Posted to News on 10th Jul 2008, 17:28
CCD camera delivers rapid readout with minimal noise
Hamamatsu is launching the new ORCA-R2 Rapid Readout digital CCD camera. Building on the success of the established ORCA AG and based on the same ER-150 progressive scan interline 1344 x 1024 pixel CCD, the new ORCA-R2 is designed for demanding, non-EM CCD applications in the visible to NIR spectrum.
The ORCA-R2 has two scan speeds: a normal scan speed of 14MHz and a rapid scan speed of 28MHz that delivers full-resolution 1.37Mpixel images at 8.5 frames/second and 16.2 frames/second, respectively. With binning, the ORCA-R2 has a maximum frame rate of 64.3 frames/second. Data output is via Firewire IEEE 1394b.
The ER-150 CCD is enclosed in a hermetic vacuum-sealed head, the same as the previous ORCA-AG, but air cooling has been improved to -35degC. The ORCA-R2 also comes with water-cooling connections as standard, for operation at -40degC for applications where low-level signals require tighter control over thermal noise.
Digitisation can be carried out in either 12- or 16-bit A-D converters and image enhancement is possible using analogue gain and offset controls.
All this improved ORCA-R2 performance has been squeezed into the familiar ORCA-AG camera head size, including an extended range of programmable trigger signal output options (edge, level, start, synchronous and cyclic).
The ORCA-R2 is suitable for a range of applications such as fluorescence microscopy, where a balance of speed, sensitivity and resolution are essential.
For more information, go to sales.hamamatsu.com/index.php?id=13223640&language=1&.
