This reply is a bit late - I do not subscribe to this list,
I stumbled across this thread using the Deja Vu service.
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>Tom Phillips wrote:
>>
>> >I've just had a flyer about a product which seems too good to be
>> >true - the Pixera slow-scan CCD camera, which apparently gets a
>> >resolution of 4x the actual CCD array pixels.
>> >
>> >Does anyone know anything about this device?  In particular:
> >
>> >If this is for real then maybe I might even get serious about experimenting
>> >with deconvolution!
>> >
>> >                                        Guy Cox
>
>There's a web site at www.pixera.com that has some information on the
>camera as well as sample images (they look a bit strange on my monitor.
>Is this the jpeg artifact?). They say the "system" sells for less than
>$1000. It seems not to need any frame grabber, just some PCI adapter (or
>is this the frame grabber?). What do our tech wizards think about it?
>
>Christian
 
The personal system sells for about $600. The professional system (which
has a standard C-mount lense fitting for mounting onto C-mount microscopes)
sells for about $1100.
 
Each system includes the camera, cable, PCI or PCMCIA card, and software.
The PCI/PCMCIA cards are the frame grabbers. They are Pixera application
specific. The dedicated card is needed because of the proprietary technique
used to capture 4x the CCD resolution. The technique involves capturing 4
images, slightly offset from eachother in position, and then combining them
in software. The exposure time is about 1 second (time to take 4 images),
depending on the speed of your PC or Mac.
 
The still picture quality is excellent. An on-screen motion viewfinder
is provided to assist in composing your shots. At max resolution (1260x1024),
resulting bitmap files are about 3.5Mbyte each. To conserve disk space,
resolution can be set lower, or files can be written out JPEG compressed
(I just saved one off as JPEG and it is only 112Kbyte in size).
 
I don't know too much about the optical side of things (my specialty is on the
PC/Mac interface side), but feel free to send me any questions and I will forward
on to the right person.
 
Call or email me directly to get the pricing mentioned above.
 
Regards,
/Mitch Norcross
 Senior Design Engineer
 408-342-0110 x245
 mailto:[log in to unmask]
 http://www.pixera.com