Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/14

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: do your homework, please!
From: "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:57:18 +0200

From: Alexey Merz <alexey@webcom.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 1999 05:47
Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: do your homework, please!


> Nope. The electon signal accumulated in the CCD potential
> well has to be amplified prior to "counting" in the A/D
> converter.

No matter how much you amplify it, you still get discrete levels.  Every
additional electronic adds one indivisible unit charge.

> Digital implies the lack of a physical model as
> you've said.

Yes.

> Pixel intensity is NOT transferred as a straight
> count of electrons but as an analog signal (roughly)
> proportional to the electron count, to the A/D
> converter.

That's because it is an analog signal, not digital data.

> Thus a CCD camera is NOT a purely digital device.

No camera is a purely digital device.  The endpoints of all image-processing
systems are always analog.

> Again you use the term "best" in a nonsensical fashion.
> The "best" charge ratio is the one most suited to the
> specific application at hand.

The more resolution (depth of modulation) you want, the higher the ratio has to
be.

> The relationship between photons entering a well
> and electrons stored in that well is relatively
> linear (one of the best characteristics of CCDs) ...

> ... but that relationship does NOT correspond to
> "F-stops" because the SLOPE of the line defining
> this relationship varies depending on the CCD and
> how it is operated.

I wasn't talking about the rest of the chain.

For that matter, I wasn't bringing noise or other implementation details into
consideration.

  -- Anthony