Hamamatsu Photonics has launched the new ORCA-R2 ‘Rapid Readout’ digital CCD camera. Building on the success of the established ORCA AG and based on the same ER-150 progressive scan interline 1344 x 1024 pixel CCD, the new model is designed for demanding, non-EM CCD applications in the visible to NIR spectra.

The ORCA-R2 has a normal scan speed of 14 MHz and a rapid scan speed of 28 MHz which deliver full resolution 1,37 megapixel images at 8,5 frames/second and 16,2 frames/second respectively. With binning, the device has a maximum frame rate of 64,3 frames/second. Data output is via Firewire IEEE 1394b.

The ER-150 CCD is enclosed in a hermetic vacuum-sealed head, the same as the previous ORCA-AG, but air-cooling has been improved to -35°C and the ORCA-R2 also comes with water-cooling connections as standard, for operation at -40°C for applications where low-level signals mean that a tighter control of thermal noise is required.

Digitisation can be carried out in either 12 or 16 bit A-D converters, and image enhancement is possible using analog gain and offset controls.

The ORCA-R2 is suited to applications such as fluorescence microscopy, where a balance of speed, sensitivity and resolution are required.