Powering up or powering down camera components using the CAMERA_POWER register.

Last Revision Date: 6/5/2014

This article describes how the CAMERA_POWER register 610h works to control camera power. 

Some imaging products allow users to power-up or power-down components of the camera by writing the CAMERA_POWER register 610h. For an exact list of cameras that support this feature, download the Register Reference for Digital Cameras.

The exact components, e.g. image sensor, A/D converter, or other board electronics, will vary between camera models. By default, most cameras are powered down both at startup and reinitialization. If isochronous transmit (ISO_EN / ONE_SHOT / MULTI_SHOT) is enabled while the camera is powered down, the camera will automatically write Cam_Pwr_Ctrl = 1 to power itself up. However, disabling isochronous transmit does not automatically power-down the camera.

The camera will typically not send the first two images acquired after power-up unless the camera is in asynchronous trigger mode. The auto-exposure algorithm does not run while the camera is powered down. It may therefore take several (n) images to get a satisfactory image, where n is undefined.