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

Low Distortion 3.0mm M12 Lens

CIL030-F2.1-M12A650

Low Distortion 3.0mm M12 Lens

Low Distortion 2.7mm M12 Lens

CIL027-F2.8-M12A650

Low Distortion 2.7mm M12 Lens

Large Format 3.5mm M12 Lens

CIL334-F2.2-M12C660

Large Format 3.5mm M12 Lens

Low Distortion 6.8mm M12 Lens

CIL068-F2.5-M12A650

Low Distortion 6.8mm M12 Lens

195°@4.7mm Fisheye M12 Lens

CIL216-F2.2-M12A650

195°@4.7mm Fisheye M12 Lens

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

7mm M12 Lens GMSL Camera
7mm M12 Lens GMSL Camera
7mm M12 Lenses USB3 FLIR
Basler Dart Camera 7mm SMount Lens
CIL068-F2.5-M12A650
Low Distortion 6.8mm M12 Lens
$59.00
Fisheye Lens for 1/2.3
Fisheye Lens for 1/2.3
M12 Fisheye Lens for 20MP cameras
195 degree S Mount Lens for AR1820HS
CIL216-F2.2-M12A650
195°@4.7mm Fisheye M12 Lens
$59.00
Wide Angle Fisheye Lens for S Mount. Entaniya Raspberry Pi RP-L100
Wide Angle Fisheye Lens for S Mount. Entaniya Raspberry Pi RP-L100
Fisheye Wide Angle M12 Lens Entaniya RP-L100 DesignSpark
Board Mount Lens Wide Angle Fisheye Entaniya RP-L100
CIL227-F2.5-M12B660
185°@7.8mm Fisheye M12 Lens
$29.00
Mini Fisheye S Mount Lens
Mini Fisheye S Mount Lens
Tiny Fisheye Lens
Miniature Fisheye
CIL217-F2.7-M12A650
200°@5.7mm IP67 Fisheye M12 Lens
$39.00
Mini M12 Fisheye Lens for Board Mount Cameras
Mini M12 Fisheye Lens for Board Mount Cameras
Mini M12 Fisheye Lens for Board Mount Cameras
Mini M12 Fisheye Lens for Board Mount Cameras
Mini M12 Fisheye Lens for Board Mount Cameras
CIL212-F2.2-M12A660
226°@3.9mm Fisheye M12 Lens
$49.00
230 degree M12 Fisheye lens
230 degree M12 Fisheye lens
Ultra-wide fisheye lens with 230 degree field of view
230degree mini fisheye lens
CIL213-F2.3-M12A660
230°@4.5mm Fisheye M12 Lens
$99.00