CCD vs sCMOS

[Claire Brown]

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We are looking into a new camera for our widefield microscope. I am looking forward to the larger chips on the newer cameras.
I was looking into sCMOS cameras but I have yet to see a nice publication on how quantitative/linear they are and if there are artifacts in the noise. I have not had time to test them properly myself. Does anyone know of a good publication?

Then I recently found out about the new Sony ICX694 CCD chip. I must say I like the idea of staying with the tried and true CCD technology and we have no need to go ultrafast  so this new chip seems like a good option and is more affordable than comparable sCMOS cameras.

I have now of course heard that Sony will stop making CCD chips in the next couple of years. Of course this sounds strange to me if they would develop a brand new camera chip and then in a couple of years get out of the business.

Does anyone have any concrete information about this?

Sincerely,

Claire

*******************************************************************
North East Regional Life Sciences Core Directors (NERLSCD) - Oct 14-16, 2015, Burlington, VT https://sites.google.com/a/my.abrf.org/nerlscd2015/home

Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) - Feb 20-23, 2016, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
http://conf.abrf.org/

Need Microscope Access? Fill in our training request form: http://www.mcgill.ca/lifesciencescomplex/core/imaging/newuser

Claire M. Brown, PhD - McGill University - Assistant Professor, Physiology
Life Sciences Complex Advanced BioImaging Facility Director
3649 Promenade Sir William Osler - Bellini Building - Rm 137A - Montreal - Quebec - H3G 0B1
514-398-4400 ext 00795 (Phone) - 514-677-7493 (Cell) - 514-398-7452 (FAX)
claire.brown at mcgill.ca<claire.brown%20at%20mcgill.ca> - http://www.mcgill.ca/abif

[Sathya]

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Hi Claire,
Recently I got an invitation mail from Andor (no commercial interest) about their online interactive brochure. On that page they have provided useful information about the cameras for microscopy- EMCCD, sCMOS and CCD cameras. I remember seeing some galleries of images obtained using various cameras. The page also has a Specifications tab classifying the cameras based on applications and specifications. You can compare the cameras by dragging them and placing them in a box to compare based on different parameters (resolution, pixel size, frame rate, QE, read noise, etc.). The link for the web site is:
 
http://www.andor.com/cameras-for-microscopy/?utm_source=SalesFusion&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=sathya_sr70@...&utm_campaign=US-LightSheetEKB4#title-intro
 
Please contact me offline if the above link does not work (copy and paste the whole link as it spills to the second line). Good luck.
 
Sathya Srinivasan
Manager
Regeneration Unit in Neurobiology (RUN) Advanced Optical Microscopy Core Facility
(www.ucalgary.ca/runcore)
Room 126, HMRB
University of Calgary,
Calgary, AB T2N 4N1
 

> Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 19:26:16 +0000
> From: [hidden email]
> Subject: CCD vs sCMOS
> To: [hidden email]
>
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> We are looking into a new camera for our widefield microscope. I am looking forward to the larger chips on the newer cameras.
> I was looking into sCMOS cameras but I have yet to see a nice publication on how quantitative/linear they are and if there are artifacts in the noise. I have not had time to test them properly myself. Does anyone know of a good publication?
>
> Then I recently found out about the new Sony ICX694 CCD chip. I must say I like the idea of staying with the tried and true CCD technology and we have no need to go ultrafast  so this new chip seems like a good option and is more affordable than comparable sCMOS cameras.
>
> I have now of course heard that Sony will stop making CCD chips in the next couple of years. Of course this sounds strange to me if they would develop a brand new camera chip and then in a couple of years get out of the business.
>
> Does anyone have any concrete information about this?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Claire
>
> *******************************************************************
> North East Regional Life Sciences Core Directors (NERLSCD) - Oct 14-16, 2015, Burlington, VT https://sites.google.com/a/my.abrf.org/nerlscd2015/home
>
> Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) - Feb 20-23, 2016, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
> http://conf.abrf.org/
>
> Need Microscope Access? Fill in our training request form: http://www.mcgill.ca/lifesciencescomplex/core/imaging/newuser
>
> Claire M. Brown, PhD - McGill University - Assistant Professor, Physiology
> Life Sciences Complex Advanced BioImaging Facility Director
> 3649 Promenade Sir William Osler - Bellini Building - Rm 137A - Montreal - Quebec - H3G 0B1
> 514-398-4400 ext 00795 (Phone) - 514-677-7493 (Cell) - 514-398-7452 (FAX)
> claire.brown at mcgill.ca<claire.brown%20at%20mcgill.ca> - http://www.mcgill.ca/abif

