CHROMA C4-DSP
user manual
September 2013
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................4
PERSONALCOMPUTERMINIMUMREQUIREMENTS..................................................................................6
PERSONALCOMPUTERRECOMMENDEDREQUIREMENTS.........................................................................6
SOFTWAREINSTALLATIONPROCEDURE....................................................................................................7
CONNECTINGTHECHROMAC4‐DSPCCDCAMERA....................................................................................8
DETAILSOFTHECHROMALOWERPANELCONNECTORS..........................................................................15
44PINPARALLELPORTCONNECTOR............................................................................................................16
26PINUSERPORTCONNECTOR
...................................................................................................................17
MOUNTINGORREPLACINGFILTERS........................................................................................................18
OPTICALWINDOWCLEANING.................................................................................................................20
SPECIFICATIONS......................................................................................................................................21
TYPICALSPECTRALRESPONSE.................................................................................................................22
QuantumefficiencyofC035model..............................................................................................................22
QuantumefficiencyofC130model..............................................................................................................24
QuantumefficiencyofC150model..............................................................................................................25
QuantumefficiencyofC250model..............................................................................................................26
Quantum
efficiencyofC500model..............................................................................................................27
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
INTRODUCTION
CHROMA C4-DSP is the result of 15 years of experience in scientific imaging.
This model is the fourth-generation model of the CHROMA CCD cameras in production for more
than 10 years and it brings together all advantages deriving from direct experience in the field.
The series is characterized by high sensitivity, fast image downloading, reduced weight and
dimensions.
The key to its great performances is related to the use of CCD sensors with high quantum efficiency
and a proprietary technology able to use the sensor to achieve maximum intrinsic performance.
Some of the main features:
1) 16-bit electronics at very low noise (std <1)
2) High read-out speed 4 Mpix/s
3) CCD soft hyperdrive, advanced sensor management technique able to exploit maximum
intrinsic characteristics
4) High sensor temperature stabilization (± 0.1 °C) to provide a high reproducibility of the sensor’s
performances.
The camera also allows great performances at many imaging applications at different spectral
bands (RGB, Multi-spectral) thanks to the use of an integrated internal 8 -position filter-wheel for 25
mm diameter filters.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
The instrument is completed by the presence of integrated peripherals that allow the realization of
complex imaging techniques, all available on the AUX user port:
1) 16-bit bidirectional parallel port
2) Signals for the shutter total
3) 2 x 32-bit pulse generators
4) 1 x 32-bit delay generator
5) IN/OUT Trigger
6) 4 x 12 bit A/D channels
CHROMA C4 is connected to the personal computer by USB 2.0 and can easily be used at a
distance up to 30 meters.
It mounts KAF CCD sensors, displaying a wide range of resolutions and pixels dimensions.
The sensors are front-illuminated, supported by an excellent Quantum Efficiency, with opt ional antiblooming protection or enhanced performance (ITO).
All sensors (except those with the optional anti-blooming) offer a 100% fill factor, allowing to shoot
marvellous images.
The main application fields are: Biology, Astronomy, Plasma Physics, Semiconductor Physics.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
PERSONAL COMPUTER MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
CPU Dual-Core 3 GHz
1 Gb RAM
Microsoft Windows XP SP3
Hard Disk with at least 200 Mb of available disk space
PERSONAL COMPUTER RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS
CPU Quad-Core 3 GHz or higher
1 Gb RAM
22” colour monitor
Microsoft Windows 7
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
SOFTWARE INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
When you use the camera for the first
time, you need to install the ViSTA
software.
Insert the ViSTA 3 CD-ROM, provided with the
camera, into the CD-ROM reader, wait a
few seconds for the PC to load the "QUICK
INSTALL" menu.
Click on ViSTA 3 and QUICK INSTALL will start
and guide you through the software
installation process.
The default settings will install the complete
software package and all options.
