What is CCD camera?

A CCD camera is any type of digital camera with a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor. This includes the vast majority of consumer and professional still cameras, video cameras, security cameras, cell phone cameras and medical cameras. CCDs are very efficient, generally capturing about 70 percent of incident light, unlike photographic film which only responds to about two percent of incident light. CCDs are also sensitive to infrared light, which makes them ideal for night-vision surveillance cameras and astronomy applications. While some cameras use a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, the CCD is the most common type. Most CCD cameras use a single charge coupled device to collect image data, whether the camera is designed for monochromatic, color or infrared operation. In this case, light enters through the lens, is filtered and then focused onto the surface of a single photoelectric image sensor array. Many professional video cameras, known as "three-CCD" or "three-chip" cameras, contain three CCD arrays. With these, the incoming light is split by a prism into its red, green and blue components, each focused on its own CCD sensor. This improves color separation and increases light sensitivity, resulting in more accurate color shading in general and more detail in lowerlight situations. Fax machines, scanners and other types of linear-scan cameras use a one-dimensional CCD image sensor to gather data, moving either the sensor or the object being scanned in order to capture the entire image. Every other type of CCD camera uses a fixed two-dimensional area matrix. The CCD sensor is an array of coupled, photoactive capacitors which build up charges based on the intensity, duration and wavelength of the light being focused upon them. Once exposed to an image, the sensor's controller shifts the charge of each capacitor to its neighbor in the array. This creates a ripple effect across the whole matrix, shifting the last set of charges offchip to a separate digitizer; this digitizer converts them into numeric values to be stored in the camera's memory. How the CCD camera stores and retrieves image data typically affects the design of the system. The full-frame method uses the entire CCD for light collection and requires a mechanical shutter to prevent smearing when the image data is transferred off-chip. This design is ideal when collecting the most light and the best image is more important than cost, time and power consumption. The interline method uses every other column of the CCD to quickly store image charge data with a one-pixel shift, preventing smear and removing the need for a mechanical shutter at the cost of efficiency. Alternatively, the frame-transfer method can be implemented with an acceptable amount of smearing and no mechanical shutter. Frame-transfer utilizes half of the CCD for charge storage and retrieval, while the other half is accumulating a new image, thus it requires twice the amount of silicon to handle the same size image. Specialized CCD cameras are used in astronomy because they are sensitive to light wavelengths, from ultraviolet to infrared. They are so sensitive, in fact, that many extra steps must be taken to reduce the amount of image-distorting "noise," including cooling the CCD to liquid nitrogen temperatures. With the right amount of compensation and image processing, observatory-quality

astrophotography has become accessible to serious, dedicated amateurs armed with CCD camera equipment.

Working principle of a CCD camera:

Instead of exposing a photosensitive chemical known as film to a scene to create an imprinted image, most digital cameras use a charge-coupled device (CCD), an electronics instrument that creates a pixel map based on the electric charge generated when photons slam into a sensitive material. This phenomenon is called the photoelectric effect, and was elucidated by Albert Einstein in a famous 1905 paper. Less frequently used than a CCD is a complementary-metaloxide-semiconductor (CMOS). Because it is the digital camera mechanism in the minority, the CMOS will not be discussed in this article. The term CCD-based camera is sometimes used interchangeably with digital camera, because by its very nature the CCD-based camera takes digital camera pictures pictures with a certain pixel-by-pixel resolution that can be encoded digitally. Nowadays, we can transfer these files from a digital camera to many devices, including computers, screens, phones, and printers. A charge-coupled device is an integrated circuit, meaning it uses multiple semiconductor elements on a unified platform to achieve its goals. The active components of the charge-coupled device in a digital camera or other CCD-based camera are the capacitors. These are linked in a circuit, hence the term charge-coupled. A capacitor is a basic electronics device that stores a potential difference, or voltage, in the variance between two plates with equal but opposite electrical charges. A lens projects the image onto the CCDs. Each capacitor acquires a charge proportional to the brightness of incoming light. CCDs are not inherently color-sensitive, and to take color photos, a Bayer mask must be employed to selectively filter light into designated pixels based on color. Upon acquiring the charge, the capacitors begin passing their charge to adjacent capacitors in a charge-coupled, daisy-chain fashion. A register at the end of a capacitor array makes the appropriate measurements, and a 2D pixel map is created. Because their sensitivity to light is about 35 times that of a conventional camera, approaching the quantum limit, the digital camera is favored by event photographers and astrophotographers alike. Because of the lack of active chemical components, images on a digital camera do not need to be developed and are stored directly in the camera shortly after exposure.