     

[Gerhard Holst]

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Hi Claire,

as far as I know, Sony has decided to stop making CCDs. They have now their own line of CMOS image sensors, which is pretty good too and it does them well for the consumer market (which is their main interest). The good Sony image sensors, which have been used in scientific applications were just a nice by-product of their security activities.

For your widefield microscope, it depends on your application and requirements: low light? Higher resolution (which means even lower light per pixel, assuming you are looking at the same scene)? Higher frame rate? Higher intra-scene dynamic? Higher quantum efficiency?
Depending on you applicational interest, you will have some of these requirement, and each combination has its own optimum answer.

I am responsible for the research department in our company, and I think that in the future CMOS and sCMOS image sensors will replace most of the CCD applications. And if you compare prices of CCD and CMOS cameras with similar performance data, always CMOS will win.

In case of the comparison that you mentioned, The ICX694 has similar resolution (little larger), but smaller pixels 4.5 um instead of the 6.5 um of the existing sCMOS sensors, therefore it likely has a smaller fullwell capacity. I would expect about 3-4 e- readout noise, therefore best you would end up with a camera of 12bit dynamics which si certainly a lot less than the nearly 15 bit dynamic of sCMOS. It will also have a lower dark current, that means a camera with this sensor, in case you have many seconds of exposure time will perform better, but you will never get 50 full frames/s out of this CCD chip. So if if you are watching dynamics, it might be wrong.

In the past, I have given presentations about image sensors and cameras, and I was convinced, that if you want good image quality, take a CCD camera. For some years now this is no longer true, the sCMOS image sensors have become better (in total performance data) compared to the best CCDs. In my opinion even for most of the emCCD applications.

with best regards,

Gerhard Holst
_______________________________

Dr. Gerhard Holst
Science & Research
PCO AG
Donaupark 11
93309 Kelheim, Germany
fon [phone]
fax [phone]
mob [phone]
[hidden email]
www.pco.de

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] Im Auftrag von Claire Brown, Dr.
Gesendet: Dienstag, 11. August 2015 21:26
An: [hidden email]
Betreff: CCD vs sCMOS

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*****

We are looking into a new camera for our widefield microscope. I am looking forward to the larger chips on the newer cameras.
I was looking into sCMOS cameras but I have yet to see a nice publication on how quantitative/linear they are and if there are artifacts in the noise. I have not had time to test them properly myself. Does anyone know of a good publication?

Then I recently found out about the new Sony ICX694 CCD chip. I must say I like the idea of staying with the tried and true CCD technology and we have no need to go ultrafast  so this new chip seems like a good option and is more affordable than comparable sCMOS cameras.

I have now of course heard that Sony will stop making CCD chips in the next couple of years. Of course this sounds strange to me if they would develop a brand new camera chip and then in a couple of years get out of the business.

Does anyone have any concrete information about this?

