Luminera Infinity 3-1 Review

Review of the Luminera Infinity 3-1

Up for review is a new Infinity 3-1 camera from Luminera. The camera is a new venture for Luminera as it uses a high grade monochrome Sony IXC-285 CCD. This is the same sensor used in many of the Photometrics CoolSNAP cameras, Hamamatsu ORCA cameras and many others. This is my first review, so comments on the formatting are encouraged!

What Comes with the Camera:

Luminera cameras are all shipped in the same packaging. A cardboard box with foam inserts. Included in the box are:

- Camera itself

- USB cable to connect the camera

- Software on CD

- Documentation

Installation and Setup

Installation of the software was a snap. After installing the CD and following the on screen prompts the CD installed the software for operation and the camera drivers. Once that was complete I plugged the camera in and it identified in windows correctly. The usual WHQL driver warning popped up.

Image Quality

The system uses an “analog” type gain slider, so no true ADU analysis was possible. The following measurements were performed with the Gain set to 1.02:

- Read Noise = 49 Counts

- Dark Current @ 4.5 Sec = 261 Counts or 58 counts per second

- Frame Rate = ~15fps (unable to measure sequence timestamp in software)

- The camera read out “0” count values regardless of setting the gain to maximum and exposing for 4.5 seconds. (Bias offset incorrect)

- Gain control appeared non-linear. Images were acquired with no light to the camera, with gain changes from ~1 to ~11. Results are graphed below.

Conclusions

This is a great low cost solution for less than bright fluorescence when used for non-quantitative imaging. In order for the system to be a truly quantitative unit the bias must produce no “0” count values for each gain state used. Ideally some data would be provided with the camera showing the Electron to ADU conversion factor for each gain state used. These negatives aren’t really bad per se’. Considering the market space Luminera targets this camera should fit the needs for higher sensitivity, good performance across the normal fluorescence wavelengths, small size and simple operation. On top of all that this is the

best-priced camera that uses the venerable Sony ICX-285 CCD.

-Austin