What is Infrared digital camera?

An infrared digital camera is a type of photographic device that is capable of capturing images by using infrared light rather than relying on the visible light that is necessary for use of other types of cameras. This feature makes the infrared or IR camera ideal for use when there is little to no visible light to create and capture images. Cameras of this type are often used in military and law enforcement operations involving activities taking place at night or in areas with no real lighting. Sometimes called a thermal digital camera or a night vision digital camera, the infrared digital camera operates by making use of infrared radiation to create crisp, clear images that are either saved as digital snapshots or even short motion picture segments. Unlike the infrared cameras that were used until the latter years of the 20th century, contemporary IR cameras do not rely on the presence of film in order to capture images, making it possible to immediately view and make use of those electronically created captures. There are a number of scenarios in which an infrared digital camera may be of use. Both law enforcement and the military can make use of the cameras as part of the equipment used in covert operations requiring a great deal of discretion and secrecy. Astronomers sometimes make use of these types of cameras in conjunction with telescopes to capture images for further study. In some cases, firefighters can make use of infrared digital camera technology as a way to track movements and capture images in situations that are not conducive to the use of other types of camera equipment. Thanks to the night vision qualities of this type of camera, it is possible to obtain images in just about any possible setting. Businesses can also make use of infrared digital camera technology in a number of ways. Manufacturers can utilize the cameras to monitor the internal operations of production equipment as well as the electrical systems that provide the power for those machines. Cameras of this type are often part of the surveillance systems used in retail stores, around manufacturing plants, and in any location that houses some type of sensitive information. Since the cameras do not require visible light in order to function, they are ideal for use in monitoring activities during the night hours, without alerting anyone to the fact that images are being captured.

What is Infrared Photography(IR photography)?

Infrared photography is photography using a specific portion of the light spectrum which is invisible to the naked eye known as near infrared. A common misconception is that infrared photography and thermal imaging are the same thing. Though both of these techniques do use parts of the infrared spectrum, thermal imaging uses far infrared as opposed to near infrared and has entirely different applications. Used both as an art form and a hobby, infrared photography is also used in a variety of other fields. This method is used to create some unusual effects which differ considerably from conventional photography, particularly when used with post-production editing software.

Technological developments mean that infrared photography is widely used in astronomy, cosmology, and aerial photography, as well as medical and forensic science, and a number of other fields. A very small number of digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLRs) have been created for professional uses and fewer still are available to the average consumer. This is primarily because standard digital cameras do not always cope very well with infrared photography as of 2011, making the few that are available are incredibly expensive. More popular options for most photographers involve the use of infrared lenses or filters which can be placed on the camera so that infrared images can be captured easily. Invisible to the naked eye, the infrared light can lead to some very interesting photographic effects, but, from an artistic or photographic enthusiast perspective, it can pose a very challenging past time. Even an experienced infrared photographer cannot take a shot with any degree of certainty regarding how the picture will turn out. This is because the light used to capture the image cannot be seen with the naked eye, and the filters used to capture the infrared light also filter out the majority of the remaining light spectrum. When using infrared photography, skies appear almost black as they reflect very little near infrared light, and foliage appears bright and almost white as it reflects a great deal of near infrared light. This means that, until the photo is processed, it is very difficult to predict the results. Color can be applied to the photograph using an additional colored filter or, more popularly, using a digital photo editing software. Post-production editing can be used to infuse the black and white infrared image with often unusual color choices. This technique is commonly used to create fantastical images and dreamscapes. Some cameras with infrared photography or night shot capabilities have a variety of false color schemes where a user can pre-set to add color before taking the shot, greatly reducing the need for editing.