You may need to reboot the PC if certain
files in use by Windows need to be updated.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
CONNECTING THE CHROMA C4-DSP CCD CAMERA
To install your hardware platform on the PC, follow the steps below:
- Connect the power supply cable (supplied with a standard length of 2,5 m) to the
CHROMA C4-DSP CCD camera.
- Carefully insert the connector to the power supply to prevent damage.
- Connect the USB cable (supplied with a standard length of 1.8 m) to the corresponding port
of the PC.
- Turn on the camera.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Attention:
- Do not touch the motor when it is working, because it can reach high temperatures.
At a room temperature of 20 °C, the standard operating temperature of the motor is 55 °C.
- The lateral sides of the camera and the power supply must be free to enable the corre ct
functioning of the ventilation system.
Now, you can install the drivers for the USB connection.
Do not touch
the motor
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
INSTALLATION OF THE DRIVERS
When you use the camera for the first time, you will be asked to specify where the available drivers
are located.
In the following, you will find the sequenc e of operations to be carried out.
An example with WINDOWS XP Operating System will be shown below. The operations are similar for
the other Operating Systems.
Follow the steps on the basis of your Operative System, taking into consideration the fact that this
procedure has to be carried out for two USB Serial converters, A and B.
WINDOWS XP
Once you have connected the camera to the PC
following the instructions reported on the previous
page, a screen (as shown on the right) will
appear, informing you that new hardware has
been detected.
Then, a screen will
appear (as shown on
the left), where you
will be asked to
connect for Windows
update.
Select: “No, not at this
time” and click on
"Next" to continue the
installation.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Select the option
"Install from a list o
r
specific location
(Advanced)”
(recommended
choice).
Then click on "Next"
to continue the
installation.
Check the functions
selected as shown as
in the screen on the
left, including the
folder containing the
drivers you are
looking for, by using
the Browse function
(in this example, E:\
indicates the CDRom drive).
It opens the screen
on the next page.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Select the folder that contains the
drivers for USB hardware according to
the Operative System:
· Windows 98/Me2000/XP: select
Windows
· Windows XP Professional x64:
select XPx64 (as in the image below)
Then, click on OK and it will start
searching the drivers.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
At this point, a
window like the one
on the right
appears, click on
“Continue Anyway”
to go on with the
installation and wait
while the wizard
installs the software
(just few seconds).
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Now, the same procedure will be carried out for the i nstallation of the drivers of USB Serial
Converter B.
At the end of the installation process, restar t the PC (recommended choice).
When the installation
has been
completed, a
screen like the one
shown on the right
will appear.
Click on: “Finish” to
close the wizard.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
DETAIL OF THE CHROMA LOWER PANEL CONNECTORS
On the bottom side of the CHROMA you will find the connectors required to connect the camera
to the PC, to the power supply and to mount it on a photographic tripod (in the middle upside).
Starting from the left, the following connectors are shown:
· USER PORT: 26-pin connector which implements an 8-bit parallel communication,
bidirectional and programmable.
· 44-pin high-density connector: for power supply and USB connection.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
44 PIN PARALLEL PORT CONNECTOR
1 AGND 2 AGND 3 VDD 4 NOT USED 5 VSS
6 PWR 7 PWR 8 PWR 9 GND 10 + 5V OUT
11 TDI 12 GND 13 GND 14 GND 15 USB +
16 AGND 17 AGND 18 VDD 19 NOT USED 20 VSS
21 PWR 22 PWR 23 PWR 24 + 65V 25 + 3.3V OUT
26 TCK 27 GND 28 GND 29 GND 30 USB 31 AGND 32 AGND 33 VDD 34 NOT USED 35 VSS
36 PWR 37 PWR 38 PWR 39 GND 40 TDO
41 TMS 42 GND 43 GND 44 GND - -
* Typical value, that may vary according to the camera model.
