Industrial Camera Selection Guide

1. Area scan or line scan?

This is the first split and it determines everything else. Area scan cameras capture a two-dimensional image in a single frame — the right choice for stationary or step-indexed objects. Line scan cameras read a single row of pixels; the image is built line by line as the object passes beneath the camera.

Rule of thumb: if the object is moving continuously (conveyor, roll, web material) and the entire surface is needed at high resolution, consider line scan. If the object can stop or indexes in sync with a trigger, area scan is both cheaper and simpler to commission.

• Area scan suits: part presence checking, code reading, assembly verification, dimensional measurement
• Line scan suits: web material (paper, film, textile, metal sheet) surface inspection, unrolled imaging of cylindrical surfaces, very long objects

2. How many megapixels?

Megapixels are not a marketing number but a calculated requirement. Your starting point: what is the smallest detail, in millimetres, you must detect?

Use a safety factor of 3 for inspection and 5–10 for measurement; a detail needs more than one pixel across it to be detected reliably.

Worked example

You need to check 0.2 mm holes on a part 200 mm wide:

• Horizontal pixels = 200 ÷ 0.2 × 3 = 3000 pixels
• If the field of view is square ≈ 3000 × 3000 = 9 MP required
• If the part is 200 × 100 mm ≈ 3000 × 1500 = 4.5 MP is enough

The resolution spread across the 159 cameras in the FST range shows most applications are solved in the middle band:

Resolution	Models	Typical use
0–3 MP	64	Presence/position checking, code reading, fast lines
3–8 MP	52	General inspection, assembly verification, measurement
8–16 MP	13	Fine defects over a wide area, PCB inspection
16 MP and above	8	Large surfaces, high-precision measurement

3. Mono or colour?

It runs against intuition, but mono should be the default. Colour sensors carry a Bayer filter in front of the pixels; because that filter gives each pixel a single colour channel, effective resolution and light sensitivity both drop.

• Choose mono: edge/dimensional measurement, surface defects, code reading, low light, high speed — sharper and more sensitive results from the same sensor
• Choose colour: when the distinction genuinely depends on colour (wire colour codes, product/label discrimination, colour verification, ripeness in food)

The FST range keeps this balance: 79 mono and 71 colour models. Most series carry both versions of the same model — the M and C letters at the end of the model code indicate which.

4. Global shutter or rolling shutter?

Global shutter exposes all pixels at the same instant. Rolling shutter reads rows sequentially, which skews and smears the image while the object is moving.

	Global shutter	Rolling shutter
Moving object	No distortion	Risk of skew/smear
Typical use	Conveyor, robot, fast line	Stationary object, microscopy, high resolution
Cost at same resolution	Higher	Lower

Of the 159 cameras in the range, 101 use global shutter and 30 rolling shutter — a ratio that reflects a selection weighted towards moving production environments. If the object is stationary in front of the camera, rolling shutter buys you more resolution for the same budget.

5. Which interface?

The interface determines three things: cable distance, bandwidth and installation cost.

Interface	Distance	Strengths	Models in range
GigE Vision	up to 100 m	Long distance, single cable with PoE, multi-camera setups	95
USB3 Vision	~5 m (without repeater)	Low latency, simple setup, desktop/laboratory	18
Camera Link	~10 m	High, stable bandwidth; line scan	9
CoaXPress / fibre	Long	Very high speed, long distance	3

In practice: GigE on the factory floor, USB3 on the bench are the defaults. Camera Link and CoaXPress come in for line scan or very high frame rates, and additionally require a frame grabber — remember to budget for it.

6. Sensor size and lens compatibility

This is the most frequently skipped and most expensive step. The lens image circle cannot be smaller than the sensor. Pair a 1/1.8″ lens with a 1″ sensor and the corners of the image go dark (vignetting) — you effectively cannot use that camera’s resolution.

• The sensor size the lens supports must be ≥ the camera sensor size
• The mount must match: C-mount is the common standard; M42/M72 on large sensors, M12 on board-level cameras
• Lens resolving power (lp/mm) must suit the sensor pixel size — a sensor with 2.4 μm pixels will not deliver its nominal resolution behind a cheap lens

Camera and lens must be chosen together; our lens range lists FA and telecentric options by sensor size.

Reading the model code

Model codes in the range are not arbitrary; once you can read them, the code itself tells you what the camera is.

Part	Meaning
MV-C	Product family prefix
S	Series letter — see the table below
200	Resolution indicator (200 ≈ 20 MP, 060 ≈ 6 MP)
U	Interface: U = USB3.0, G = GigE
C	Sensor: C = Colour, M = Mono

So MV-CS200-10UC is a 20 MP, USB3.0, colour area scan camera. The mono version of the same model is coded MV-CS200-10UM, and the GigE version MV-CS200-10GC.

Series in the FST range

Code	Series	Models	When to choose
MV-CS…	Small and medium pixel	51	Widest choice; general-purpose inspection and measurement
MV-CU…	Smart CU series	46	Cost-focused installations, PoE-capable GigE options
MV-CL…	Line scan	22	Web material and continuously moving surface inspection
MV-CH…	Medium and high pixel	18	Inspection needing high resolution
MV-CB…	Board level	16	Embedded into equipment, space-constrained designs
MV-CI…	SWIR / infrared	6	Beyond visible light: moisture, fill level, silicon inspection

Five common mistakes

• Leaving lighting until last. Camera selection cannot be separated from lighting; insufficient light makes an expensive camera’s frame rate unusable. Lighting options must be planned together with the camera.
• Under-budgeting the lens. A weak lens wastes the sensor’s resolution. A high-MP camera with a cheap lens performs worse than a lower-MP camera with a good one.
• Calculating frame rate from the sensor alone. Real throughput is limited by interface bandwidth; a 20 MP camera will not reach its nominal sensor rate over GigE.
• Installing a line scan camera without an encoder. The image distorts as soon as line speed changes; encoder synchronisation is a requirement, not an option.
• Ignoring environmental conditions. Most cameras in the range are IP40; dusty or washdown environments need a protective enclosure.