Vicon Vantage camera range

Vicon Vantage systems can include any of the Vantage range of proprietary Vicon motion capture cameras: V16, V8, and V5, as well as other current Vicon cameras (optical and video). Vantage cameras also work with MX T-Series cameras.

The camera hardware design consists of a camera body, a strobe head unit, a lens, optical filter, and cable, as shown in the following image.

For more information, see:

Vicon Vantage camera resolutions

A single hardware design is built with different types of sensors and lenses to create a range of cameras with different resolutions, as shown in the following table.

All Vantage cameras are fitted with sensitive solid-state sensors and are purpose-built to provide high-speed, low-latency motion capture. Vicon applies stringent checks to its cameras for linearity, sensitivity, and absence of jitter.

Different types of strobe units can be attached to cameras to suit specific studio, laboratory, or research unit capture volumes. For further details, see Vicon Vantage camera strobe units. 

You can combine the various models of Vicon Vantage cameras within a single Vantage system to meet your application requirements for resolution and/or coverage. The V16 camera offers the highest resolution of the Vicon Vantage cameras. The V8 and V5 cameras can provide higher camera counts within a fixed budget, giving increased coverage.

Vicon Vantage camera performance comparison

Each Vicon Vantage camera is programmed with firmware to control its operation and to enable it to perform its own onboard grayscale processing. As all Vantage cameras use the same firmware, a mix of Vantage cameras with different image sensors can be connected to and run on the same system. The Vantage system automatically recognizes cameras when they are plugged in. A distributed architecture enables the camera software to be updated across the system network.

With Vantage+ firmware, you can choose the mode (default or high-speed) in which to run Vantage cameras by selecting the relevant option in your Vicon application software (for details, see your Vicon software documentation).

Default mode

The following table illustrates the performance of each Vantage camera type running in default mode. For full details, see Vicon Vantage camera technical specifications.

If you select a frame rate that is higher than the maximum listed in the table above, Vicon Vantage cameras use windowing. While the resolution is maintained, the the field of view (FOV) is reduced.

For information on increasing the frame rate without reducing the FOV, see High-speed mode.

High-speed mode

In high-speed mode, subsampling (selectively reducing the pixel count) enables increased frame rates with no (or minimal) reduction in the field of view (FOV). While the FOV is maintained, the resolution is reduced. Data accuracy and camera range are also slightly decreased.

The following table illustrates the performance (fps and resolution) of each Vantage camera type running in high-speed mode at the maximum speed at which the field of view is unaffected.

The following table illustrates the performance of V8 and V5 cameras running in high-speed mode at commonly used speeds, with minimal change in the field of view.