Point Grey adds 5 MP CCD models to Flea3 family of world's smallest GigE Vision cameras

RICHMOND, CANADA: Point Grey, a world-leading designer and manufacturer of digital cameras for industrial, scientific, and traffic applications, announced the addition of new 5 megapixel models to its Flea3 GigE Vision digital camera line.

The new Flea3 FL3-GE-50S5 camera models are based on color and monochrome versions of the popular Sony ICX655 CCD and are capable of streaming high quality 2448 x 2048 images at 8 FPS over Gigabit Ethernet. The Flea3 measures just 29 x 29 x30 mm in size and offers a variety of the industry's most popular Sony CCDs, ranging from VGA to 5 MP. Like all Point Grey GigE cameras the Flea3 complies with version 1.2 of the GigE Vision specification, which allows the camera to work seamlessly with software from Cognex, Mathworks, Matrox, MVTec, and NI, as well as with Point Grey's own FlyCapture SDK.

The Flea3 offers a host of features unique in its class, including an 8-pin opto-isolated GPIO for industrial triggering and strobe output; 1 MB non-volatile flash memory for user data storage; and on-camera frame buffer for retransmitting images. Industry-leading pricing and best-in-class image quality make the new FL3-GE-50S5 models ideal for applications in 3D scanning, metrology, microscopy, medical, factory automation, and machine vision.

"The new 5 MP Flea3 offers an unbeatable combination of small size and high resolution," says Michael Gibbons, director of Product Marketing at Point Grey. "The Flea3's small ice-cube form factor and GigE interface make it an ideal analog camera replacement, and because it uses a 2/3" global shutter Sony CCD the imaging performance is far superior to that of other 5 MP rolling shutter CMOS-based cameras."

The FL3-GE-50S5C/M-C color and monochrome models are list priced at $1995 and are available to order now from Point Grey, its network of distributors, and Point Grey's online web store (for North American customers). Further GigE Vision models are planned to be released within the next month.