Gradient Lens LUXXOR User Manual

LUXXOR

®

VIDEO

MICROSCOPE

User Guide

2

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Set Up

Slide Stop

Slide Brake

Vertical Slide

Column

When removed from its
packaging, the Luxxor
Video Microscope will be
configured as shown, with
the Vertical Slide and
Slide Stop at their fully
lowered positions on the
column.

3

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Set Up

The Slide Stop may be
positioned along the
Column by loosening its
knob and re-tightening
when at the desired
location. Use this to
set a limit for the
Vertical Slide to avoid
the Camera or an
attached borescope
colliding with the Table
or a workpiece under
inspection.

The Vertical Slide may be raised to the desired position on the
Column by loosening the knob on the Slide Brake and lifting the
Vertical Slide. Be sure to tighten the Slide Brake knob before
letting go of the Vertical Slide.

Slide Stop

Slide Brake Knob

Table

4

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Set Up

Power Connecto

r

Plug the Powe

r

Connector at the end of
the power supply cable into the jack on
the bottom of the Vertical Slide.
Tighten its locking ring to secure it in
place. Then plug the power supply into
a 110 VAC outlet. The Illumination
Control may then be used to turn on the
LED lights and vary their intensity.
Make sure that both the light stalks are
seated firmly in their sockets.

LED Light Stalks

Illumination Control

5

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Set Up

Remove the lens cap from the camera lens. Notice that the
lens has three control rings, each having a locking knob. The
locking knobs should be loosened to allow the control rings to
turn. They can be tightened if you want the rings to stay in a
certain position. The ring settings are read relative to the white
dot index mark.

The upper ring controls the lens aperture. Opening the
aperture (lower numbers) provides a brighter image with less
depth of field.

The middle ring controls the zoom.

The lower ring controls the lens working distance. Set on Far,
objects will be in focus about 4 inches from the lens. Set on
Near, objects about 3 inches away are in focus.

For initial set-up, it is recommended to set the aperture wide
open (4.5), the zoom at minimum (0.3) and the focus at Far.

Aperture Ring

Zoom Ring

Workin

g

Distance Ring

Index Mark

Lockin

g

Knob

6

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Set Up

Install Software and Drivers

Follow the instructions in the camera manual to install the
camera driver and image capture software. The camera requires
a computer running Windows 2000 or XP with a full speed USB

2.0 port. USB ports on a PCMCIA card may not be fast enough.
Most modern built-in USB ports will work.

Initial Settings

With the camera and
software installed, open the
Video Toolbox program.
Notice that a second window
titled ZC Exposure Control
also appears. For the initial
set-up the ZC Exposure
Control window should be set
as follows:

The “Auto-exposure” box is
checked.

The “Auto-gain” box is
checked.

“Gain ceiling” is set to 4X.

The “Auto white balance”
and “Enhance red” boxes are
unchecked

.

Set White Balance

Place a piece of white paper
under the camera lens so that
it fills the field of view. It
does not need to be in focus.

7

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Set Up

Set White Balance (cont’d)

Check the “Auto white balance” box and wait a few seconds if
necessary until the image turns white. Then uncheck the box.
White balance should remain valid until the lighting is changed,
such as when the LED lights are turned on or off. If the image
color later seems wrong, repeat this procedure.

These settings should be
good for starting out.
More detailed information
about the use of ZC
Exposure Control can be
found in the Help menu of
the ZC Exposure Control
window.

8

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Operation

Place the workpiece to be viewed on the Table under the
camera Lens. The Camera may be slid along the Boom to align it
with the part. To do this, Loosen the Camera Slide Brake, move
the Camera and tighten the brake again when the desired
position is reached. Move the Vertical Slide
up or down as needed to get the image
nearly in focus on your video display. Then
be sure to tighten the brake on the Vertical
Slide.

Camera

Lens

Camera
Slide Brake

Boom

Table

9

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Operation

Fine focus is achieved with the Focus Knob located on the side of
the Vertical Slide, at the base of the Boom. BE SURE TO

RELEASE THE BRAKE LEVER BEFORE TURNING THE FOCUS KNOB.

The brake lever flips UP to release. Push the lever DOWN to lock
the focus mechanism in place if desired.

Flip Brake Lever UP
Before Turning Focus Knob

Focus Knob

10

Luxxor® Video Microscope – Operation

Once a focused image of the workpiece is obtained with
the lens set to initial settings, further image modifications
may be made by adjusting the control rings on the Camera
Lens.

The top ring controls the aperture of the lens, thus
affecting the brightness, resolution, and depth of field.

The aperture set wide open, at f/4.5 yields a brighter, higher
resolution image with a very small depth of field. Closing
the aperture to f/22 yields a darker, slightly lower resolution
image, with a relatively large depth of field.

It is recommended to start with the lens at f/4.5 and obtain
a well-focused image. Then decrease the aperture (increase
the f-number) and observe the increase in the depth of field
until it is satisfactory. As the aperture closes and the image
gets darker, it may become necessary to provide more light
by turning on the LED lights or increasing their intensity with
the Illumination Control. The user must find the best
compromise between brightness and depth of field in a given
situation.

The middle ring controls the zoom (magnification).
The zoom range goes from 0.3X to 1X from the part to the

CCD Imager inside the camera. This corresponds to 15X to
51X when the focus setting is on “Far” and the image is
viewed on a 19” computer monitor with software Zoom set
to 1X. (Changing the monitor size or resolution changes the
magnification). The magnification can be increased by
setting the focus ring at the bottom of the lens to the “Near”
setting. Then the effective magnification range on a 19”
monitor is 25X to 83X.