A digital image capture and processing system comprising: a housing having a light transmission aperture ; an image formation and detection subsystem , disposed in said housing and having image formation optics for projecting a field of view (FOV) through said light transmission aperture and upon an object to be imaged and an image detection array for detecting light reflected off the object during an illumination operation in an image capture mode; an illumination subsystem disposed in said housing ; an automatic illumination control subsystem , disposed in said housing , for controlling the illumination operation of said illumination subsystem so as to carry out an adaptive strobe illumination control process in an automated manner characterized in that said adaptive strobe illumination control process comprises: (i) illuminating said object in said FOV with several different pulses of strobe illumination, over at least a pair of consecutive image frames during said image capture mode; (ii) detecting digital images of the object over these consecutive image frames; and (iii) decoding the digital images in effort to read one or more code symbols graphically encoded therein; and in that the system further comprises: a n image capturing and buffering subsystem for capturing and buffering 2-D images detected by said image formation and detection subsystem ; a digital image processing subsystem , disposed in said housing , for processing images captured and buffered by the image capturing and buffering subsystem , reading code symbols, and producing symbol character data representative of said read code symbols; and a n input/output subsystem, disposed in said housing , for outputting said symbol character data to a host system. a housing having a light transmission aperture ; an image formation and detection subsystem , disposed in said housing and having image formation optics for projecting a field of view (FOV) through said light transmission aperture and upon an object to be imaged and an image detection array for detecting light reflected off the object during an illumination operation in an image capture mode; an illumination subsystem disposed in said housing ; an automatic illumination control subsystem , disposed in said housing , for controlling the illumination operation of said illumination subsystem so as to carry out an adaptive strobe illumination control process in an automated manner characterized in that said adaptive strobe illumination control process comprises: (i) illuminating said object in said FOV with several different pulses of strobe illumination, over at least a pair of consecutive image frames during said image capture mode; (ii) detecting digital images of the object over these consecutive image frames; and (iii) decoding the digital images in effort to read one or more code symbols (i) illuminating said object in said FOV with several different pulses of strobe illumination, over at least a pair of consecutive image frames during said image capture mode; (ii) detecting digital images of the object over these consecutive image frames; and (iii) decoding the digital images in effort to read one or more code symbols graphically encoded therein; a n image capturing and buffering subsystem for capturing and buffering 2-D images detected by said image formation and detection subsystem ; a digital image processing subsystem , disposed in said housing , for processing images captured and buffered by the image capturing and buffering subsystem , reading code symbols, and producing symbol character data representative of said read code symbols; and a n input/output subsystem, disposed in said housing , for outputting said symbol character data to a host system. <EOS>