Read noise vs dark noise
Due to the asymmetric profile of the distribution curve there will only be a small number of the higher noise pixels as the distribution tails off. This simply means that 50% of the pixels will have a noise less than 1.2 e- and 50% of pixels will have a noise above 1.2 e. An example of an sCMOS read noise distribution is illustrated below. So, the read noise of a sCMOS sensor will therefore have a noise distribution (Figure 2).įigure 2: A representation of the read noise distribution for a sCMOS Sensor.įor sCMOS cameras the distribution of readout noise is commonly described as the median value of the distribution. Since every pixel has its own amplifier circuit for converting the electrons to a voltage signal, each pixel will have a slightly different read noise value. The final digitized signals are then read out sequentially at a pixel readout speed which normally can be set at different speeds.