# How do you choose a camera for egg inspection? > For egg inspection, choose a camera fixed above the conveyor, with stable focus and exposure. Resolution matters less than it seems: light and image stability weigh more. Frame rate must keep up with line speed. An ordinary camera is enough to start a test. Updated: 2026-10-09 · URL: https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/choosing-a-camera-for-egg-inspection · Português: https://vigiovo.com/recursos/camera-para-inspecao-de-ovos.md ## Key takeaways - The camera should stay fixed above the conveyor, looking at the same area from the same angle. - Resolution is usually less decisive than it seems: what counts is how many pixels cover each egg. - Diffuse, even light matters more than the brand or model of the camera. - Frame rate must keep up with the conveyor, so that each egg appears in enough images. - The camera sees the surface of the egg, not the inside: hairline cracks and the air cell are out of its view. ## Where should the camera be placed? The camera should be fixed above the conveyor, pointing at the egg surface at the same angle every time. If it moves, changes angle or goes out of focus, the same shell can look dirty one day and clean the next, and comparing shifts stops making sense. To start, an ordinary camera mounted on a rigid support is enough for a test. What cannot be missing is a fixed position: without it, no software setting holds up. Mind the vibration too. A support that shakes produces blurred images, and blur makes thin cracks harder to read. ## Is resolution the most important factor? Not necessarily. What matters is how many pixels cover each egg and how small the smallest defect is that the rules need to see. In Vigiovo, the image is reduced until the [reference radius](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/glossary#reference-radius) of an egg is about 12 pixels, and every limit is measured in multiples of that radius. That is why the same configuration works with cameras of different resolutions, as long as the eggs appear clearly in the image. More pixels only help when there is useful detail left for a small defect. See [image resolution for egg grading](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/image-resolution-for-egg-grading). ## How many frames per second does the camera need? The camera needs enough frames for each egg to be seen more than once as it passes, and for the system to follow each egg from one frame to the next. In Vigiovo, each egg is measured three times while it crosses the image, with at least half a radius of movement between measurements. If the camera captures too slowly for the conveyor speed, eggs jump from one frame to the next and tracking becomes harder. See [latency and throughput in inspection](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/latency-and-throughput-in-inspection) to work out the numbers for your line speed. Frame rate cannot make up for poor light. A fast camera with a dark or glary image still gets it wrong. ## What role does light play in choosing the camera? Light matters more than the camera model. A diffuse, even light source gives the shell a predictable brightness. Glare, a point of brightness that looks like a stain, is a common cause of clean eggs being wrongly classed as dirty. Before buying, look at the light in the actual location, with the conveyor running. See [lighting for egg inspection](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/lighting-for-egg-inspection) and the [camera lighting setup checklist](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/camera-lighting-setup-checklist) to set up the light before adjusting any limit. ## What can the camera not see? The camera sees the surface. It cannot see the [air cell](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/glossary#air-cell), spots inside the yolk or [hairline cracks](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/glossary#hairline-crack), which only show up under [candling](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/glossary#candling), because the light has to pass through the shell. Choosing a camera with more resolution does not change that. For this reason the camera complements candling and does not replace it. It is useful for removing dirty and visibly cracked eggs from the line before the step that looks at the interior. ## How does Vigiovo work with the camera? Vigiovo was built for a camera fixed above the conveyor. Because it measures everything in multiples of the egg radius, it does not depend on one specific resolution. In the project's tests, it runs on an ordinary CPU at about 90 frames per second, with 960×540 video and about 45 eggs on screen. These numbers come from a benchmark on a single CPU core and from synthetic scenes with known answers. They show what the system does, but your line needs a test with your own cameras and eggs. The details are on [how it works](https://vigiovo.com/en/how-it-works). ## Frequently asked questions ### Can a phone camera be used to start an egg inspection? For a first test, yes, as long as it stays fixed, with stable focus and light. The test is for checking the setup, not for making the final grading decision. Before using the camera on the line, run a measurement with eggs labelled by your team and check whether the result repeats across the whole shift. ### Is high resolution enough to grade eggs? Not on its own. Resolution only helps when there is useful detail left for the smallest defect you need to see. What weighs most is stable imaging, diffuse light and a fixed camera position. More pixels make processing heavier without guaranteeing a better result. ### Does a camera replace candling? No. The camera sees the surface of the egg, including dirt and visible cracks. Candling lights the egg from behind and shows the interior, including hairline cracks. The two do different jobs, and the camera is usually used to remove the most obvious eggs from the line before that step. ## Sources - [Como o Vigiovo classifica ovos sem IA / How Vigiovo grades eggs without AI](https://vigiovo.com/como-funciona), Vigiovo ## Read next - [Lighting for camera-based egg inspection](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/lighting-for-egg-inspection.md) (Guide, 2026-10-09): How to light the conveyor so a camera grades eggs well: diffuse, even light, control of glare, the main cause of false dirty grades, and how to test the setup. - [What image resolution is enough to grade eggs?](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/image-resolution-for-egg-grading.md) (Explainer, 2026-10-09): What camera resolution is enough to grade eggs: why pixels per egg matter, how the egg radius works as a ruler and how to choose a camera for your line. - [Candling vs computer vision: what each one detects](https://vigiovo.com/en/resources/candling-vs-computer-vision.md) (Comparison, 2026-10-09): Candling compared with camera inspection in egg grading: which defects each detects, speed, record keeping and why the two methods work best together. ## How Vigiovo helps Vigiovo grades eggs on the conveyor as clean, dirty, cracked or unverified, in real time, with deterministic computer vision: every decision comes with the measurements behind it, on an ordinary CPU. https://vigiovo.com/en/how-it-works.md 4 min read.