MacFinish 2D-USB Handleiding

MacFinish 2D-USB and MF8.x software Page 79
Not exactly a pretty sight, is it? But of course this example was only to demonstrate what the Gain function is all about.
To return to the default ‘Offset’ and ‘Gain’ settings, click the button covering the two green arrows;
Obviously the idea is to look for the ideal combination so as to become the perfect color proportions.
The most important (and therefore first step) is to 'calibrate' the colors so that a white object becomes really white on
your computer screen.
We all know that for athletics T&F the finish line is (or should be) perfectly white, so that we should also become a
more or less white background (being the finish line) in our picture. In the default picture of our previous example, this
is not the case. The background shows a slightly yellow undertone, due to;
- The uncalibrated RGB sensitivity of the CCD (camera sensor).
- The use or absence of the IR-filter.
- The illumination by non-white light (artificial light or even sunlight)
To change this 'yellow' into a more or less white finish line, select a part of the photo-finish picture that represents that
finish line. To do so, point, press the mouse button, move to another point, and release the mouse button. As you can
see, that part of the picture is selected. Then click the white rectangle in your RGB color calibration window:
The result of this is visible here below; you can see that the following RGB factors (100,109,167%) are much better than
the standard numbers (100,100,100%), in case you recorded the photo with sun light and used the IR-filter in front of
the lens.