AGND: Analogical Ground
VDD: + 19V *
VSS: -17V *
PWR: Power supply
GND: Ground
TDO/TDI/TCK/TMS: JTAG signals for I/O Processors
Note: All signals are LVTTL compatible, except the analogical ones.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
26 PIN USER PORT CONNECTOR
1 3.3V OUT 2 PAO 3 PA1
4 PA2 5 PA3 6 PA4
7 PA5 8 PA6 9 PA7
10 PB0 11 PB1 12 PB2
13 PB3 14 PB4 15 PB5
16 PB6 17 PB7 18 IN AD0
19 IN AD1 20 IN AD2 21 IN AD3
22 SHUTTER IN 23 TRIGGER INPUT 24 TRIGGER OUTPUT
25 SHUTTER OUTPUT 26 GND -
PA[0:7]: Bidirectional parallel port reserved for user.
PB[0:7]: bidirectional parallel port reserved for user.
IN AD[0:3]: Analogical Input 2.5V
GND: Ground
Note: All signals are LVTTL compatible, except the analogical ones.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
MOUNTING OR REPLACING FILTERS
CHROMA optionally manages a set of 6 or 8 filters with 25mm diameter and max. 5mm thickness. In
addition to the filters on the wheel, a ninth filter can be directly mounted on the external adapter.
This filter is generally used to block Infra-Red emission.
The following diagram shows the line the light follows before reaching the sensor.
To gain access to any of the internal filters the first
thing you need to do is to remove the
photographic adapter.
After removing the adapter, take out (if
present) the Infra-Red stop. Then get
hold of the perforation and, with an
upward movement, pull out the plug.
Now you should have access to the
internal filters.
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
We advise you to loosely fit the screw to avoid deformation of the O-Ring.
Use a small screwdriver to remove a filter, being
careful not to damage the filter.
In order to mount a new filter in the wheel, you
first need to remove the three clamping screws.
You can then place the filter in its proper place
and tighten the screws again with the o-ring. In
order to execute this operation, we strongly
recommend the use of “stamp” tweezers with a
hooked end, holding the screw in the tweezers
in one hand and the screwdriver in the othe
r
hand.
We also suggest using a clean, well-lit
table and, if possible, fine lattice gloves o
r
similar to avoid leaving fingerprints on the
mechanical or optical parts of the
camera.
When you need to dust the filters we advise
using filtered compressed air made specifically
for the cleaning and maintenance of
cameras; alternatively, you may use a special
photographer’s brush.
In order to remove fingerprints or stains, use
Kodak lens cleaning paper.
Latex gloves
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
OPTICAL WINDOW CLEANING
Both the optical window and the CCD cleaning are carried out in the clean room through a 30magnifying power microscope.
This procedure removes any dust which may cause spots to appear on the images you have taken.
These spots increase in particular when the focal ratio gets wider.
In other words, an image may not show any marks at f/5.6, which, however, can be clearly noted
at f/32 because of a geometrical problem of projection.
Due to the shutter elapsed time, the external surface of the optical window may gather dust
particles that can be easily removed.
In order to do so, we recommend the use of a compressed air cylinder
designed specifically for optical cleaning.
Attention !!! There are similar products that, instead of using
compressed air, use fluids containing liquefiable gases : at ambient
pressure they quickly gassify, thus causing a compressed air effect.
Absolutely do NOT use these products : they may cause persistant
marks or rings on the windows.
A product we recommend is DUST-OFF by EDMUND-OPTICS.
Thanks to DUST-OFF (or other similar products) it is very easy to remove microparticles : keep the
shutter open for a few seconds (via the camera control program) and spray some air blast. We
kindly advise against using cloths, optical paper and cleaning liquids because the dirt will only mix
up or even increase, which may cause damage to the coa ti ng of the optical window !
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
SPECIFICATIONS
MODEL
ARRAY
FORMAT (HxV)
PIXEL (HxV)
mm
SIZE (HxV)
mm
FWC
ke
-
DARK
CURRENT
e-/pixel-s @ -
50C
QE @
450, 550, 650
nm
FILL FACTOR
%
C035 768x512 9x9 6.9x4.6 100 0.5 55, 67, 82 100
C100 512x512 20x20 10.2x10.2 500 12.5 35, 55, 58 100
C130 1536x1024 9x9 13.8x9.2 100 0.6 50, 67, 75 100
C150 2184x1472 6.8x6.8 14.85x10.26
55 0.5 60, 75, 82 100
C250 3326x2504 5.4x5.4 17.96x13.52 25.5 3.5 45, 57, 48 100
C500 3072x2048 9x9 27.65x18.48 100 0.5 40, 55, 64 100
The Quantum Efficiency, Full Well Capacity and Dark Current values are to be considered typical.
