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Frequently asked questions
Camera environmental ranges
Question: What are the environmental operating ranges of the cameras.
Answer: Operating temperature / relative humidity range
ImageQuant 300, 0 - 45oC / humidity range to be advised
ImageQuant 350, 0-30oC / 0-80%
ImageQuant ECL, 0 - 40oC / 20 - 80%
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Cooling system - ImageQuant 300 & ImageQuant 350
Question: The ImageQuant 350 and ImageQuant 300 systems are described as having “Thermoelectric Cooling”, how does this differ from the Peltier Cooling?
Answer: Thermoelectric cooling and Peltier cooling are different terms to describe the same feature.
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Cooling temperatures
Question: In general, it is thought that the lower the cooling temperature, the better the sensitivity of the camera. The specification of ImageQuant systems often show the cooling to be less than competitors.
Answer: Cooling on CCD cameras is required to reduce the noise inherent in the camera, thus reducing the background and increasing sensitivity.
Cooling temperature alone on the specification really does not mean much as the performance of the system depends on several factors. In general, you need to look at the read noise level, the dark current and full well capacity of the CCD chip.
Higher quality CCD cameras have inherently low noise, so cooling is not as important. This is the case with the ImageQuant ECL. We do not need to cool the system as much because we have a better quality camera. The read noise and dark current on our ImageQuant ECL is very low (11 e- rms and ~0.2 e-/p/s respectively) which are not significant.
These numbers are higher than some other cameras, even the ImageQuant 400, but they are not the same bit depth cameras, one is 12 and one is 16 bit. You have to compare the same type of cameras.
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Chemiluminescent detection mode
Question: What is the detection sensitivity of the chemiluminescence mode.
Answer: Actual sensitivity specification is hard to state as sensitivity is dependant on many variables. It can depend on what type of proteins, antibody (primary and secondary) and chemiluminescence substrates a researcher uses. It is also dependent on dilution levels of the proteins and antibodies. Optimization of chemiluminescence procedures are dependent on the needs of the user.
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Enviornmental conditions - ImageQuant 350
Question: What are the environmental operating conditions for the ImageQuant 350?
Answer: The ambient temperature for the ImageQuant 350 to be working in is 0 - 30 C ambient. The humidity range for the system to function properly is 0 - 80 % relative humidity
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Fixed lens vs. zoom lens
Question: What is the difference between a fixed lens and a manual zoom lens? When do I need to use a fixed lens and what is the benefit of using a fixed lens over using manual zoom lens?
Answer: Fixed lens has no zoom capability, so the field of view is fixed. Usually the fixed lens has a larger maximum f stop (aperture) to allow in more light, and is thus better for chemiluminescence applications.
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F-mount vs. C-mount
Question: What is the difference between the F-mount and C-mount, and the benefit of each type?
Answer: There is no benefit of one mount type over another. It is a matter of what fits on a camera and what is needed to be able to have a certain field of view size with a certain resolution camera.
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Kinetics - ImageQuant 350 & ImageQuant ECL
Question: Is it possible to do kinetics in FrameGrabber mode?
Answer: Yes you are able to do kinetics in the FrameGrabber mode. FrameGrabber mode allows you to have the system automatically capture images at preset exposure times, preset time delay between images, preset lighting sources, and preset filter choices. All you need to do is go and click on the FrameGrabber mode icon and set your parameters.
For the ImageQuant 350, there is a maximum of 64 frames (images) and a minimum of 1 frame that can be captured with each movie sequence.
For the ImageQuant ECL, there is a maximum of 50 frames (images) and a minimum of 1 frame that can be captured with each sequence.
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Maximum image area - ImageQuant 350 & Image Quant ECL
Question: What is the maximum image area?
Answer:
The maximum image size for the ImageQuant 350 is:
Zoom (28 - 70 mm F2.8): at 28mm the field of view is 29x29 cm.
Fixed (28mm F1.8):
When the sample is placed on the UV tray, the field of view is 29x29cm
When the sample is placed on position #1 of the tray, the field of view is 27x27cm When the sample is placed on Position #2 of the tray, the field of view is 20x20cm
Fixed (50mm F1.4):
When the sample is placed on position #1 on the tray, the measurement is exactly like the dimension of a 96-well microplate.
The maximum image size for the ImageQuant ECL™ is:
Zoom (24 - 70 mm zoom): at 24mm the field of view is 29x19.5 cm
Fixed (50mm F1.4):
When the sample is placed on the UV tray, the field of view is 14.5x10cm
When the sample is placed on white light table, the field of view is 13.5x9cm
When the sample is placed on Position #2 of the tray, the field of view is 10.5x7cm
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Regulated and absolute cooling
Question: What is the advantage of regulated and absolute cooling of some ImageQuant Imagers.
Answer: The main advantage is that our cooling temp is absolute and regulated. In most instances our competitors specification for cooling temperature is temperature from ambient. If one is doing long exposure times, or kinetics studies, having the temperature absolute and regulated is very important. Fluctuation of the ambient temperature will give fluctuating results.
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