Scientific Camera Selection Guide

Thorlabs offers four families of scientific cameras: Zelux™, Kiralux^®, Quantalux^®, and Scientific CCD. Zelux cameras are designed for general-purpose imaging and provide high imaging performance while maintaining a small footprint. Kiralux cameras have CMOS sensors in monochrome, color, NIR-enhanced, or polarization-sensitive versions and are available in compact, passively cooled housings; the CC505MU camera incorporates a hermetically sealed, TE-cooled housing. The polarization-sensitive Kiralux camera incorporates an integrated micropolarizer array that, when used with our ThorCam™ software package, captures images that illustrate degree of linear polarization, azimuth, and intensity at the pixel level. Our Quantalux monochrome sCMOS cameras feature high dynamic range combined with extremely low read noise for low-light applications. They are available in either a compact, passively cooled housing or a hermetically sealed, TE-cooled housing. We also offer scientific CCD cameras with a variety of features, including versions optimized for operation at UV, visible, or NIR wavelengths; fast-frame-rate cameras; TE-cooled or non-cooled housings; and versions with the sensor face plate removed. The tables below provide a summary of our camera offerings.

Compact Scientific Cameras
Camera Type	Zelux™ CMOS	Kiralux® CMOS					Quantalux® sCMOS
	1.6 MP	1.3 MP	2.3 MP	5 MP	8.9 MP	12.3 MP	2.1 MP
Item #	Monochrome: CS165MUa Color: CS165CUa	Mono.: CS135MU Color: CS135CU NIR-Enhanced Mono.: CS135MUN	Mono.: CS235MU Color: CS235CU	Mono., Passive Cooling: CS505MU Mono., Active Cooling: CC505MU Color: CS505CU Polarization: CS505MUP	Mono.: CS895MU Color: CS895CU	Mono.: CS126MU Color: CS126CU	Monochrome, Passive Cooling: CS2100M-USB Active Cooling: CC215MU
Product Photos (Click to Enlarge)
Electronic Shutter	Global Shutter	Global Shutter					Rolling Shutterb
Sensor Type	CMOS	CMOS					sCMOS
Number of Pixels (H x V)	1440 x 1080	1280 x 1024	1920 x 1200	2448 x 2048	4096 x 2160	4096 x 3000	1920 x 1080
Pixel Size	3.45 µm x 3.45 µm	4.8 µm x 4.8 µm	5.86 µm x 5.86 µm	3.45 µm x 3.45 µm			5.04 µm x 5.04 µm
Optical Format	1/2.9" (6.2 mm Diag.)	1/2" (7.76 mm Diag.)	1/1.2" (13.4 mm Diag.)	2/3" (11 mm Diag.)	1" (16 mm Diag.)	1.1" (17.5 mm Diag.)	2/3" (11 mm Diag.)
Peak Quantum Efficiency (Click for Plot)	Monochrome: 69% at 575 nm Color: Click for Plot	Monochrome: 59% at 550 nm Color: Click for Plot NIR: 60% at 600 nm	Monochrome: 78% at 500 nm Color: Click for Plot	Monochrome & Polarization: 72% (525 to 580 nm) Color: Click for Plot	Monochrome: 72% (525 to 580 nm) Color: Click for Plot	Monochrome: 72% (525 to 580 nm) Color: Click for Plot	Monochrome: 61% (at 600 nm)
Max Frame Rate (Full Sensor)	34.8 fps	92.3 fps	39.7 fps	35 fps	20.8 fps	14.6 fps	50 fps
Read Noise	<4.0 e- RMS	<7.0 e- RMS	<7.0 e- RMS	<2.5 e- RMS			<1 e- Median RMS; <1.5 e- RMS
Digital Output	10 Bit (Max)	10 Bit (Max)	12 Bit (Max)				16 Bit (Max)
PC Interface	USB 3.0
Available Fanless Cooling	N/A	N/A	N/A	0 °C at 20 °C Ambient (CC505MU Only)	N/A		0 °C at 20 °C Ambient (CC215MU Only)
Housing Size (Click for Details)	0.59" x 1.72" x 1.86" (15.0 x 43.7 x 47.2 mm3)	Passively Cooled CMOS Camera TE-Cooled CMOS Camera					Passively Cooled sCMOS Camera TE-Cooled sCMOS Camera
Typical Applications	General Purpose Imaging, Brightfield Microscopy, Machine Vision & Robotics, UAV, Drone, & Handheld Imaging, Inspection, Monitoring	VIS/NIR Imaging, Electrophysiology/Brain Slice Imaging, Materials Inspection, Multispectral Imaging, Ophthalmology/Retinal Imaging, Vascular Imaging, Laser Speckle Imaging, Semiconductor Inspection, Fluorescence Microscopy, Brightfield Microscopy	Fluorescence Microscopy, Immunohistochemistry, Machine Vision, Inspection, General Purpose Imaging	Mono. & Color: Fluorescence Microscopy, Immunohistochemistry, Machine Vision & Inspection Polarization: Machine Vision & Inspection, Transparent Material Detection, Surface Reflection Reduction	Fluorescence Microscopy, Immunohistochemistry, Large FOV Slide Imaging, Machine Vision, Inspection		Fluorescence Microscopy, VIS/NIR Imaging, Quantum Dots, Autofluorescence, Materials Inspection, Multispectral Imaging

