Dynamic Range

Dynamic Range

Mode	Gain Setting	Minimum Time Between Reset Commands or Read Commands	Time Between Start Exposure of Row 0 to Start Exposure of Row 2047
LDR	Low == High	10.26us	21ms
HDR	Low != High	20.52us	42ms

Dynamic range is a ratio of the largest signal a system can process, above the noise floor of that system. As the noise floor is essentially constant, the gain values are directly related to the maximum signal strength that can be reported. This has the effect of reporting brighter images with high gain, at a lower quality.

Low gain images are high quality with average lighting.
High gain images are lower quality with brighter lighting.

The goal of taking both a low and high gain image is to combine them post-process to give better detail to images with a wide range of lighting. High Dynamic Range describes the intention of achieving a wide range of varying luminance.

LDR and HDR Imaging Modes
In LDR mode, the low gain and high gain settings are the same value corresponding to even and odd rows. Each “line” time of the sensor contains two row reads and two row resets that results in a single image.
In HDR mode, the low and high gain settings are different values. Every pixel has both the low gain and high gain applied to it. Each “line” time of the sensor contains one row read and one row reset. The sensor reads out both the low gain image and the high gain image. In addition, the software displays the calculated (merged or combined) high dynamic range image to increase the accuracy at the low light level without sacrificing resolution of higher light levels.

The time between reset commands (and likewise between read commands) depends if the array is using the Low Dynamic Range (LDR) mode or the High Dynamic Range (HDR). The time between the start of exposure of the first row and the last row are mode dependent as shown below.

Finger Lakes Instrumentation
200 Tech Park Drive
Rochester NY 14623 USA

Phone: 585-624-3760
Email: sales@flicamera.com
Web: https://flicamera.com