• How big is the object? How big are the features to be detected? Is a colour camera required for detection? How accurate must the measurement be? The choice of the perfect camera (resolution, sensor type, etc.) depends on this information.
• How far does the vision system need to be from the object? Can I inspect up close or is a handling system (robot, rotary table, linear axis) disturbing? Working distances with known resolution and size of camera sensor and object allow calculation and selection of the perfect lens.
• What is the surface and shape of the part? What material is it made of? What colour is the object? By selecting the perfect lighting, defects and objects can be made visible by creating a contrast with the surroundings.
• How are the features made visible in the camera image? How well do they contrast with the background? Depending on the task (measurement, counting, presence checking, identification, print inspection, object search, optical character recognition, code reading), different software tools are required. The system must provide the appropriate software tools to solve your application!

• How many parts per second do you need to inspect? Simpler systems may be able to do this, but they may not be fast enough.
  How does the feeding work? How fast? What are the tolerances in the X, Y and Z axes? The software tools must be able to compensate for these
• How much space is available in the system for the inspection cell? The weight and size of the camera (and lighting) can be important in many systems.
• The process environment (dirt, dust, debris, electromagnetic interference, vibration) can be a major disturbance. The vision system should be complemented by appropriate accessories, such as protective enclosures, to avoid environmental interference.
• How will communication take place? What interfaces are required? Does the data need to be logged? Is there a need to store images in a database? What operator interface (HMI) is required? Not every system offers the right capabilities.
• Also consider the cable lengths required! Not every interface or protocol is suitable for long distance communication.

• Who does the system integration?
• Daily operations: How easy is the system to use?
• Who will maintain the system? How can new component types be trained?
• Who is responsible for maintaining the system?

There are many questions that need to be answered before you can decide which camera system will meet your needs. For this purpose the camera system must never be treated alone, but it is also considerably defined by the underlying conditions (inspected part / plant). Only the successful selection and the interaction of ALL individual machine vision hardware components together with the software ensure success!