QImaging has released the Rolera Bolt Scientific CMOS camera - a high-speed imaging device that the company claims is less than half the cost of most scientific CMOS and CCD cameras.
The Rolera Bolt is the latest addition to QImaging's high-speed, high-sensitivity range of cameras that also includes the recently released Rolera Thunder.
Designed for low-light imaging, the Rolera Bolt is especially suitable for biomedical imaging as more research moves towards live-cell and whole-organism studies at video frame rates.
This includes motility studies where dynamic events (such as zebrafish heart contractions and C elegans tracking) need to be captured with high spatial and temporal resolution in order to provide the maximum amount of information to the researcher.
The Rolera Bolt is also suitable for life science applications using fluorescent labelling, such as immunofluorescence, live-cell fluorescent imaging, ratiometric imaging, high-speed calcium imaging, time-lapse fluorescence and fluorescence in-situ hybridisation.
According to QImaging, the Rolera Bolt's cost makes scientific CMOS performance accessible to price-sensitive markets, including machine vision and industrial imaging.
The Rolera Bolt's technical features include a high-quantum-efficiency 1.3-megapixel sensor (3.63 x 3.63um pixel size) combined with low read noise (~3e-) and high-speed (30fps full resolution) simultaneous readout.
Using Pixel-Freeze Technology, dark current is reduced to nearly undetectable levels, eliminating the need for an expensive Peltier cooling system.
This allows for a lightweight, compact design with minimal power requirements, enabling the Rolera Bolt to utilise a single USB 2.0 connection for both power and 12-bit data transfer.
Because of its smaller pixel size, the Rolera Bolt can be used with lower magnifications to achieve increased signal and field of view.
A dynamic range of approximately 4,500:1 allows the camera to quantitatively display dim and bright signals in a single image.
Using the standard QCam API and QImaging software development kit, the Rolera Bolt integrates with high-end OEM systems and customised software applications.
