Conventional vision applications use a monochrome visualization of the visible spectrum (roughly 400 to 700nm). There are good reasons to use the visible spectrum: the first is the availability of costeffective sensors that are sensitive to this range, such as CCD and CMOS. Another is that it seems only logical to use a camera that sees that same things as their human users do. However, for some applications it is essential to use different spectral bands such as ultra violet (below 400 nm) or near infrared (700-1000nm) or to capture important features. Examples are found in medical camera systems (cancer surgery, diabetes), food inspection (fruit sorting), agriculture (disease detection) or material surface inspection (fabric, metals, paper, print).

In some areas such as food inspection and medical systems the use of infrared light offers the possibility to see through the surface and inspect the tissue underneath. Many liquids turn completely transparent when looked at in the NIR spectrum.

Available configurations:

Condor-1000	MS5-VNN-285	MS5-VNN-618	MS5-VNN-I5
Number of sensors	5	5	5
Sensor alignment accuracy	1/4	1/3	1/4
Sensor technology	CCD	CCD	CMOS
Sensor type	SonyICX285	SonyICX618	IBIS5
Areascan or Linescan	Areascan	Areascan	Areascan
Horizontal resolution	1360	640	1024
Vertical resolution	1024	484	1024
Framerate	15	120	30
Sensitivity	Red Green Blue NIR NIR	Red Green Blue NIR NIR	Red Green Blue NIR NIR
Interface	Camera Link GigE Optical Fibre	Camera Link GigE Optical Fibre	Camera Link GigE Optical Fibre
Lens Mount	Hasselblad M42	Hasselblad M42 F-Mount	Hasselblad M42