USB cameras (ZED 2i, ZED Mini, ZED)
The USB 3.0 ZED cameras do not provide a hardware genlock input; however, every image is precisely timestamped at acquisition. If the cinema camera can provide timestamped images (or embed timecode), you can synchronize the two streams in post-processing by comparing the acquisition timestamps and selecting the closest matching frames.
GMSL2 cameras (ZED X, ZED X Mini, ZED X Nano, ZED X One)
The GMSL2 camera family supports true hardware frame synchronization, which is the closest equivalent to a genlock workflow:
- All the GMSL2 cameras connected to the same ZED Link capture card port are natively triggered by the same electronic signal, guaranteeing simultaneous exposure with an accuracy of 15 µs.
- The ZED Link capture cards expose frame-sync trigger signals on a GPIO connector. The card can operate in master mode, generating a trigger output that can be used to synchronize external equipment, or in slave mode, accepting an external trigger input (a 3.3 V square wave whose frequency matches the camera frame rate: 15, 30, 60, or 120 Hz). See the ZED Link Mono GPIO Triggering and ZED Link Quad GPIO Triggering documentation for pinout and configuration details.
- The ZED Box Mini provides dedicated SYNC-IN and SYNC-OUT connectors for the same purpose, allowing synchronization across multiple ZED Box Mini units or with third-party sensors.
- The same mechanism allows two ZED X One monocular cameras to be combined into a custom-baseline stereo rig with hardware-synchronized capture.
Therefore, if your cinema camera can generate or accept a compatible frame-sync trigger signal, you can hardware-synchronize the acquisition of a GMSL2 ZED camera, such as the ZED X, with your main camera, obtaining a depth image captured simultaneously with each frame of the main camera. If a direct electrical trigger connection is not possible, timestamp-based matching remains available as a fallback, exactly as with the USB models.
Additional Resources:
How does the ZED work?
Why frames from different ZED X GMSL2 cameras connected to the same capture card have different timestamps?