Multispectral Image Acquisition with Flash Light Sources

We set up a multispectral image acquisition system using a flash light source and a camera featuring optical bandpass filters. The filters are mounted on a computer-controlled filter wheel between the lens and a grayscale sensor. For each filter wheel position, we fire the flash once within the exposure interval and acquire a grayscale image. Finally, all grayscale images are combined into a multispectral image. The use of narrowband filters to divide the electromagnetic spectrum into several passbands drastically reduces the available light at the sensor. In case of continuous light sources, this requires powerful lamps producing a lot of heat and long exposure times. In contrast, a flashgun emits its energy in a very short time interval, allowing for short exposure times and low heat production. Our detailed colorimetric analysis comparing the color accuracy obtainable with our flashgun and a halogen bulb shows that our acquisition system is well suited for multispectral image acquisition. We computed a mean color error of 1.75 CIE ΔE 00 using the flashgun. Furthermore, we discuss several practical aspects arising from the use of flash light sources; namely, the spectrum, repeat accuracy, illumination uniformity, synchronization, and calibration of the system. To compensate for intensity variations of the flash, we propose two calibration methods and compare their performance.