Camera Controls

Several camera settings can be tuned using ZED Explorer or the API.

Selecting a Resolution

On stereo cameras, the left and right video frames are synchronized and streamed as a single uncompressed video frame in a side-by-side format.

You can change video resolution and frame rate in ZED Explorer or use the API.

Selecting an Output View

The ZED outputs images in different formats. Using retrieveImage() with a value of the sl::VIEW enum, you can select between rectified, unrectified, grayscale, and color-rendered depth views:

For more information on how to select these views using the API, see Image Capture.

Adjusting Camera Settings

The ZED camera features an ISP (Image Signal Processor) module that performs various image processing algorithms on raw images captured by the CMOS image sensors. Several parameters of the ISP can be adjusted directly from the ZED Explorer application or through the ZED SDK with the sl::VIDEO_SETTINGS:

For more information on how to adjust camera settings using the API, see Camera Controls.

Manual/Auto Mode

When camera White Balance, Exposure and Gain are in AUTO mode, they are automatically adjusted depending on the luminance in the scene.

It is also recommended to increase the Gamma setting in low-light environments, as it can provide a considerable light boost while reducing saturated areas.

Using the API

The ZED API provides low-level access to camera control and configuration. To use the ZED in your application, you will need to create and open a Camera object. The API can be used with two different video inputs: the ZED live video (Live mode) or video files recorded in SVO format with the ZED API (Playback mode).

Camera Configuration

To configure the camera, create a Camera object and specify your InitParameters. Initial parameters let you adjust camera resolution, FPS, depth sensing parameters and more. These parameters can only be set before opening the camera and cannot be changed while the camera is in use.

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// Create a ZED camera object
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Camera zed;
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// Set configuration parameters
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InitParameters init_params;
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init_params.camera_resolution = RESOLUTION::HD1080;
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init_params.camera_fps = 30;
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// Open the camera
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err = zed.open(init_params);
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if (err != ERROR_CODE::SUCCESS)
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    exit(-1);

InitParameters contains a configuration by default. To see the list of parameters, read the API documentation.

Image Capture

To capture images from the ZED, specify your RuntimeParameters and call grab() to grab a new frame and retrieveImage() to retrieve the grabbed frame. retrieveImage() lets you select between different views such as left, right, unrectified and grayscale images.

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sl::Mat image;
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if (zed.grab() == ERROR_CODE::SUCCESS) {
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  // A new image is available if grab() returns SUCCESS
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  zed.retrieveImage(image, VIEW::LEFT); // Retrieve the left image
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}

Adjusting Camera Controls

Camera settings such as exposure, white balance and more can be manually set at runtime using setCameraSettings(). To change camera resolution and frame rate, use InitParameters.

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// Set exposure to 50% of camera framerate
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zed.setCameraSettings(VIDEO_SETTINGS::EXPOSURE, 50);
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// Set white balance to 4600K
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zed.setCameraSettings(VIDEO_SETTINGS::WHITE_BALANCE, 4600);
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// Reset to auto exposure
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zed.setCameraSettings(VIDEO_SETTINGS::EXPOSURE, VIDEO_SETTINGS_VALUE_AUTO);

Camera settings can be retrieved using getCameraSettings(). To get the list of available settings, see the API documentation.

Code Example

Check out the Camera Control sample on GitHub.