Toshiba Imaging Systems - 3CCD HDTV Camera

IK-HD1 3CCD HDTV Camera

Toshiba Imaging Systems

Toshiba Imaging Systems Division has released a small high-definition camera head and ultra-compact control unit, the IK-HD1 3CCD HDTV Camera. Small (1.6 inches) and lightweight, the HD colour camera system is ideal for applications where size and weight are critical.

The affordable 3CCD (1/3-inch chip) interlace HD camera uses Toshiba’s sophisticated 3CCD prism block imaging technology, delivering true colour with sharp detail and bright contrast from the remarkably small camera head. Features include a C-mount lens flange, RS 232C serial interface, and multiple outputs including HD-SDI (SMPTE 292M), analog RGB or Y/Pb/Pr, making it very easy for integration.

It delivers 30fps for reality TV, specialty broadcast, scientific imaging and diagnostics, homeland security, and industrial video inspection applications.

Other features include 1920 x 1080 resolution, power requirements of 12 V DC and power consumption of only 10.3W, making this new IK-HD1 camera system an ideal solution for a variety of imaging needs. Accessories for the camera system include a 4mm or 15mm lens and camera cables in 3, 6, 10 or 30-meter lengths. Toshiba’s new, lightweight HD camera head is easy to mount on a performer, a helmet or hat, or in a confined space or tight corner. It can also be integrated into a larger system for imaging applications that require the flexibility of a very small HDTV camera package.

Latest 3CCD Camera - Jan 2008

January 10, 2008 – Irvine, CA – Toshiba Imaging Systems Division (www.cameras.toshiba.com), a leader in advanced 3-chip video imaging, announces the newest color camera in the IK-TF series, the IK-TF9H9U. The advanced, high resolution camera features a tiny remote head (32.6mm x 38.6mm x 41mm) that outputs 2048 Horizontal x 1536 Vertical pixels. Ideal for industrial imaging in confined spaces and easy to integrate into existing machine vision processes, the new camera system comes equipped with CameraLink® output, a C-mount, and two optional cable lengths (3 and 5 meters) for maximum flexibility.
The new high resolution, progressive scan IK-TF9H9U is based on Toshiba’s proprietary 3CCD prism block technology and offers frame rates of 20 frames per second (50 fps in partial scan mode). It also features 1/100 to 1/100,000 second electronic shuttering capability and one- or two-pulse triggering for advanced imaging tasks. Toshiba’s new lightweight remote head weighs only 65 grams and delivers true color and precision images with no image-jitter.
Applications include print inspection, food monitoring, microscopy, both scientific imaging and industrial microscopy, and other tasks that require a high resolution and tiny remote head color camera system. Affordable and available now in OEM quantities. For more information, please visit www.cameras.toshiba.com.

3CCD Camera Intro

Three-CCD or 3CCD is a term used to describe an imaging system employed by some still cameras, video cameras, telecine and camcorders. Three-CCD cameras have three separate charge-coupled devices (CCDs), each one taking a separate measurement of red, green, and blue light. Light coming into the lens is split by a trichroic prism assembly, which directs the appropriate wavelength ranges of light to their respective CCDs. Three-CCD cameras are generally regarded to provide superior image quality to cameras with only one CCD. By taking a separate reading of red, green, and blue values for each pixel, three-CCD cameras achieve much better precision than single-CCD cameras. Almost all single-CCD cameras use a bayer filter, which allows them to detect only one-third of the color information for each pixel. The other two-thirds must be interpolated with a demosaicing algorithm to 'fill in the gaps'.

The combination of the three sensors can be done in the following ways:

• Composite sampling, where the three sensors are perfectly aligned to avoid any color artifact when recombining the information from the three color planes
• Pixel shifting, where the three sensors are shifted by a fraction of a pixel. After recombining the information from the three sensors, higher spatial resolution can be achieved.^{[citation needed]} Pixel shifting can be horizontal only to provide higher horizontal resolution in standard resolution camera, or horizontal and vertical to provide high resolution image using standard resolution imager for example. The alignment of the three sensors can be achieved by micro mechanical movements of the sensors relative to each other.
• Arbitrary alignment, where the random alignment errors due to the optics are comparable to or larger than the pixel size.

Three-CCD cameras are generally more expensive than single-CCD cameras because they require three times as many elements to form the image detector, and because they require a precision color-separation beam-splitter optical assembly.

The concept of cameras using three image pickups, one for each primary color, was first developed for color photography on three glass plates in the late nineteenth century, and in the 1960s through 1980s was the dominant method to record color images in television, as other possibilities to record more than one color on the video camera tube were difficult.

Three-CCD cameras are often referred to as "three-chip" cameras; this term is actually more descriptive and inclusive, since it includes cameras that use CMOS active pixel sensors instead of CCDs.

3CCD Cameras

Toshiba IK-TF9H9U 3CCD Camera

Toshiba Imaging Systems Division

Toshiba Imaging Systems Division has launched a colour camera in its IK-TF series, the IK-TF9H9U.

The camera features a tiny remote head (32.6 x 38.6 x 41mm) that outputs 2048 x 1536 pixels.

Ideal for industrial imaging in confined spaces and easy to integrate into existing machine vision processes, the new camera system comes equipped with a Camera Link output, a C-mount, and two optional cable lengths (three and five metres) for maximum flexibility.

The new high resolution, progressive scan IK-TF9H9U is based on Toshiba’s proprietary 3CCD prism block technology and offers frame rates of 20fps (50fps in partial scan mode). It also features 1/100 to 1/100,000 second electronic shuttering capability and one- or two-pulse triggering for advanced imaging tasks. Toshiba’s new lightweight remote head weighs only 65g and delivers true colour and precision images with no image-jitter.