Performance Characterization of Modern Image Sensors and Cameras using Release 4 of the EMVA 1288 Standard

Choosing the suitable camera for a given application often is a challenging task. The EMVA 1288 Standard makes this task easy by defining reliable and exact measurement procedures as well as data presentation guidelines. A simple linear camera model with no preprocessing of image data is no longer sufficient for a growing number of cameras. These limits were overcome with Release 4.0, published on June 21, 2021. Besides the still valid EMVA 1288 approach for simple linear cameras (“EMVA 1288 linear”), a second more general approach (“EMVA 1288 general”) has been established, which neither relies on a linear camera model nor on raw data without preprocessing, but just applies a system-theoretical “black box” approach to a camera with photons as the input signal and digital data as the output signal and no knowledge about the processing within the camera. Only the pixel size and the exposure time must be known. The basic approach is explained and application examples are shown demonstrating the usefulness of the standard for a wide range of image sensors / cameras: high/low end, UV-sensitive, SWIR-sensitive, multispectral, polarization, and high-dynamic range.