Choose mono when the task is contrast or measurement
A monochrome sensor has no colour filter over its pixels. Every pixel records the full intensity, so the camera is more sensitive and resolves finer detail than a colour camera with the same sensor, which has to interpolate colour from neighbouring pixels. Contrast is then created with the wavelength of the light instead of in software.
- Pick the light colour for the part: a wavelength the feature absorbs and the background reflects, or the reverse, gives contrast a white light may not.
- Add a band-pass filter matched to the light when ambient light varies; a monochrome camera with a narrow-band light and filter is far less affected by room lighting.
- Compare pixel size, bit depth and frame rate on the selected model, and check the sensor response at the wavelength you plan to use, particularly in the near infrared.
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