3 of the camera (output, which is typically status busy)

• configureHWIO_4_statusExpos() Configure the hwio connector 4 of the camera (output, which is typically status exposure)

• auto_exposure_on() Activate auto-exposure

• auto_exposure_off() Deactivate auto-exposure

• configure_auto_exposure() Configure auto-exposure (i.e min-max exposure range, relevant image regions)

The pco.Camera class has the following properties:

• camera_name Get the camera name.

• camera_serial Get the serial number of the camera.

• interface Get the interface of the camera.

• is_recording Get a flag to indicate if the camera is currently recording.

• is_color Get a flag to indicate if the camera is a color camera.

• raw_format Get current bit resolution setup of the camera

• recorded_image_count Get the number of currently recorded images.

• configuration Get/set the camera configuration.

• description Get the (static) camera description parameters.

• exposure_time Get/set the exposure time (in seconds).

• delay_time Get/set the delay time (in seconds).

• has_ram Get flag that indicates camram support of the camera.

• camram_segment Get segment number of active camram segment

• camram_max_images Get number of images that can be stored in the active camram segment

• camram_num_images Get number of images that are available in the active camram segment

The pco.Camera class holds the following objects:

• sdk Offer direct access to all underlying functions of the pco.sdk.

• rec Offer direct access to all underlying functions of the pco.recorder.

• conv Offer direct access to all underlying functions of the pco.convert according to the selected image format.

The pco.Xcite class offers the following methods:

• __init()__ Open and initializes a XCite light source with its default configuration.

• __exit()__ Close the XCite and cleans up everything (e.g. end of with-statement).

• close() Close the XCite and cleans up everything.

• xcite() Get the XCite handle

• default_configuration() Set default configuration to the XCite light source

• switchOn() Switch the configured lights on

• switchOff() Switch all lights off

The pco.Xcite class has the following properties:

• configuration Get/set the XCite configuration.

• description Get the (static) XCite description parameters.