Concepts in Digital Imaging Technology Digital Camera Readout
and Frame Rates Recent imaging applications in widefield
fluorescence and confocal microscopy have increasingly centered
on the demanding requirements of recording rapid transient
dynamic processes that may be associated with a very small
photon signal, and which often can only be studied in living
cells or tissues. Technological advances in producing highly
specific fluorescent labels and antibodies, as well as dramatic
improvements in camera, laser, and computer hardware have
contributed to many breakthrough research accomplishments in a
number of fields. As high-performance camera systems, typically
employing low-noise cooled charge-coupled device (CCD)
detectors, have become more capable of capturing even relatively
weak signals at video rates and higher, certain performance
factors necessarily take on greater importance. A camera
system's readout rate and frame rate are interrelated parameters
that are crucial to the ability of the system to r