Principles and Techniques of Veterinary and AH Extension

SINGLE CCD VS 3-CCD VIDEO CAMERAS

• Sensor is the heart of digital imaging devices - digital cameras and camcorders. Generally, the digital image capture devices are equipped with CCD (Charge coupled device) or CMOS (Complementary metal oxide semi conductor) sensor that helps convert light into electrical signals that represents the image and can be digitally stored. The captured image quality vary by the CCD size and also the CCD system. Currently the are two most widely used systems, viz., Single CCD and 3-CCD system.

Single CCD system

• This system is commonly used in consumer level camcorders and has been widely used in digital cameras. Because CCD can only sense the luminance, it has to rely on a Color Filter Array (CFA) to mask out all other colors except the specific color for each pixel to be passed-thru.

3-CCD System

• 3-CCD system uses a beam splitting prism to separate light passing through the lens into 3 individual components (RGB - Red, green and blue) and each is sent to its own CCD. This technology reproduces color in great fidelity and high accuracy. Normally 3-CCD system is used in professional range products except in few consumer level products.

Single CCD system uses color approximation method to reproduce color but 3-CCD captures full RGB information for each pixel. The difference is significant in poor lighting environment where 3-CCD system usually sense color more accurately. If producing good quality videos with the highest color fidelity is the goal, a 3-CCD system is the best choice