• These item numbers are representative of the Zelux family. These cameras are available with or without external hardware triggers.
• Rolling Shutter with Equal Exposure Pulse (EEP) Mode for Synchronizing the Camera and Light Sources for Even Illumination

Scientific CCD Cameras
Camera Type	Fast Frame Rate VGA CCD		1.4 MP CCD	4 MP CCD	8 MP CCD
Item # Prefix	Monochrome: 340M	UV-Enhanced Monochrome: 340UV	Monochrome: 1501M Color: 1501C	Monochrome: 4070M Color: 4070C	Monochrome: 8051M Color: 8051C	Monochrome, No Sensor Face Plate: S805MU
Product Photo (Click to Enlarge)
Electronic Shutter	Global Shutter
Sensor Type	CCD
Number of Pixels (H x V)	640 x 480		1392 x 1040	2048 x 2048	3296 x 2472
Pixel Size	7.4 µm x 7.4 µm		6.45 µm x 6.45 µm	7.4 µm x 7.4 µm	5.5 µm x 5.5 µm
Optical Format	1/3" (5.92 mm Diagonal)		2/3" (11 mm Diagonal)	4/3" (21.4 mm Diagonal)	4/3" (22 mm Diagonal)
Peak QE (Click for Plot)	55% at 500 nm	10% at 485 nm	Monochrome: 60% at 500 nm Color: Click for Plot	Monochrome: 52% at 500 nm Color: Click for Plot	Monochrome: 51% at 460 nm Color: Click for Plot	51% at 460 nm
Max Frame Rate (Full Sensor)	200.7 fps (at 40 MHz Dual-Tap Readout)		23 fps (at 40 MHz Single-Tap Readout)	25.8 fps (at 40 MHz Quad-Tap Readout)a	17.1 fps (at 40 MHz Quad-Tap Readout)b	17.1 fps (at 40 MHz Quad-Tap Readout)
Read Noise	<15 e- at 20 MHz		<7 e- at 20 MHz (Standard Models) <6 e- at 20 MHz (-TE Models)	<12 e- at 20 MHz	<10 e- at 20 MHz
Digital Output (Max)	14 Bitc		14 Bit	14 Bitc		14 Bit
Available Fanless Cooling	Passive Thermal Management		-20 °C at 20 °C Ambient Temperature		-10 °C at 20 °C Ambient	Passive Thermal Management
Available PC Interfaces	USB 3.0 or Gigabit Ethernet					USB 3.0
Housing Dimensions (Click for Details)	Non-Cooled Scientific CCD Camera		Cooled Scientific CCD Camera Non-Cooled Scientific CCD Camera			No Face Plate Scientific CCD Camera
Typical Applications	Ca++ Ion Imaging, Particle Tracking, Flow Cytometry, SEM/EBSD, UV Inspection		Fluorescence Microscopy, VIS/NIR Imaging, Quantum Dots, Multispectral Imaging, Immunohistochemistry (IHC), Retinal Imaging	Fluorescence Microscopy, Transmitted Light Microscopy, Whole-Slide Microscopy, Electron Microscopy (TEM/SEM), Inspection, Material Sciences	Fluorescence Microscopy, Whole-Slide Microscopy, Large FOV Slide Imaging, Histopathology, Inspection, Multispectral Imaging, Immunohistochemistry (IHC)	Beam Profiling & Characterization, Interferometry, VCSEL Inspection, Quantitative Phase-Contrast Microscopy, Ptychography, Digital Holographic Microscopy

• Limited to 13 fps at 40 MHz dual-tap readout for Gigabit Ethernet cameras; quad-tap readout is unavailable for Gigabit Ethernet cameras.
• Limited to 8.5 fps at 40 MHz dual-tap readout for Gigabit Ethernet cameras; quad-tap readout is unavailable for Gigabit Ethernet cameras.
• Gigabit Ethernet cameras operating in dual-tap readout mode are limited to 12-bit digital output.