Fast Frame Rate CCD Scientific Cameras for Microscopy

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The Fast Frame Rate Scientific-Grade Camera can be used for Ca²⁺ ratiometric studies of intracellular dynamics.

Jason Mills
General Manager,
Thorlabs Scientific Imaging

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Features

• Up to 200.7 Frames per Second (fps) for the Full Sensor (See Specs Tab for Details)
• 1/3" Format, 640 x 480 Pixel (VGA) Monochrome CCD Sensor with 7.4 µm Square Pixels (On Semi / Truesense KAI-0340)
• Software-Selectable 20 MHz or 40 MHz Readout: Maximize Frame Rate
  (40 MHz) or Minimize Noise (20 MHz)
• 55% Peak Quantum Efficiency at 500 nm for Standard Version (See Specs Tab for Details)
• 10% Peak Quantum Efficiency at 485 nm for UV Version (See Specs Tab for Details)
• <15 e^- Read Noise Improves the Threshold of Detectability Under Low Light Conditions
• Asynchronous Reset, Triggered, and Bulb Exposure Modes (See Triggering Tab for Details)
• ThorCam GUI with 32- and 64- Bit Windows^® 7 and 10 Support
• SDK and Programming Interface Support:
  
  • C, C++, C#, Python, and Visual Basic .NET APIs
  • LabVIEW, MATLAB, µManager, and MetaMorph Third-Party Software
• 1/4"-20 Tapped Holes for Post Mounting

Thorlabs' Fast Frame Rate Scientific CCD Cameras (US Patent 9,380,241 B2), which offer up to 200.7 frames per second at 40 MHz dual-tap readout of the full sensor with 640 x 480 pixel (VGA) resolution, are specifically designed for microscopy and other demanding scientific applications. These monochrome cameras are ideal for fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry applications.

Sensors for Visible or UV Applications

We offer two versions of our fast frame rate camera. Our standard sensor is designed for visible applications and has a peak quantum efficiency (QE) of 55% at 500 nm. The UV version of the camera, which has a peak QE of 10% at 485 nm, features a sensor with a quartz faceplate in order to permit higher transmission of UV light and enable applications at UV wavelengths. Please see the Specs tab for plots of the QE for both sensors.

Industry-Standard USB 3.0 or Gigabit Ethernet Interfaces

Thorlabs' scientific cameras are offered with a choice of USB 3.0 or Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) interface. GigE is ideal for situations where the camera must be far from the PC or there are multiple cameras that need to be controlled by the same PC. The GigE cameras are provided with a GigE frame grabber card and cables. Since USB 3.0 is supported by most computers, the USB cameras do not come with a card; however, one is available separately below. A power supply and software are supplied with all cameras. More information on what's included is on the Shipping List tab. Your computer must have a free PCI Express slot to install the GigE interface. For more information on the three interface options and recommended computer specifications, please see the Interface tab.

We offer our fast frame rate cameras in our standard, non-cooled package. Since these cameras are designed for high frame rates and short exposures, cooling the sensor is not required. For applications with low light levels and exposures longer than 1 second, we recommend our 1.4 Megapixel, 4 Megapixel or 8 Megapixel scientific-grade CCD cameras.

Our cameras have triggering options that enable custom timing and system control; for more details, please see the Triggering tab. External triggering requires a connection to the auxiliary port of the camera. Accessory cables and boards to "break out" the individual signals are available below.

Our 340M-GE camera comes with a user-removable IR filter; for details on the transmission please see the Specs tab. If the filter is removed, it can be replaced with a user-supplied Ø1" (Ø25 mm) filter or another optic up to 4 mm thick.

The cameras feature standard C-Mount (1.000"-32) threading, and Thorlabs provides a full line of thread-to-thread adapters for compatibility with other thread standards, including the SM1 (1.035"-40) threading used on our Ø1" Lens Tubes. The front face also has 4-40 tapped holes for compatibility with our 60 mm Cage System. Four 1/4"-20 tapped holes, one on each side of the housing, are compatible with our Ø1" posts. These flexible mounting options make Thorlabs' scientific cameras the ideal choice for integrating into home-built imaging systems as well as those based on commercial microscopes.

