A device comprising: an illumination subsystem operative for projecting an illumination pattern in accordance with a duty cycle having alternating illuminated periods (5110, 5120, ...) and unilluminated periods (5115, 5125, ...); an aiming subsystem operative for projecting an aiming pattern; an imaging subsystem comprising an image sensor array ; a memory ; and a processor , the memory including program code, the memory and the program code configured to, with the processor, cause the device to at least: acquire a first plurality of images based on an automatically adjusted first control parameter, wherein the first control parameter comprises a first exposure period ; acquire a second plurality of images based on an automatically adjusted second control parameter that has a value that is different from the first control parameter, wherein the second control parameter comprises a second exposure period and wherein a quantity of images in the first plurality of images is different than a quantity of images in the second plurality of images; and attempt to decode a decodable indicia utilizing one or more images of the first plurality of images and the second plurality of images; wherein: the first exposure period occurs during an illuminated period and the second exposure period occurs during an unilluminated period , the acquisition of the first plurality of images being interspersed with and obtained generally concurrently with acquisition of the second plurality of images. an illumination subsystem operative for projecting an illumination pattern in accordance with a duty cycle having alternating illuminated periods (5110, 5120, ...) and unilluminated periods (5115, 5125, ...); an aiming subsystem operative for projecting an aiming pattern; an imaging subsystem comprising an image sensor array ; a memory ; and a processor , the memory including program code, the memory and the program code configured to, with the processor, cause the device to at least: acquire a first plurality of images based on an automatically adjusted first control parameter, wherein the first control parameter comprises a first exposure period ; acquire a second plurality of images based on an automatically adjusted second control parameter that has a value that is different from the first control parameter, wherein the second control parameter comprises a second exposure period and wherein a quantity of images in the first plurality of images is different than a quantity of images in the second plurality of images; and attempt to decode a decodable indicia utilizing one or more images of the first plurality of images and the second plurality of images; acquire a first plurality of images based on an automatically adjusted first control parameter, wherein the first control parameter comprises a first exposure period ; acquire a second plurality of images based on an automatically adjusted second control parameter that has a value that is different from the first control parameter, wherein the second control parameter comprises a second exposure period and wherein a quantity of images in the first plurality of images is different than a quantity of images in the second plurality of images; and attempt to decode a decodable indicia utilizing one or more images of the first plurality of images and the second plurality of images; <EOS>