Photonics Dictionary

A light-tight box that receives light from an object or scene and focuses it to form an image on a light-sensitive material or a detector. The camera generally contains a lens of variable aperture...

The term sometimes used to describe the sequential arrangement of components in a video system -- from transmitter to receiver.

Camera Link HS (high speed) is a standard developed for high-speed digital data transmission in machine vision and industrial imaging applications. It is an evolution of the original Camera Link...

A portable instrument that uses a four-sided reflecting prism or set of mirrors to create a duplicate image of an object on a horizontal sheet, on which outlines of the subject may be traced by hand.

Primary image memory that is built into a digital camera and stores the digital images generated by the camera's image sensor. figure

A forerunner of the modern camera, this instrument had a focusable lens that produced a sharp image on the enclosure opposite the aperture but had no photosensitive material to record it.

The use of the photographic process to produce precision copies of an original image that are many times smaller in size. One of its many applications is in microcircuitry.

An apparatus, designed for use with a camera, that is used to rapidly open the path from lens to film, to maintain the opening throughout exposure and to close the opening in rapid succession. The...

The electron beam tube of a television camera that converts an optical image into a pattern of electrostatic charges and then scans the pattern to produce a corresponding electronic signal for...

The storage surface of an electron beam tube that is scanned by an electron beam to generate an output-signal current corresponding to the charge-density pattern stored.

Camera designed for the imaging of the earth's surface in order to obtain high quality aerial images

A camera designed to record astronomical objects (e.g., stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies) and their spectra.

A wide-field camera based on the classic Schmidt optical system used to photograph Earth-orbiting satellites.

A camera that uses multiple exposures to record the trajectory of an ordnance from a ground-level position.

The simplest, most inexpensive type of camera, which is shaped as an oblong or square box, containing the simplest lens, shutter and viewfinder, as well as the most elementary means of registering...

A camera system for recording lightning.

A CCD camera, or charge-coupled device camera, is a type of digital camera that utilizes a CCD image sensor to capture and record images. CCD cameras are widely used in various applications,...

CID, or charge injection device, camera refers to a type of imaging device that utilizes a specific kind of solid-state image sensor technology. CID cameras are capable of capturing images in a...

A camera capable of making successive exposures on a continuous film driven by accurately spaced sprocket holes (a motion picture camera).

A CMOS camera refers to an imaging device that employs a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor to capture digital images. CMOS cameras have become ubiquitous due to their low...

A camera mounted on an optical bench with an easel to hold the material to be copied. Magnification can be varied over a wide range by sliding the camera and easel.

A digital camera is a device that captures and records still images or video in digital format. Unlike traditional film cameras, which use photographic film to capture and store images, digital...

A type of streak camera that uses film wrapped around a drum, which moves at a constant speed to record the changing shape of a short-lived event, such as a lightning flash.

A special evacuated camera equipped with means for holding a specimen and bombarding it with a sharply focused beam of electrons. A cylindrical film is placed around the specimen to record the...

An EMCCD (electron-multiplying charge-coupled device) camera is a type of scientific camera specifically designed for low-light imaging applications that require high sensitivity and fast readout...

A camera that records its images electrostatically on plastic tape; used in situations where radiation would have an adverse effect on regular photographic film.

A fixed-focus camera designed to record the ink impression of fingerprints that have been impressed on a card or form for record purposes.

An automatic camera that can record reduced images of documents at a rate of up to 30,000 documents per hour by having the film and documents move synchronously in opposite directions.

A camera with a very high aperture lens or mirror system for photographing x-ray fluorescent screen images, mainly to save the cost of large pieces of 11 x 14-in. film. The film may be 4 x 5-in. cut...

A high-speed cine camera that produces discrete frames of a continuous event as opposed to the flow photographic record of a streak camera.

A camera used in scintillation recording to make a visible record of the distribution and relative concentration of radioactive tracer elements in a sample that is undergoing scanning.

A camera accurately aligned to a weapons system to provide a photographic record of system performance.

A mount that uses a floating suspension and a motor-driven gyroscope to keep a motion picture or still camera at a set angle even though the camera is mounted in a place that subjects it to heavy...

A high-speed motion camera, also known as a high-speed camera or slow-motion camera, is a specialized imaging device designed to capture fast-moving events or phenomena at extremely high frame rates....

A camera designed to record at rates exceeding 50 fps. For frame rates up to about 500 fps, an ordinary pull-down mechanism can be used. From 500 to 1000 fps, the film must be moved continuously, the...

A still camera with a shutter capable of opening for a time as short as a fraction of a microsecond. An electronically operated Kerr cell often is employed.

A camera system used to form a high-precision hologram of the subject on a photographic plate. It contains a high-power pulsed laser as the illuminating source.

A holographic camera, also known as a holographic imaging system or holographic recorder, is a specialized device used to capture 3D holographic images of objects or scenes. Unlike conventional...

A hyperspectral imaging camera is a sophisticated imaging device capable of capturing and processing data across a wide range of wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum, typically from...

A camera that uses an image converter tube in such a way that voltage waveforms applied to internal electrodes cause the original image to be switched on and off very rapidly, thus offering time...

A camera system in which the image formed on the fluorescent screen of an image converter tube in the system is recorded by photography or direct contact printing from the face of the tube.

An InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) camera is a type of imaging device that utilizes InGaAs sensors to capture images in the near-infrared (NIR) spectrum. InGaAs is a semiconductor material that is...

An infrared camera, also known as a thermal imaging camera or IR camera, is a device that captures and visualizes the infrared radiation emitted by objects, revealing temperature variations across...

An intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera is an advanced imaging device that combines the capabilities of both an image intensifier and a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor to achieve...

Astronomical detector consisting of a photocathode isolated from the target by a coin value from which electrons are focused on a nuclear emission, producing tracks on the emission. Track density can...

A line-scan camera, also known as a line-scan image sensor or linear array camera, is a type of digital camera designed to capture images one line or row of pixels at a time, rather than a full...

A camera used to reduce originals onto film for easy storage. There are two basic types: one in which the film is fixed during exposure, and one in which the film is exposed while moving past an...

A mid-infrared camera is a type of imaging device designed to capture images in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range, typically spanning wavelengths from approximately 3 to 12 µm. This...

A camera equipped with a lens and a long length of perforated film, the latter being moved intermittently between exposures by a pulldown claw or sprocket. A rotating shutter serves to cut off the...

A group of four cameras loaded with different combinations of filters and film (one is usually an infrared color film) to permit the recording of the same subject in four separate regions of the...