Camera Exposure and Computer Vision

What is Camera Exposure?

Exposure can be thought of as a DC bias in the overall brightness of an image.

Exposure can be measured by the Exposure Value using a series of grey patches. Exposure is not the "brightest bright" relative to the "darkest dark" of an image: that's dynamic range.​​

What is Exposure?

Correct exposure is important to all computer vision tasks as any over-exposure or under-exposure results in degradation of contrast and in extreme cases, a complete los of information. Here is a picture of a simulated vehicle under various exposure values. 

Even to the human observer, it is difficult to see details in over or under-exposed images.

What is Camera Exposure Value

Blasinski & Farrell, "Optimizing Image Acquisition Systems for Autonomous Driving" 

Exposure Has a Major Impact on Computer Vision and Machine Vision

Blasinski et al demonstrated how the mean average precision of detection networks SSD-Mobilenet and Resnet drop significantly with incorrect exposure. Even after training the networks using multiple exposure values, the mean average precision dropped by 25% when over-exposed by 4 exposure values.

Computer Vision Degradation due to Exposure

References and Related Links

Blasinski & Farrell, "Optimizing Image Acquisition Systems for Autonomous Driving" 

View Other Image Quality and Computer Vision Topics

Trying to Determine Your Camera Requirements? 

Use our free web-based AoV Calculator to determine your system's Field of View Requirements. Then, use the M12 Lens calculator to match your requirements with the available lenses. Our Depth of Field Calculator also provides the hyperfocal distance and depth of field for every sensor and lens combination.

Camera Module Angle of View Calculator. Camera AoV Calculator.
Basler Camera Depth of Field Calculator. DoF Calculator.

We also have a couple of other calculators that many engineers find interesting.

Jetson Nano Mipi Camera Lens Focal Length Calculator. EFL Calculator.
Raspberry Pi HQ FoV Calculator for Vision System Cameras
Lens Focal Length Calculator. EFL Calculator.
Camera Angle of View Calculator. Camera AoV Calculator.
Camera Depth of Field Calculator. DoF Calculator.
An FoV Calculator for Vision System Cameras

Here are a Few M12 Lenses. Search all 50+ Using Our M12 Lens Calculator

215°@6.8mm M12 Fisheye Lens

CIL220-F2.3-M12B650

215°@6.8mm M12 Fisheye Lens

190°@6.4mm Fisheye Lens

CIL281-F1.8-M12A650

190°@6.4mm Fisheye Lens

Wide-Angle 4mm M12 Lens

CIL339-F1.6-M12B640

Wide-Angle 4mm M12 Lens

No Distortion 3.2mm Lens

CIL034-F2.3-M12A660

No Distortion 3.2mm Lens

No Distortion 6mm M12 Lens

CIL062-F2.8-M12A650

No Distortion 6mm M12 Lens

We Also have Cost Effective 12MP+ C-Mount Lenses for Machine Vision and Factory Automation.

180°@14.2mm C-Mount Fisheye Lens

CIL505-F2.2-CMANIR

180°@14.2mm C-Mount Fisheye Lens

8mm C-Mount Lens 1.1" 12MP

CIL508-F2.4-CMANIR

8mm C-Mount Lens 1.1" 12MP

12mm C-Mount Lens 1.1" 12MP CIL512

CIL512-F2.8-CMANIR

12mm C-Mount Lens 1.1" 12MP CIL512

16mm C-Mount Lens 1.1" 12MP

CIL513-F2.8-CMANIR

16mm C-Mount Lens 1.1" 12MP

25mm C-Mount Lens 1.1" 12MP

CIL514-F2.8-CMANIR

25mm C-Mount Lens 1.1" 12MP
215 degree Miniature Fisheye Lens CIL220
215 degree Miniature Fisheye Lens CIL220
M12 Mini Fisheye Lens
Miniature Fisheye Lens
CIL220-F2.3-M12B650
215°@6.8mm M12 Fisheye Lens
$39.00
High resolution M12 Fisheye lens
High resolution M12 Fisheye lens
S-Mount Fisheye Lenses
Embedded Camera Fisheye Lenses
CIL281-F1.8-M12A650
190°@6.4mm Fisheye Lens
$59.00
Wide-Angle 4mm M12 Lens
Wide-Angle 4mm M12 Lens
Wide-Angle 4mm M12 Lens
CIL339-F1.6-M12B640
Wide-Angle 4mm M12 Lens
$99.00
Basler Dart Camera IP67 M12 Lens
Basler Dart Camera IP67 M12 Lens
Ace Camera Pylon Camera IP67 M12 Lens
FLIR Camera S-Mount Lens M12 Lens
CIL034-F2.3-M12A660
No Distortion 3.2mm Lens
$39.00
6mm M12 Lens
6mm M12 Lens
Raspberry Pi 6mm Lens
6mm S-Mount Lens
CIL062-F2.8-M12A650
No Distortion 6mm M12 Lens
$29.00
IR Corrected 12mm M12 Lens
IR Corrected 12mm M12 Lens
12mm S-Mount Lens
IR Corrected M12 Lens
CIL122-F2.0-M12A650
IR Corrected 12mm M12 Lens
$59.00