Player One Uranus-C 3x3 and 4x4 binning issues

[PeterC65]

Hi Robin,

I will raise this with Player One. I think there are two hardware binning issues: 1) the lower than expected brightness levels of the background when 2x2 and 4x4 binning, and 2) the higher than expected number of hot pixels when 3x3 binning.

You mention that with software binning the camera is always outputting 1x1, so why is it that with 3x3 software binning there is a higher than expected number of hot pixels? The binning process in this case must be done in SharpCap.

I'll let you know what Player One have to say.

Peter

[admin]

Hi Peter,

just to clarify, the software binning is done by the PlayerOne camera control code (PlayerOneCamera.dll) that SharpCap uses, but Player One write the code for that. It's possible that there is some glitch in that code that applies to the 3x3 binning, or maybe some other reason for the hot pixels that we haven't thought of yet.

cheers,

Robin

[PeterC65]

Hi Robin,

OK. I've sent a message to Player One. I'll update this thread when I get a reply.

Thanks for your help.

Peter

[PeterC65]

Hi Robin,

I've had some initial feedback from Player One which explains the relative brightness of the different binning modes (and might affect how you handle them in SharpCap). The feedback is:
- The IMX585 sensor itself only provides 1x1 and 2x2 binning, and only average binning, not sum binning.
- The four hardware binning modes therefore operate as follows:
- Hardware 1x1 binning is 1x1 binning carried out by the sensor (i.e. no binning).
- Hardware 2x2 binning is 2x2 (average) binning carried out by the sensor. So the brightness is similar to hardware 1x1 binning.
- Hardware 3x3 binning is actually 3x3 software binning.
- Hardware 4x4 binning is 2x2 (average) binning carried out by the sensor followed by 2x2 sum software binning. So the brightness is similar to software 2x2 sum binning alone.
- The four software binning modes all operate the senor in 1x1 binning mode (i.e. no binning) and carry out average or sum binning at 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4 as appropriate.

Given the complications of hardware binning, I will just use software binning which operates as expected with regards to brightness. In SharpCap it might be best to remove the choice of hardware / software binning for the Uranus-C camera and just use software binning.

It would be interesting to know how the other IMX585 based camera manufacturers handle the hardware / software binning issue.

Player One are being very helpful and are still looking into the issue of excess hot pixels with 3x3 binning, which happens with both hardware and software binning. I'll add the outcome of that to this thread.

Peter

[MarMax]

Thank you for posting this information Peter.

I've also found Player One to be very responsive and helpful regarding their products.

2x on your suggestion to eliminate the hardware binning option. Knowing me, I'll forget about this by the time I try the Uranus-C in a higher binning mode and end up down the same path.

[admin]

Hi Peter,

yes, excellent information there and good customer support from PlayerOne. I also have one of their newer model cameras on the way to me (currently in Shanghai, but hopefully here by the end of the week). This should be one that supports hardware binning (but not the 585 sensor), so we can see if it behaves the same way.

I think there is a place for the hardware 2x2 and 4x4 binning modes as they should give a higher frame rate. Maybe rule out the 3x3 in hardware binning mode if it is really software binning on all cameras, I will see...

cheers,

Robin

[PeterC65]

Hi Robin,

For hardware binning, perhaps SharpCap should just support what the sensor can do, so just 1x1 and 2x2 binning, and just average mode.

3x3 binning is software not hardware binning. 4x4 binning is 2x2 hardware binning and therefore offers no advantage in terms of data rate, and it's a mixture of sum and average binning which would be hard to properly describe.

Peter