The influence of image capture and processing on MTF for end of line test and validation

Abstract Slanted edge MTF measurement as per ISO12233 is the defacto standard for measuring camera sharpness at manufacturing end of line. MTF measured by slanted edge has a number of advantages for measuring sharpness, being scale invariant, and relatively robust to geometric distortion. However, slanted edge MTF measurement is known to be affected by image processing algorithms, including demosaic, edge enhancement, and denoise algorithms. To avoid these confounding factors, it is increasingly common to measure MTF directly from the raw sensor image. This approach is logical if you are assessing the optomechanical lens-imager alignment and focus. However, end-of-line production testing has specific requirements, including speed of execution, repeatability and reproducibility. These requirements are typically not considered when configuring a camera for end-of-line MTF measurement. In this study, the execution time, repeatability and reproducibility of MTF measurement for multiple image capture and image processing combinations are examined.