I'm doing research that requires a camera that is automated, but it also has to coordinate with the rotation of a filter wheel and take a series of images relatively quickly (4 images in less than 2 seconds). I'd like to do this by writing a Matlab script to control everything and handle incoming data.
I know there are scientific cameras out there that can do this job and have very good SDKs, but they are also very expensive if they have the sensor size that I need (APS-C or larger). Using a simple Sony mirrorless camera would work perfectly for my needs as long as I can control it.
I'd like to use Matlab or LabView to automate the data acquisition, but I'm not sure what is possible with this API Beta SDK. My understanding is that it is designed to allow the user to create a stand-alone app, but not to integrate camera commands into a programming environment like Matlab. I know there are ways to call an external application from within Matlab, but I've also read one person's account of trying this indirect method and it sounds like it takes a long time to trigger the camera this way (five seconds or more for a single image). That would be too slow.
Does the SDK allow camera control directly from a program like Matlab?
I've had great success communicating between MatLab and a Sony QX1 (the 'webwrite' function is your friend!).
That said, you will definitely struggle to implement anything like precise triggering. The call-response times vary greatly (~5 seconds +-2 ish).
You might be able to get away with shooting video and then pulling the relevant frames out of the sequence?