Roper E User Manual

9 

The features described in this section are identical in the CoolSNAP

 and 

CoolSNAP

 cameras.  Features that are specific to the CoolSNAP

 camera are 

described separately in the "CoolSNAP

" section.

The CoolSNAP

 and CoolSNAP

 cameras operate at 20 MHz digitization and 

offer greater than 10 full frames per second.

Both cameras support 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, and 8x binning in the serial (horizontal) 
direction and flexible binning in the parallel (vertical) direction. Binning 
increases the frame rate and sensitivity but at the expense of resolution. 
Choosing a smaller region of interest (ROI) further increases the frame rate. 

 

 

 

The following subsections describe features that are specific to CoolSNAP

  

camera systems. 

A unique feature of CoolSNAP

 

 

is that it allows two different CCD clocking 

modes that allow you choose between speed and NIR sensitivity. In the PVCAM

 

implementation, the clocking modes are referred to as "normal" and "alternate 
normal".

Normal mode   In "Normal" mode, the CCD is optimized for maximum anti-blooming protection 

and frame rate. In this mode, the CCD can be clocked so that exposure and readout 
happen simultaneously as shown in the example below. 

 Consider a situation where the full frame readout time is 90 msec (at 

20 MHz) and the exposure time is 200 msec. The readout of a frame will occur 
during the exposure of the next frame. This is possible because the CCD has 
alternate columns of sensitive and masked areas. While charge is integrating in the 
sensor area, the previous frame, which is in the masked area, can be read out  
(Figure 1). In this example, the time required to acquire the three-image sequence is 
690 ms (3 x 200 + 90) and the frame rate is approximately 4.3 fps. 

 

200ms

90ms

Exposure

Readout

200ms

200ms

90ms

90ms