• The specified performance is valid when using a computer with the recommended specifications listed on the Interface tab.
• Exposure time varies with operating mode; exposure times shorter than 1 ms may be possible when using an external trigger.
• ADC = Analog-to-Digital Converter
• ADU = Analog-to-Digital Unit
• Camera Frame Rate is impacted by the Vertical Hardware Binning parameter. For color cameras, when the Image Type setting in ThorCam is anything other than "Unprocessed" only 1 x 1 binning is available. When set to Unprocessed, the camera can bin up to 24 x 24, but the image produced will be monochrome.
• If your application is read-noise limited, we recommend using the lower CCD pixel clock speed of 20 MHz. For more information about read noise, and for examples of how to estimate the limiting factor of total camera noise, please see the Camera Noise Tutorial.
• For more information on these interface options, please see the Camera Interface tab.

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Click for Raw Data for Standard Cameras
Click for Raw Data for UV-Enhanced Cameras
This curve shows the quantum efficiency of the camera sensor. The UV camera has a sensor with a quartz faceplate and no microlens array, which leads to increased sensitivity at UV wavelengths at the expense of performance in the visible. No filter is provided with our UV enhanced cameras; standard cameras include the IR blocking filter with the transmission shown to the right.

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Click for Raw Data
The IR blocking filter (Thorlabs' Item # FESH0700) is only provided on the 340M series cameras. It can be removed from the camera; instructions are provided in the manual. If the filter is removed, it can be replaced with a user-supplied Ø1" (Ø25 mm) filter or another optic up to 4 mm thick.

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Thorlabs' Scientific-Grade CCD Cameras are ideal for a variety of applications. The photo gallery below contains images acquired with our 1.4 megapixel, 4 megapixel, 8 megapixel, and fast frame rate cameras.

To download some of these images as high-resolution, 16-bit TIFF files, please click here. It may be necessary to use an alternative image viewer to view the 16-bit files. We recommend ImageJ, which is a free download.

Thorlabs' Scientific Camera Applications (Click Images for Details)
Intracellular Dynamics	Brightfield Microscopy	Ophthalmology (NIR)	Fluorescence Microscopy	Multispectral Imaging	Neuroscience	SEM/TEM
Thorlabs' Scientific Camera Recommended for Above Application
1.4 Megapixel Fast Frame Rate	4 Megapixel 8 Megapixel	1.4 Megapixel	4 Megapixel 1.4 Megapixel	4 Megapixel 1.4 Megapixel	1.4 Megapixel	1.4 Megapixel 4 Megapixel Fast Frame Rate

Multispectral Imaging

The video to the right is an example of a multispectral image acquisition using a liquid crystal tunable filter (LCTF) in front of a monochrome camera. With a sample slide exposed to broadband light, the LCTF passes narrow bands of light that are transmitted from the sample. The monochromatic images are captured using a monochrome scientific camera, resulting in a datacube – a stack of spectrally separated two-dimensional images which can be used for quantitative analysis, such as finding ratios or thresholds and spectral unmixing.

In the example shown, a mature capsella bursa-pastoris embryo, also known as Shepherd's-Purse, is rapidly scanned across the 420 nm - 730 nm wavelength range using Thorlabs' KURIOS-WB1 Liquid Crystal Tunable Filter. The images are captured using our 1501M-GE Scientific Camera, which is connected, with the liquid crystal filter, to a Cerna^® Series Microscope. The overall system magnification is 10X. The final stacked/recovered image is shown below.

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Final Stacked/Recovered Image

Thrombosis Studies

Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot within a blood vessel that will impede the flow of blood in the circulatory system. The videos below are from experimental studies on the large-vessel thrombosis in Mice performed by Dr. Brian Cooley at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Three lasers (532 nm, 594 nm, and 650 nm) were expanded and then focused on a microsurgical field of an exposed surgical site in an anesthenized mouse. A custom 1.4 Megapixel Camera with integrated filter wheel were attached to a Leica Microscope to capture the low-light fluorescence emitted from the surgical site. See the videos below with their associated descriptions for further infromation.

