Vicon Valkyrie camera strobe units
- Gisela Roberts
- Dev Ops
- Andy Roberts (Deactivated)
Vicon Valkyrie cameras contain no user-serviceable components. For all servicing, and any alterations, you must return the camera to Vicon. Any attempt by you or any third party to alter or repair a Valkyrie camera may invalidate its warranty as well as causing electrical hazards.
The strobe unit on the front of a Vicon Valkyrie camera (VK26, VK16 or VK8), uses powerful surface-mounted light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the capture volume. The standard LEDs fitted to Vicon Valkyrie camera strobe units emit infrared (IR) light at 850 nm. This is only slightly visible to the naked eye in very dark surroundings. For information about other LED wavelengths, please contact Vicon Sales or your nearest agent or distributor.
In your Vicon application software on the Vicon Valkyrie host PC, you can set each camera's strobe duration individually or set all the camera strobes together. From then on, your Vicon application software remembers these settings and re-applies them on power up or from reset.
Do not look directly at the source when an Infrared (IR) strobe unit is in operation.
The strobe unit emits a powerful flash of light once per video frame at precisely the same time as the image sensor's global electronic shutter opens. This flash illuminates the retroreflective markers attached to the motion capture subject. The reflected light passes back through the lens and optical filter. The spectral characteristics of the filter ensure that only light with the same wavelength as the LEDs passes back into the camera.
In the camera, the lens collects the light and forms a focused image of the markers on the camera's image sensor plane. The camera electronically converts the pattern of light into data that ultimately represents the position and radius of each marker in the image. For more information on the filters and lenses supplied, see Vicon Valkyrie camera lens.
When the cameras are used outdoors, try to position the cameras to minimize the ambient light as the filter cannot distinguish ambient light of the same wavelength as that of the strobe.
Valkyrie secondary optics
To spread the light from the LEDs to match the field of view of the camera lens and therefore the capture volume, Valkyrie strobe units come with secondary optics that fit over the LEDs. Each LED effectively sits inside its own secondary lens. These secondary optics produce a wide angle light spread.
To obtain a narrower light spread, you can remove the secondary optics. This enables you to best match the light spread to the field of view obtained with the focal length setting of the lens.
Note
Vicon Valkyrie cameras are shipped with a focal length of 12 mm.
For focal lengths that give an angle of view of 54° or narrower, we recommend that you remove the secondary optics.
For more information on fields of view and focal length, see Field of View and Vicon Valkyrie cameras lens specifications.
Remove and replace secondary optics
For information on how to remove and replace secondary optics and how to align them correctly with the strobe LEDs, please contact Vicon Support.
