Photometrics® Launches New LightSpeed™ Mode for the Evolve™ 512 Delta EMCCD Camera

Photometrics launched its new LightSpeed mode for the Evolve 512 Delta EMCCD Camera. LightSpeed mode maximizes image acquisition rates for dynamic live cell, high-speed events enabling frame rates of up to 2,400 frames per second (fps). The new mode, which will be featured on all new Evolve 512 Delta cameras, was unveiled at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting taking place in Washington, DC November 15-19.

Demanding high-speed fluorescent light applications such as super-resolution and neural imaging require a camera capable of collecting data at least twice the rate at which these events occur. The new LightSpeed mode featured on the Evolve 512 Delta delivers significant improvements in frame rates by digitizing only relevant pixel regions within the field of view (FOV).

For example, users that limit their FOV to a 128x128 pixel ROI can go from acquiring 243 fps to as much as 800 fps. When the Delta is in LightSpeed mode, every aspect of the camera is optimized for maximizing frame rate, including charge transport voltages, timing, pixel transfer rates and data pipelining, automatically and without requiring user intervention.

Competitor cameras that offer a similar feature limit users to preset regions. LightSpeed mode gives users complete control over selecting a targeted region for more flexibility. Photometrics’ DV2 Multichannel imaging system also takes advantage of LightSpeed for simultaneous, dual color super-resolution imaging. Using DV2 in LightSpeed mode captures events at the exact same time, eliminating the need to alternate frames between channels.

“We are noticing that more scientists are using light microscopy to capture high-speed, dynamic cellular events, particularly within the brain, yet most camera technologies cannot deliver on the high frame rates needed for these and other high-speed acquisition experiments, such as super-resolution,” said Rachit Mohindra, Photometrics product manager. “The Evolve 512 Delta’s new LightSpeed mode allows users to capture extremely high-speed events such as bursts of neural activity by maximizing transfer efficiency to deliver a four-fold increase in frame rates with specific regions."

The Evolve 512 Delta was specifically designed for super-resolution applications along with a range of other applications including neural imaging, SMF and Tracking, Live-cell Spinning Disk Confocal, SPIM, Intrinsic Imaging, FCWS, TIRF, FRET and FRAP. The camera is equipped with a 20MHz sensor and features <1e- (using EM gain) read noise and >90 percent quantum efficiency.