| Almost everything emits, reflects, or transmits some | | | | Spectrum. |
| kind of light. The Electromagnetic (EM) Spectrum is | | | | Optics |
| the measurement of the frequency range of EM | | | | The field of optics usually describes the behavior of |
| radiation of an object. The frequency is measured in | | | | visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light; however because |
| wavelengths. The wavelength ranges can extend | | | | light is an electromagnetic wave, analogous |
| from the size of an atom to thousands of kilometers. | | | | phenomena occur in X-rays, microwaves, radio |
| The long wavelengths are low frequency and are the | | | | waves, and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. |
| Radio, Microwave, and Infrared waves. The short | | | | Optics can thus be regarded as a sub-field of |
| wavelengths are the high frequency Ultraviolet, X-ray | | | | electromagnetism. |
| and Gamma Rays. The Visible Spectrum, or Optical | | | | Camera Vision |
| Spectrum, is the range of the Electromagnetic | | | | In vision applications that use camera technology the |
| Spectrum that is visible by the human eye. | | | | optical fields of visible, infrared and ultraviolet are the |
| The Visible Spectrum has no clear boundaries from | | | | most widely used, and with the implementation of |
| one color to the next but is generally described in the | | | | specialized optics, filters, and lighting many solutions |
| following ranges: | | | | to imaging issues can be found. Infrared Radiation |
| Violet 380-450nm (*nanometers) | | | | (IR) is a wavelength longer than visible light but |
| Blue 450-495nm | | | | shorter than radio waves (750nm to 1nm). Ultraviolet |
| Green 495-570nm | | | | (UV) is shorter than visible light but longer than X-Ray |
| Yellow 570-590nm | | | | (400nm to 200nm Near UV, NUV). Most cameras will |
| Orange 590-620nm | | | | fall in the near IR or near UV range and with the use |
| Red 620-750nm | | | | of specialized lighting (LED's), enhancement of the |
| *Nanometer - a unit of length in the metric system, | | | | wavelengths is possible. |
| equal to one billionth of a meter, which is the current | | | | Infrared (IR) camera technology is very common in |
| SI base unit of length. It can be written in scientific | | | | military applications and Ultraviolet (UV) solutions are |
| notations as 1×10-9 m (engineering notation) or | | | | used in various machine vision, and industrial imaging |
| 1 E-9 m (exponential notation), both meaning 1 | | | | applications. There are also digital cameras, such as |
| 1,000,000,000 meters | | | | Firewire 1394 which exploit the use of Ultraviolet |
| History | | | | (UV). Sony Electronics, Inc. offers the XCDSX910UV |
| Newton divided the spectrum into seven named | | | | camera featuring Firewire 1394, digital camera |
| colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and | | | | technology. This camera is ideal for use in demanding |
| violet, or ROY G. BIV. Originally only five primary | | | | markets such as semiconductor inspection, ultraviolet |
| colors were named: red, yellow, green, blue and | | | | microscopy, FA precision inspection and surface |
| violet, but later he added indigo and orange to have | | | | inspection applications. |
| seven colors. The need for the number seven was | | | | Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. offers the KP-F120, a |
| derived from the belief that it should match the | | | | Near IR (NIR), high resolution, progressive scan |
| number of known planets, number of days in a week | | | | camera with Camera Link, USB2.0, Firewire 1394 or |
| and the number of notes on a major scale. This | | | | LVDS digital camera interfaces. The spectral response |
| theory was derived from ancient Greek Sophist | | | | extends beyond 1000 nm. This camera is appropriate |
| philosophy. | | | | for a wide range of applications including machine |
| The word Spectrum is Latin for apparition, and was | | | | vision, agricultural inspection, medical diagnostics and |
| coined by Newton during his experiments with light. | | | | research, and microscopy. |
| He observed that sunlight passing though a prism | | | | There are many cameras that fall into the near |
| produced the apparition or spectrum or, in other | | | | Infared (IR) and near Ultraviolet (UV) ranges. They |
| words, a band of colors. | | | | are used in a variety of applications and provide |
| Sir Isaac Newton wrote Optick,s released in 1704, | | | | many solutions from military to medical. |
| hailed as one of the earliest explanations of the | | | | |