Readout speed 4 Mpix/s Integrated filter-wheel (opt) ** 6-8 positions
A/D Converter 16 bit Max total noise (typ)
15e
-
Partial CCD reading Programmable Binning from 1x1 to 8x8 o arbitrary
Interface USB 2.0 Mount 42x0.75
Spectral response 350 – 1000 nm Backfocus 25.2 mm
Cooling 40°C DT Shutter electromechanical
Exposure time from 10 ms to 9999 s CCD temperature control ± 0.01°C
Optical window * Fused silica, 1 mm Weight 1800 g
Power supply 230 V Max absorption 60 W
Dimension 155 x 134 x 62 mm Auxiliary port yes
* With double coating. On request, it can mount coating and/or double coating windows with non parallel
faces and windows in Beryllium with X-ray scintillator screen
** According to the model.
The standard system for CHROMA C4-DSP series includes:
assembled unit in light alloy with threaded 42x0.75 input;
1,8m USB link cable;
software for image grab and processing under Windows XP/VISTA/7;
230/115 V power supply;
case, manual with test rep o rt and 24 months warranty period.
Optionals:
RGB RGB interferential filters set, filters of 25 mm diameter
WEL
8-positions integrated filter wheel (6-positions for C500 model), filter
ø 25 mm
NIK-C Adapter for Nikon lens
MIN-C Adapter for 42x1 mm lens
TTC Adapter from 42x0.75 to C mount
CPA Front panel with C mount and back focus (the filter wheel cannot be placed)
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
TYPICAL SPECTRAL RESPONSE
The figure below shows the typical spectral response versus the wavelength (expressed in nm) for
the different CHROMA C4-DSP models.
Quantum efficiency of C035 model
standard version, version with micro-lens
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Quantum efficiency of C100 model
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Quantum efficiency of C130 model
standard version, version with micro-lens
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Quantum efficiency of C150 model
standard version, version with micro-lens
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Quantum efficiency of C250 model
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
Quantum efficiency of C500 model
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
INDEX
2
26 PIN USER PORT CONNECTOR ....................................................................................................17
4
44 PIN PARALLEL PORT CONNECTOR ............................................................................................16
C
CONNECTING THE CHROMA C4-DSP CCD CAMERA ....................................................................8
D
DETAIL OF THE CHROMA’S LOWER PANEL CONNECTORS ...........................................................15
I
INSTALLATION OF THE DRIVERS ......................................................................................................10
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................4
M
MOUNTING OR REPLACING FILTERS ..............................................................................................18
O
OPTICAL WINDOW CLEANING ......................................................................................................20
P
PERSONAL COMPUTER MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS .........................................................................6
PERSONAL COMPUTER RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS ..............................................................6
Q
Quantum efficiency of C035 model ............................................................................................22
Quantum efficiency of C100 model ............................................................................................23
Quantum efficiency of C130 model ............................................................................................24
Quantum efficiency of C150 model ............................................................................................25
Quantum efficiency of C250 model ............................................................................................26
Quantum efficiency of C500 model ............................................................................................27
S
SOFTWARE INSTALLATION PROCEDURE ...........................................................................................7
SPECIFICATIONS .............................................................................................................................21
T
TYPICAL SPECTRAL RESPONSE ........................................................................................................22
CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
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CHROMA C4-DSP user manual
2013 digital technology art s.r.l.
CONTACT
For further information, please contact us at:
Email: info@digitaltechnologyart.com
Web: www.digitaltechnologyart.com
Tel.: +39 050 711126
Fax: +39 050 715347
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