Binning on 3 and 4er cameras

[pluto.charon]

Dear all,

I am considering buying one of the 4er series of cameras, perhaps either the 414ex or the 460. I am very interested in photometry. The CCD used is said to have full well capacity of around 20k. How is the binning working? If its true binning, the maximum result should be 4 times 20K = 80K. Is this true?

And how is the binning done? Is this true "on the chip" binning? Or just a vertical binning on the chip followed by arithemtical binning by the software? Because this has a large influence on the read-out noise....


With best regards


puto.charon

[Andrew]

Hello Pluto!

It is true 'on chip' binning, but the full well capacity stays constant even when using binning.


Andrew

[pluto.charon]

Hi Andrew,

this i not fantastic news, but good news. Perfect it would be, if the full well capacity could be extended.....

if its true on chip binning, there should be only one singel read-out process per 2x2 pixels, and the read-out noise should be the same 5 e-

Thanks, waiting for ideas of other users....

pluto.charon

[james_screech]

I've been using a 414ex for photometry since December last year and can confirm that it is a nice low noise camera for that purpose. My measurements of the full well capacity though is about 16k with a read noise of 3.9 (unbinned), if that is of any help.

James