Sincerely,

Claire

*******************************************************************
North East Regional Life Sciences Core Directors (NERLSCD) - Oct 14-16, 2015, Burlington, VT https://sites.google.com/a/my.abrf.org/nerlscd2015/home

Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) - Feb 20-23, 2016, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
http://conf.abrf.org/

Need Microscope Access? Fill in our training request form: http://www.mcgill.ca/lifesciencescomplex/core/imaging/newuser

Claire M. Brown, PhD - McGill University - Assistant Professor, Physiology
Life Sciences Complex Advanced BioImaging Facility Director
3649 Promenade Sir William Osler - Bellini Building - Rm 137A - Montreal - Quebec - H3G 0B1
514-398-4400 ext 00795 (Phone) - 514-677-7493 (Cell) - 514-398-7452 (FAX)
claire.brown at mcgill.ca<claire.brown%20at%20mcgill.ca> - http://www.mcgill.ca/abif

[Douglas Richardson]

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Hello Claire,

I recently returned a colour ICX694 as it had some very bad white balancing
issues.  There were some artifacts around the edges of the image, and a lot
of speckling within it while imaging a white surface.

There are also some issues with the B/W chips we tested, mainly:

The glue used to attach the chip has some autofluorescence in the near IR
range.  If you're imaging low levels of Cy5 (or similar) you'll see blobs
in the corners.
The small pixel size often requires binning to get a reasonable signal
above background on all but the brightest samples, meaning you can't take
advantage of the higher resolution (this was on a minimally cooled camera).
When using the 4-port read-out, there is uneven background across the four
quadrants of the chip.

Regarding CMOS vs CCD.  CMOS has been our go-to for most imaging
applications, for the advantages of faster imaging speeds, larger field of
view, and in the past, smaller pixel size/better resolution.  However, for
low light applications, especially with long integration times, we find the
CCDs still outperform.

-Doug


On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 3:26 PM, Claire Brown, Dr. <[hidden email]>
wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> We are looking into a new camera for our widefield microscope. I am
> looking forward to the larger chips on the newer cameras.
> I was looking into sCMOS cameras but I have yet to see a nice publication
> on how quantitative/linear they are and if there are artifacts in the
> noise. I have not had time to test them properly myself. Does anyone know
> of a good publication?
>
> Then I recently found out about the new Sony ICX694 CCD chip. I must say I
> like the idea of staying with the tried and true CCD technology and we have
> no need to go ultrafast  so this new chip seems like a good option and is
> more affordable than comparable sCMOS cameras.
>
> I have now of course heard that Sony will stop making CCD chips in the
> next couple of years. Of course this sounds strange to me if they would
> develop a brand new camera chip and then in a couple of years get out of
> the business.
>
> Does anyone have any concrete information about this?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Claire
>
> *******************************************************************
> North East Regional Life Sciences Core Directors (NERLSCD) - Oct 14-16,
> 2015, Burlington, VT
> https://sites.google.com/a/my.abrf.org/nerlscd2015/home
>
> Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) - Feb 20-23, 2016,
> Ft. Lauderdale, FL
> http://conf.abrf.org/
>
> Need Microscope Access? Fill in our training request form:
> http://www.mcgill.ca/lifesciencescomplex/core/imaging/newuser
>
> Claire M. Brown, PhD - McGill University - Assistant Professor, Physiology
> Life Sciences Complex Advanced BioImaging Facility Director
> 3649 Promenade Sir William Osler - Bellini Building - Rm 137A - Montreal -
> Quebec - H3G 0B1
> 514-398-4400 ext 00795 (Phone) - 514-677-7493 (Cell) - 514-398-7452 (FAX)
> claire.brown at mcgill.ca<claire.brown%20at%20mcgill.ca> -
> http://www.mcgill.ca/abif
>

[Claire Brown]

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
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Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
*****

Thank you everyone for your input. I received a few replies offline too that
referenced past postings. I did do a search on the list but i only found
posts from the 1990s. I'm not sure if I am using the search feature
incorrectly but here is a nice paper I was referred to that looks at sCMOS
vs EMCCD.

http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v10/n7/full/nmeth.2488.html

As for applications we run a core facility so I need high speed, high
sensitivity and high resolution depends on the user. I'm sure we will find
the best camera for our applications.

Thanks again.

Claire