Re: sCMOS salt'n'pepper issues

Posted by James Pawley on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/sCMOS-salt-n-pepper-issues-tp7583323p7583330.html

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Hello all,

I think we need to remember that there are two possible sources of
sCMOS pixels that record too much signal: high leakage (dark current
or dark charge) and incorrect DC offset of the amplifier in the
pixel. The former will show increasingly brighter pixels the longer
the exposure. The latter will not.

Use of an sCMOS with a disk-scanner implies to me probably longer
exposures (where people often choose the EM-CCD) so maybe you need to
need to perform the "pixel-by-pixel gain and offset" correction using
the same exposure time that you plan to use for collecting data.

Best,

Jim Pawley

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>
>Maybe I am missing the point here but won't the characterization
>paper that has been cited in this discussion- (but not yet read by
>me) produce at least a Dark Current image and hopefully a an image
>of the dark pixels on a lighter background. These two images could
>be used with some combination of multiplication and division to at
>least give a better looking image. I would have to spend more time
>than I have at the moment to consider the implications for
>quantitation, but whether you are trying to measure light intensity
>or count objects, background correction operation rarely cause
>problems, and usually help.
>
>If you can send me the two images cited and a sample image I woul be
>happy to play around with them and post my results back to you
>and/or the list.
>
>Chris
>
>Chris Tully
>Principal Consultant
>Image Incyte, LLC
>240-475-9753
>Image Incyte, LLC
>[hidden email]
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>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Confocal Microscopy List
>[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Andrew York
>Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 8:00 AM
>To: [hidden email]
>Subject: Re: sCMOS salt'n'pepper issues
>
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>
>Can you share raw data? Also, how are you doing your illumination?
>On Jan 20, 2015 11:19 PM, "Neil Anthony" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>>  *****
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>>
>>  Hi all, I hope the
>>  science/optics/hardware/software/students/post-docs/
>>  reviewers/managers/next-door-neighbors and FedEx are treating you well.
>>
>>  We have a couple of issues with a recently installed Hamamatsu Flash
>>  4.0 sCMOS camera and I was wondering if anybody has had any similar
>>  experiences, both in terms of feedback on what is expected from sCMOS
>>  hardware and what can be done to rectify any issues.
>>
>>  Here's what we're seeing:
>>  Using a Hamamatsu Flash 4.0 camera link sCMOS (firmware v3.00A) on a
>>  spinning disk and acquiring data using Perkin Elmer Volocity 6.3 we're
>>  having three issues regarding hot and cold pixels.  So far we have
>>  tried 4 different sCMOS cameras (kindly supplied/tested by Hamamatsu
>>  and Perkin Elmer), to double check the subtleties, but the results are
>>  quite similar
>>
>>  On the first camera we saw a bright cluster of 4 pixels that are
>>  between 2 and 10x greater than the surrounding pixels across nearly
>>  all imaging conditions (not seen in the other three cameras).  Are
>>  these bright pixel clusters something that others have seen much? This
>>  issue is seen in both Volocity and ExCap/HDImage, but was not seen on
>>  the test sCMOS camera used to cross check.  I also see 'ghost'
>>  clusters that look similar but only seem to last for one frame...
>>  Again, is that something seen in sCMOS cameras in general?
>>
>>  Salt:
>>  In images with low signal and longer exposure times we see speckled
>  > bight pixels using both Volocity and ExCap/HDImage, with an intensity
>>  approx twice that of the background signal. Exposure times ~secs; low
>>  signal <1000 counts per pixel.  These speckled hot spots were seen
>>  with all sCMOS cameras to some degree.
>>  Pepper:
>>  In almost the inverse situation, where we have higher signals with
>>  lower exposure times were also seen on all sCMOS cameras (the first
>>  camera with the clear hotspot had very bad 'peppering' compared to
>>the others).
>>
>>  I know that the pco cameras used on the Deltavision OMX have reference
>>  images applied to reduce the affects of these artifacts, and I was
>>  wondering if that's something that can be applied post-acquisition.
>>  Any thoughts and/or feedback on what's normal for an sCMOS, and how to
>>  get the best out of these cameras would be much appreciated.  sCMOS
>>  cameras certainly are fast and have a great signal to noise, so am I
>>  expecting too much from this generation of hardware?
>>
>>  Thanks
>>  Neil
>>
>>
>>  A couple of images to compare salt'n'pepper pixels seen on three
>>  cameras are here:
>>  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzfJAGNfrgieQ21abmVPbFBqY0k/
>>  view?usp=sharing
>>  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzfJAGNfrgieVjViTWNoeExpdDQ/
>>  view?usp=sharing
>>


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