Primary product - the UltraPix range of cameras with host based memory storage
Operating System - Windows 95 compatible (NT and 2000 slowscan only).
Full 32 Bit Software
Image Capture - Single and multiple image capture, flatfield and black level calibration, sub area readout for singular and rectangle selection, full control of binning, live display for focusing, spacebar or TTL input triggering and variable readout speed and sensitivity.
Multiple Views - Image display integrated with zooming, pan scrolling, contrast and brightness control, auto-scaling, colour lookup tables, linear, greyscale, cursor position and pixel intensity; line plots, histogram plot, spreadsheets of pixel values and display of acquisition parameters.
Multiple Image Navigation – Moving quickly to first/next/previous image in the sequence, playback a movie at variable speed, looped playback and the facility to select an image from the sequence.
Printing - Any Windows compatible printer.
Export - Tiff 8 & 16 Bit, Windows Bitmap 8 Bit, RAW, FITS, Prisma, Spectacle or Grams files or CSV and Bitmaps via the Windows clipboard.
Calibration - Shade correction and dark current subtraction.
Measurement - Statistics (maximum, minimum, mean, standard deviation, enclosing rectangle, skew, kurtosis, mode), disk storage (with acquisition parameters and single sequence), camera diagnostics (including CCD/Sink temperatures, camera voltages and internal camera status).
Documentation - User Manual and On-line help
Binning Charge from each pixel is added (in both vertical and horizontal directions) to its neighbouring pixel. This can be done many times in each direction before reading out the charge from the CCD. The binning is a noiseless addition that occurs at the expense of image resolution.
Black level reference Black level reference is defined as an image taken in the absence of light. This will thus show the dark current generated by the CCD.
Clocking A function of moving the charge within the CCD.
Parallel – Process of clocking the parallel clock to move the image towards the output register. This direction is usually the vertical direction on the PixCel image display.
Serial – Moves the charge in the output register towards the output transistor. This direction is usually the horizontal direction on the PixCel image display.
Line selection The currently selected line on the image. (See Chapter 2 Operating the software, line selection).
Rectangle selection The current rectangle selection on the image. (See Chapter 2 Operating the software, rectangle selection).
CSV Comma Separated Values (CSV) is a text format for exporting data to many other software packages such as Excel.
Dark subtraction Dark Subtraction corrects for dark current in the CCD by taking a dark image and subtracting it from other images in a sequence.
Flatfield reference Flatfield reference corrects for variation in CCD sensitivity or illumination across the image.
Focusing Adjusting the image for maximum sharpness.
Histogram A Histogram is a graphical representation of grey level (pixel intensity) against frequency (number of occurrences of grey levels).
Looping Looping is repeating image sequences.
Main menu toolbar The Main menu toolbar allows access to all the features of the software.
Mapping Control of the brightness and contrast of the displayed image.
Pixel values A spreadsheet representation of data in the image.
Plot A plot is a graphical representation of the grey level (pixel intensity) along the current line selection.
Pre flushing Pre flushing removes excess charge in the CCD which may have built up whilst the camera was not in use, prior to another image being taken.
Readout rate The readout rate is the rate at which the camera controller reads each pixel of the CCD.
Sensitivity Sensitivity is the gain of the electronics. It is the sensitivity to signal and can be adjusted to suit the signal levels i.e. low signal may require an increase in sensitivity and high signal levels and may require a decrease in sensitivity. However, PerkinElmer Lifes Sciences cameras have a very wide dynamic range.
Software toolbar The Software toolbar is located at the top of the screen containing a range of icons to manipulate the image.
Status bar The status bar is located at the bottom of the screen and holds information regarding the acquiring of the image.
User values User Values are the parameters used to acquire the sequence of images and includes the camera control monitored voltages.
View & navigation toolbar The View and navigation toolbar is located at the bottom of the screen. It is used for quick selection of the type of display (histogram, line plot etc.) and locating frames within an image sequence.