NOTE: Posting from Commercial Vendor regarding the digital camera issue
As discussed by several respondents to this list including Aryeh below,
there are multiple camera manufacturers who offer digital camera based on
the Sony interline CCDs, including Roper Scientific (DVC, PCO, etc). When
the Sony ICX085 or its windowless brother ICX061 are run with a high speed
ADC (like the 20 MHz ADC in the CoolSNAP FX) then you will get about 10 FPS
at full resolution. If you run with binning at 2x2 (reducing resolution and
pixel count) you can achieve 20 FPS. With further binning or subregion
readout, you can achieve higher rates.
I would suggest, however, that the new CoolSNAP HQ type cameras (and those
cameras which other companies are starting to make) with the Sony ICX285 CCD
will replace all the Sony ICX085 and ICX085 based systems in the near
future. That is due to the high red QE that can be obtained with this
device and the very low noise readout that the CCD allows. In the end, it
does not make sense to run fast unless you can actually see the faint signal
you are trying to measure as Aryeh mentions. This new CCD, however, should
allow better data collection in the red region of the spectrum while
preserving the good sensitivity in the green that interlines normally have.
If anyone would like further details, I would be delighted to correspond
individually and not clutter the list with further comments.
Regards,
Mark
Mark Christenson, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Life Sciences
Roper Scientific
3660 Quakerbridge Road
Trenton, NJ 08619
Phone (609) 587-9797
FAX (609) 587-1970
E-mail [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Web www.roperscientific.com <http://www.roperscientific.com>
-----Original Message-----
From: Aryeh Weiss [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 6:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: digital video cameras
I get the impression that there is a bit of confusion regarding
digital
cameras. The term has been used to refer to cameras that are based
on
various popular still cameras (like the Nikon Coolpix) and also to
refer
to high end scientific imagers. For people interested in rapid
framing
at high resolution, the former are out of the question. The latter
are
available in various models that provide 12 frames/sec, and more if
you
use binning (lowering the spatial resolution but ehancing
sensitivity).
I have had nice images with the DVC 1310 run at 12 frames/sec at
high
gain. You can do the same for almost any camera based on the Sony
IX085
CCD.
PCO makes one called the PixelFly that does the same. You can get
them
for color or monochrome. All this does not require an intensifier.
If
you can see it by eye then you can probably see it with the camera
at
high gain.
If you have really weak signals and you need to see them at video
rates,
then you can use an intensifier. But I wonder if the new Marconi
chip
will take up some of that market and replace many intensified
systems.
Then there are fast framing system that can operate at 100s or even
1000s of frames per sec. Frame sizes here run from about 256x256
and
down. They are expensive, but they can be purchased and will do
thing
like motion analysis and such. With an intensifier I bet that they
can
be used to image action potentials (using potential sensitive dyes)
in
real time.
These systems can be found by web search, or by looking at
magazines
like Advanced Imaging or Photonics Spectra and such, which can be
gotten
for free (or seen on the web).
--aryeh
--
Aryeh Weiss | email: [log in to unmask]
Department of Electronics | URL:
http://optics.jct.ac.il/~aryeh
Jerusalem College of Technology | phone: 972-2-6751146
POB 16031 | FAX: 972-2-6751275
Jerusalem, Israel | ham radio: 4X1PB/KA1PB
|
