Hello to the BLUG. For the past little bit I have been lurking, just watching the email stream. I have a question or two, perhaps pertinent. For now, I will stick with my experience trying to use cameras on microscopes, using GNU/Linux as the computer platform. This could be a long tale, or, hopefully, more direct.
I have three cameras plus a "smart" phone, all of which I have used on my microscope. This is a relatively crude setup with a trinocular head. Of the cameras I use, one of them is most problematic: a relatively cheap 21 megapixel "Industrial Microscope Camera," purchased on Ebay. This camera is primarily an HDMI camera, controllable via a crude on-screen menu using a very cheap looking remote control. When hooked up by USB2, it identifies itself as a "Venus" camera, the manufacturer being "Hayear." Hayear offers software for GNU/Linux, similar to other microscope camera software as available, fof example, from AmScope, and others. By way of comparison, I also have access to a It has a limited range of controls available to tthis and other, webcam type software I have use. It seems to me that the API (probably the wrong term) built into firmware is limited in scope.
By comparison I have access to a dedicated microscope camera, that identifies as "Novel", at 2 megapixel, with better "API" features (if that is the right term). When the GNU/Linux program "guvcview" is used, controls include gain, sharpening, exposure, contrast, saturation, and more.
On Linux you would ID a USB device with the lsusb command. The hardware ids tell you exactly what is connected.
For example on my Ubuntu desktop:
tom@tom-desktop:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 046d:085e Logitech, Inc. Logitech BRIO
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
So my camera is 046d:085e Logitech, Inc. Logitech BRIO 046d means Logitech and 085e is the device
The capabilities of the cam in Linux can be seen from the v4l2-ctl command. You don't say what distro you have but
I remember you from before and recall that you run Manjaro. If so you can find this in the package
My camera the Brio for example:
tom@tom-desktop:~$ v4l2-ctl -l
brightness 0x00980900 (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=128 value=128
contrast 0x00980901 (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=128 value=128
saturation 0x00980902 (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=128 value=128
white_balance_temperature_auto 0x0098090c (bool) : default=1 value=1
gain 0x00980913 (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=0 value=0
power_line_frequency 0x00980918 (menu) : min=0 max=2 default=2 value=2
white_balance_temperature 0x0098091a (int) : min=2000 max=7500 step=10 default=4000 value=4000 flags=inactive
sharpness 0x0098091b (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=128 value=128
backlight_compensation 0x0098091c (int) : min=0 max=1 step=1 default=1 value=1
exposure_auto 0x009a0901 (menu) : min=0 max=3 default=3 value=3
exposure_absolute 0x009a0902 (int) : min=3 max=2047 step=1 default=250 value=250 flags=inactive
exposure_auto_priority 0x009a0903 (bool) : default=0 value=1
pan_absolute 0x009a0908 (int) : min=-36000 max=36000 step=3600 default=0 value=0
tilt_absolute 0x009a0909 (int) : min=-36000 max=36000 step=3600 default=0 value=0
focus_absolute 0x009a090a (int) : min=0 max=255 step=5 default=0 value=0 flags=inactive
focus_auto 0x009a090c (bool) : default=1 value=1
zoom_absolute 0x009a090d (int) : min=100 max=500 step=1 default=100 value=100
led1_mode 0x0a046d05 (menu) : min=0 max=3 default=0 value=3
led1_frequency 0x0a046d06 (int) : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=0 value=0
I find this
camera on the web. Is that the one? If so the manufacturer even states that few controls are possible from USB.
You may need to connect via HDMI to get what you want. But if you need to have it display to your Linux desktop then maybe invest in
an hdmi capture card. I don't have any direct experience with hdmi capture. I do like to watch some electronics repair on Youtube and
they typically use hdmi cameras and capture with a pci card. Louis Rossmann for example is a professional youtuber and he uses a
thousand dollar capture card pci. But you can probably get something reasonable less than $100, especially since you aren't doing 4k.
I have just a $20 Amazon cheepo usb hdmi capture. It works good for what I need which is to stream video from a Raspberry Pi to a
Jitsi meeting.
Thomas
P.S. What kind of microscopy are you doing? I believe there is a Bay Area microscopy group.