1. A system for acquiring a digital image from a camera generating sensor data, the system comprising: a discrete application receiving a first and a second request for images from the camera, said discrete application generating respectively a first and a second preprocessing instruction; and an interface adapted to receive preprocessing instructions from said discrete application, said interface including a plurality of preprocessing modules, each module performing a respective preprocessing function on said sensor data, said interface being adapted to activate a first subset of modules in response to said first preprocessing instruction to generate a first preprocessed image, and to activate a second subset of modules in response to said second preprocessing instruction to generate a second preprocessed image, wherein the order of the preprocessing functions performed by the first and second subsets of modules is selectively controlled by the first and second preprocessing instructions, respectively.