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Firefly Functionality Compared to Blackfly S

This article describes the differences customers can expect when comparing the Firefly camera with the Blackfly S camera.

NOTE: this article does not include the features of the deep learning version of the Firefly camera.

What is the Firefly?

The Firefly camera family is a highly compact, low-power consumption machine vision camera.  Lighter and smaller than any of our other machine vision cameras, it takes advantage of the Movidius Myriad2 hardware to achieve a form factor previously unheard of, all the while maintaining the core functionality of a machine vision, GenIcam camera.

The Firefly camera runs on Spinnaker, just like our Blackfly S and Oryx cameras.  It maintains the core feature set for GenIcam cameras. 

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Users accustomed to programming/using our Blackfly S cameras can expect a smooth transition when moving over to the Firefly camera.

Similar to Blackfly S, it can also be used on any third-party application that supports GenIcam and USB3 vision, such as Matrox, Halcon, NI Max/Labview, and others.

Differences between Firefly and Blackfly S

Software

Due to the limitations of using a Movidius VPU versus a traditional FPGA, certain more advanced features are not available on the Firefly camera, including:

  • Sequencer Control
  • Color Transformation Control 
  • Flat Field Correction Control
  • Counter and Timer Control
  • Logic Block Control
  • Acquisition Control --> Burst Frame nodes
  • Acquisition Control --> Trigger Delay nodes
  • Acquisition Control --> Trigger Activation does not have “any edge” enum entry
  • Analog Control --> Balance Ratio, Balance white auto nodes
  • Analog Control --> Sharpening Auto/Threshold nodes
  • Device Control --> Device Scan Type node
  • Device Control --> Power Supply nodes
  • Transport Layer Control --> USB3 Vision --> Link Error Count/Recovery Count nodes
  • Auto Algorithm Control --> ROI nodes (ROI Selector, enable, offset, width/height)
  • Auto Algorithm Control --> White Balance Auto nodes (white balance auto profile, lower limit, upper limit, damping)
  • Auto Algorithm Control --> Metering Mode node
  • Auto Algorithm Control --> EV Compensation node
  • Defective Pixel Correction --> Defect Table Factory Reset node
  • Chunk Data Control --> Chunk Selector node does not have Exposure End Line status all enum entry (as well as Image CRC, Sequencer set active, Serial Data)
  • Chunk Data Control --> Image CRC, Sequencer Set Active, exposure end line status all nodes
  • LUT Control --> LUT Value All node
  • Digital IO Control --> Input Filter Selector node
  • Digital IO Control --> Line Filter Width, Line Format nodes
  • Digital IO Control --> User Output nodes
  • Digital IO Control --> Line Source does not have user output/counter/logic block enum entries
  • Serial Port Control --> Serial Port Stop Bits does not have "Bits 1.5" enum entry

Hardware

The Firefly camera has different pin functionality when comparing to the cased Blackfly S cameras. It is extremely similar to the board level Blackfly S cameras; they even share the same GPIO connector. The connector is a JST BM06B-NSHSS-TBT (LF)(SN), the mating connector is a JST NSHR-06V-S.

The Firefly does not have any opto-isolated input/output pins available; however, it does have 4 non-opto input/output pins. This allows for additional trigger/strobe outputs without needing an external power supply.