Reference: Cooley BC. In vivo fluorescence imaging of large-vessel thrombosis in mice. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 31, 1351-1356, 2011. All animal studies were done under protocols approved by the Medical College of Wisconsin Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Camera Back Panel Connector Locations

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340M-USB and 340UV-USB Back Panel Layout

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340M-GE and 340UV-GE Back Panel Layout

TSI-IOBOB and TSI-IOBOB2 Break-Out Board Connector Locations

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TSI-IOBOB

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TSI-IOBOB2

TSI-IOBOB and TSI-IOBOB2 Connector	8050-CAB1 Connectors	Camera Auxiliary (AUX) Port
Female 6-Pin Mini Din Female Connector	Male 6-Pin Mini Din Male Connector (TSI-IOBOB end of Cable) Male 12-Pin Hirose Connector (Camera end of Cable)	Female 12-Pin Hirose Connector (Auxiliary Port on Camera)

Auxiliary Connector

The cameras and the break-out boards both feature female connectors; the 8 megapixel cameras have a 12 pin Hirose connector, while the break out boards have a 6-pin Mini-DIN connector. The 8050-CAB1 cable features male connectors on both ends: a 12-pin connector for connecting to the camera and a 6-pin Mini-DIN connector for the break-out boards. Pins 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 are each connected to the center pin of an SMA connector on the break-out boards, while pin 4 (ground) is connected to each SMA connector housing. To access one of the I/O functions not available with the 8050-CAB1, the user must fabricate a cable using shielded cabling in order for the camera to adhere to CE and FCC compliance; additional details are provided in the camera manual.

USB 3.0 Contents Example

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Item # Shown: 340M-USB

Gigabit Ethernet Contents Example

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Item # Shown: 340M-GE

Thorlabs offers two interface options across our scientific camera product line: USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet (GigE). Once other camera decisions, such as field of view and frame rates, have been made, for many of our camera types it is necessary to choose one of these interfaces. It is important to confirm that the computer system meets or exceeds the recommended requirements listed to the right; otherwise, dropped frames may result, particularly when streaming camera images directly to storage media.

Definitions

• Camera Frame Rate: The number of images per second generated by the camera. It is a function of camera model and user-selected settings. 
• Effective Frame Rate: The number of images per second received by the host computer's camera software. This depends on the limits of the selected interface hardware (chipset), CPU performance, and other devices and software competing for the host computer resources.
• Maximum Bandwidth: The maximum rate (in bits/second or bytes/second) at which data can be reliably transferred over the interface from the camera to the host PC. The maximum bandwidth is a specified performance benchmark of the interface, under the assumption that the host PC is capable of receiving and handling data at that rate. An interface with a higher maximum bandwidth will typically support higher camera frame rates, but the choice of interface does not by itself increase the frame rate of the camera.

USB 3.0

USB 3.0 is a standard interface available on most new PCs, which means that typically no additional hardware is required, and therefore these cameras are not sold with any computer hardware. For users with PCs that do not have a USB 3.0 port, a PCIe card is sold separately below. USB 3.0 supports a speed up to 320 MB/s and cable lengths up to 3 m. Support for multiple cameras is possible using multiple USB 3.0 ports on the PC or a USB 3.0 hub.

Gigabit Ethernet

GigE is ideal for situations requiring longer cable lengths, as well as for systems that require using multiple cameras with one computer. GigE supports a speed up to 100 MB/s and cable lengths up to 100 m. It also uses fairly inexpensive cables, but does require the use of a computer with a GigE card installed. Support for multiple cameras is easily achieved using a Gigabit Ethernet switch. However, the GigE card supplied with the camera is recognized as a public connection to the network; institutions with strict policies only allow registered devices and trusted connections. For any questions regarding using our GigE card at your institution, please contact your IT department.

Scientific Camera Interface Summary

Interface	USB 3.0	Gigabit Ethernet
Interface Image (Click to Enlarge)
Maximum Cable Length	3 m	100 m
Maximum Bandwidtha	320 MB/s	100 MB/s
Support for Multiple Cameras	Via Multiple USB 3.0 Ports or Hub	Via Switch Topology (Click for Details)b
Available Cameras	200 Frames per Second Scientific-Grade CCD Cameras 1.4 Megapixel Scientific-Grade CCD Cameras 4 Megapixel Scientific-Grade CCD Cameras 8 Megapixel Scientific-Grade CCD Cameras

• Performance will vary depending on the exact PC configuration.
• Up to 4 cameras have been tested in the GigE switch topology.

Triggered Camera Operation

Our scientific cameras have three externally triggered operating modes: streaming overlapped exposure, asynchronous triggered acquisition, and bulb exposure driven by an externally generated trigger pulse. The trigger modes operate independently of the readout (e.g., 20 or 40 MHz; binning) settings as well as gain and offset. Figures 1 through 3 show the timing diagrams for these trigger modes, assuming an active low external TTL trigger.

