Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences (May 2016)

Assessing low-light cameras with photon transfer curve method

  • Luchang Li,
  • Mengting Li,
  • Zhaoning Zhang,
  • Zhen-Li Huang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793545816300081
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 3
pp. 1630008-1 – 1630008-17

Abstract

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Low-light camera is an indispensable component in various fluorescence microscopy techniques. However, choosing an appropriate low-light camera for a specific technique (for example, single molecule imaging) is always time-consuming and sometimes confusing, especially after the commercialization of a new type of camera called sCMOS camera, which is now receiving heavy demands and high praise from both academic and industrial users. In this tutorial, we try to provide a guide on how to fully access the performance of low-light cameras using a well-developed method called photon transfer curve (PTC). We first present a brief explanation on the key parameters for characterizing low-light cameras, then explain the experimental procedures on how to measure PTC. We also show the application of the PTC method in experimentally quantifying the performance of two representative low-light cameras. Finally, we extend the PTC method to provide offset map, read noise map, and gain map of individual pixels inside a camera.

Keywords