Acquire settings allow you to set Exposure (signified by the sun icon) and Gain (signified by the dial and right-pointing arrow icon) in real time. Clicking any of these settings will cause a control to appear, allowing you to modify that setting. Settings take effect immediately.
Important: There are 4 levels of Gain in SXGA MicroHAWK ID readers. Each level corresponds to 25 percentage points, or one quarter turn of the Gain dial.
When Auto Photometry is enabled instead of Standard, Exposure and Gain are read-only. The A shown on the sun and dial icons signifies that Auto Photometry is enabled. Auto Photometry constantly determines the best Exposure and Gain settings during each read cycle.
Autofocus can be enabled and disabled in the Image Area using the focus button in the Device Control Toolbar, and can be configured in the Acquire section of the Setup view.
While in Continuous mode or Continuous Auto mode, the camera can enable or disable Autofocus functionality, allowing it to refocus after a number of no reads. The focus button shows an A when Autofocus is enabled. The focus distance is updated on the fly based on the latest refocus settings.
If the camera is in Continuous mode or Continuous Auto (Continuous mode with Auto Photometry enabled), you can perform a localized quick focus in the image.
If you click the focus button, the Autofocus and Spot Focus icons appear:
When you click the Spot Focus icon, the Select a location in the image to autofocus message appears.
The cursor transforms into crosshairs as shown in the example below. This allows you to select the section of the image in which you want to perform a quick focus.
Note: If you click the Autofocus button to the left of the Spot Focus button, the reader will switch from Spot Focus to regular Autofocus functionality. If the reader is in Triggered mode, only the Spot Focus icon will appear.
The Enhance dropdown menu at the bottom of the Acquire editor allows you to select the method for processing captured images.
Grow Dark increases the dark cell size of a symbol. It is useful for increasing the dark cell size of a dark-on-light Data Matrix symbol.
Shrink Dark increases the light cell size of a symbol. It is useful for increasing the light cell size of a light-on-dark Data Matrix symbol.
Connect Dark removes minor light defects of dark cells.
Separate Dark removes minor dark defects of light cells.
The Operator Size dropdown menu determines the size of the area or “pixel neighborhood” in which the enhance operation is being performed.
Small corresponds to an area of 3 pixels by 3 pixels.
Medium corresponds to an area of 5 pixels by 5 pixels.
Large corresponds to an area of 7 pixels by 7 pixels.