Princeton Camera

Program to convert SPE files to TIFF is here

Several computer programs are used to access the Princeton camera, which is connected to the Image computer. Below is the desktop with all the programs opened:

The important components will be discussed below.

Start by pressing the "Start_Epics" icon, toward the upperleft of the desktop. This will load the Roper server, Exceed, Medm, the ccd.adl main window, and WinView/32.

The camera can be accessed using WinView alone, but greatest flexibility is obtained if you use the Epics interface. Starting this way enables Epics PVs to be used to control the camera, which allows automation using IDL.

When Epics is started, the MEDM window entitled "Area Detector Control - X17B2_CCD:det1:" is displayed, as below:

The important parameters to set here are,

1. Setup - as above (check temperature)
2. Readout - as above
3. Shutter - as above, (there is no shutter)
4. Collect -
• Exposure time - set here
• # frames - this is the number of frames in a movie - set it here to either 1 (for single images) or a larger number
• Frame type - normal
• Acquire - pressing this button acquires the image. Normally, you would use the IDL interface, below, to do this
5. File

• File path is where the images will be saved. You can use a folder on the local computer (F:) or on the server (T:). In either case, the folder must already exist.
• Base filename - the filename is composed of the base + a number + the extension. The Last filename (at the bottom) is an example
• Next file - the number of the next file
• Filename format - %s is the base filename, the number is 4 characters, and the extension is .SPE
  • Setting the extension to .SPE is the default. If you want to save your files as TIF or TIFF, change it here, and also change it in the WinView setup (below)
• Comments 1 through 5 should be entered here. When saved, they are concatenated into one text line
• Corrections are all "No"
• Auto save probably should be "No", although you can autosave if you wish
• Save file can be done here, but there advantages to use the IDL interface.

After WinView is started, you need to configure the software. Some of the paramters are passed from the EPICS window. The important configuration windows are shown below:

Select 'Use Full Chip" or "Use Region of Interest" here. Accumulations should be set to 1. DO NOT set exposure time or number of images (number of frames in the movie) here, set them in in the ccd.adl window, shown above

1. See description above
2. Data File - If you set auto-save here, then the file information here will be used. It is better to not set it here, but set it in the ccd.adl window, above.
3. ROI setup - select the Region of Interest here, either typing in the numbers, or using the mouse. Be sure to STORE it. See another example below.
4. Data Corrections - make no changes in this window
5. ADC - make no changes in this window
6. Timing - use Free Run and Fast Mode for normal imaging. If you are using a program which synchronizes data collection with something else, then select External Sync, as shown below
7. Processes - make no changes in this window
8. Save/Load - saves all these changes.

To change the type of image file, go to Setup in the main WinView/32 window:

then select General...:

You may choose WinX Data (*.spe), TIFF (16 bit) or TIFF (8 bit). Only SPE-format files have all the experimental header data, including date and time image was collected. If you save your files as SPE, you can later convert to TIFF by using the IDL program SPE-to-TIFF (see top of this page).

This is opened with the ImageFileLabel IDL shortcut. When you press "Get Image Info", the information from the right-hand column of the ccd.adl window will be copied. If you need to change it, go back to that window, change it there, and press the Get Image Info button again. When you press "Save Image/Print Label", the image will be saved in the format set in the Data File tab of WinView. All the text information shown here will be put in the standard label, and the information added to the "AllLabels.txt" file located in the main data directory on T:

This is opened with the Notebooktext IDL shortcut. Anything you type in the box, along with a time stamp, is added to the "AllLabels.txt" file located in the main data directory on T: