How to measure resolution in video cameras?

Answer 1

(m)

Resolution
Matrix cameras typically offer 512 x 512 resolution, though several vendors now offer 1K x 1K resolution. Line scan cameras typically have 512 or 1K pixels per line, but can go as high as 4K or even 8K in some high end applications. Resolution in the other dimension is a function of how often the lines can be grabbed and how fast the object is moving past the camera lens. Practical resolution of course is a function of the number of pixels and the size of the object imaged.

Another measure of resolution is gray scale depth or tonal resolution, rather than spatial resolution. Most machine vision systems work with 8-bit grays (256 shades), but some may work with 1-bit data (black and white only). Other applications in medicine, biology, and astronomy may require special cameras with far higher tonal resolution.

Answer 2

How to measure it? You point the camera at a resolution test chart, frame and focus it properly, and observe the video output on a waveform monitor . You then determine which set of resolution bars are at the 50% amplitude point when compared to the low resolution bars. The published resolution of this set of bars will be the actual measured resolution of the camera.

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Answer 3

NTSC video (USA, Canada, Japan) is always 720x480. so even if your camera has a megapixel sensor, the actual picture size will be the same. however, if your camera uses the whole sensor to capture video and not just a 720x480 square, then the picture quality will usually better than with a lower pixel sensor.