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Figure 1: Streaming overlapped exposure mode. When the external trigger goes low, the exposure begins, and continues for the software-selected exposure time, followed by the readout. This sequence then repeats at the set time interval. Subsequent external triggers are ignored until the camera operation is halted.

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Figure 2: Asynchronous triggered acquisition mode. When the external trigger signal goes low, an exposure begins for the preset time, and then the exposure is read out of the camera. During the readout time, the external trigger is ignored.  Once a single readout is complete, the camera will begin the next exposure only when the external trigger signal goes low.

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Figure 3: Bulb exposure mode. The exposure begins when the external trigger signal goes low and ends when the external trigger signal goes high. Trigger signals during camera readout are ignored.

Figure 4: The ThorCam Camera Settings window. The red and blue highlighted regions indicate the trigger settings as described in the text.

External triggering enables these cameras to be easily integrated into systems that require the camera to be synchronized to external events. The Strobe Output goes high to indicate exposure; the strobe signal may be used in designing a system to synchronize external devices to the camera exposure. External triggering requires a connection to the auxiliary port of the camera. We offer the 8050-CAB1 auxiliary cable as an optional accessory. Two options are provided to "break out" individual signals. The TSI-IOBOB provides SMA connectors for each individual signal. Alternately, the TSI-IOBOB2 also provides the SMA connectors with the added functionality of a shield for Arduino boards that allows control of other peripheral equipment. More details on these three optional accessories are provided below.

Trigger settings are adjusted using the ThorCam software. Figure 4 shows the Camera Settings window, with the trigger settings highlighted with red and blue squares. Settings can be adjusted as follows:

• "HW Trigger" (Red Highlight) Set to "None": The camera will simply acquire the number of frames in the "Frames per Trigger" box when the capture button is pressed in ThorCam.
• "HW Trigger" Set to "Standard": There are Two Possible Scenarios:
  • "Frames per Trigger" (Blue Highlight) Set to Zero or >1: The camera will operate in streaming overlaped exposure mode (Figure 1).
  • "Frames per Trigger" Set to 1: Then the camera will operate in asynchronous triggered acquisition mode (Figure 2).
• "HW Trigger" Set to "Bulb (PDX) Mode": The camera will operate in bulb exposure mode, also known as Pulse Driven Exposure (PDX) mode (Figure 3).

In addition, the polarity of the trigger can be set to "On High" (exposure begins on the rising edge) or "On Low" (exposure begins on the falling edge) in the "HW Trigger Polarity" box (highlighted in red in Figure 4).

Example Camera Triggering Configuration using Scientific Camera Accessories

Figure 5: A schematic showing a system using the TSI-IOBOB2 to facilitate system integration and control. 

As an example of how camera triggering can be integrated into system control is shown in Figure 5. In the schematic, the camera is connected to the TSI-IOBOB2 break-out board / shield for Arduino using a 8050-CAB1 cable. The pins on the shield can be used to deliver signals to simultaneously control other peripheral devices, such as light sources, shutters, or motion control devices. Once the control program is written to the Arduino board, the USB connection to the host PC can be removed, allowing for a stand-alone system control platform; alternately, the USB connection can be left in place to allow for two-way communication between the Arduino and the PC. Configuring the external trigger mode is done using ThorCam as described above.

About Thorlabs Scientific Imaging

Thorlabs Scientific Imaging (TSI) is a multi-disciplinary team dedicated to solving the most challenging imaging problems. We design and manufacture low-noise, high performance scientific cameras, interface devices, and software at our facility in Austin, Texas. 

A Message from TSI's General Manager

As a researcher, you are accustomed to solving difficult problems but may be frustrated by the inadequacy of the available instrumentation and tools. The product development team at Thorlabs Scientific Imaging is continually looking for new challenges to push the boundaries of Scientific Cameras using various sensor technologies. We welcome your input in order to leverage our team of senior research and development engineers to help meet your advanced imaging needs.

Thorlabs' purpose is to support advances in research through our product offerings. Your input will help us steer the direction of our scientific camera product line to support these advances. If you have a challenging application that requires a more advanced scientific camera than is currently available, I would be excited to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Jason Mills
General Manager
Thorlabs Scientific Imaging