At 06:43 PM 6/17/97 +0000, "@helix.mgh.harvard.edu wrote:
>We've got SenSys from Photometrics (tel. (520) 889-9933) and attached it
>to Axiovert. Approx $15K with a software package (IP Lab Spectrum).
>Excellent stuff. The company is currently upgrading these cameras with
>new sets of adapters.
>>Alex Bogdanov
>abogdanov at helix.mgh.harvard.edu>
On the subject of cooled CCD cameras, we envy Dr. Bogdanov's success with
the SenSys. We've had our Sensys 0400 for less than a year, during which it
has had to go back to Photometrics no less than 3 times for repair, each
time for the same problem -- the window on the chip starts to leak, so that
atmospheric moisture seeps in (even though San Diego is not considered a
particularly humid environment) and condenses when the chip gets cold. Each
drop shows up on the image, just like viewing through a rain-streaked
window. Also, there is a recurrent but intermittent bug in the Photometrics
software so that roughly half the times one switches it on, the images are
crazy with only about one bit gray scale instead of 12 bits. Fortunately
Photometrics at least fixes the moisture problem for free each time, but
after three tries I fear they can't solve either problem permanently.
Fortunately other software, e.g. Axon Instruments' Imaging Workbench, reads
the chip more reliably. Caveat emptor!
Roger Y. Tsien
rtsien at ucsd.edu
tel. +1(619)534-4891, fax +1(619)534-5270
Howard Hughes Med. Inst., Univ. Calif. San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0647
