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Ultraview Vox - Device Controls

Ultraview Vox - Device Controls

Owned by Andrew Vaughan
Last updated: Oct 21, 2014

The device controls panel has sections for each item of equipment configured in the software. There are also two sections with controls for the most used devices and for those devices associated with the current light path. The devices configured for the Ultraview Vox are: Hamamatsu C9100-13 camera, Nikon Ti and Ultraview

Hamamatsu C9100-13 camera

The C9100-13 is an EMCCD camera with on-chip multiplication gain to increase the camera sensitivity by eliminating the effects of readout noise. The main controls for the C9100-13 are as follows:

  • Exposure - This should be set according to the speed required in the experiment and/or the photostability of the specimen. There is no minimum exposure but the fastest camera readout time is about 30 ms so even with 1 ms exposure it will still take about 30 ms to readout the image. The lasers are set up so they will not be bleaching the specimen during this readout period.
  • Auto Contrast - This makes dim images more visible by 'stretching' the maximum and minimum valued pixels to the brightest and dimmest intensities possible with the display. It does not change the underlying grey values of the image. Images from the C9100-13 can appear to be dim even when there is really plenty of signal because although the conversion factor (or number of photoelectrons per grey value) is not dissimilar to normal CCD cameras the dynamic range of the camera is much greater (65536 grey levels rather than 4096 grey levels)
  • Gain - The gain slider controls the conversion factor, which is the number of photoelectrons required to make one grey level. As the gain is increased fewer photoelectrons are needed to make a grey level.

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