Article: New Thinking About Scientific Cameras

By Butch Moomaw, Biological Product Manager, Hamamatsu Corporation

In today's dynamic and budget conscious scientific research environment, it is important to offer and purchase equipment that meets current needs efficiently and with an eye to the rapid pace at which newer products are introduced. The scientific camera market is no exception, and in fact may be considered a prime example. In years past, a scientific camera's effective lifetime was 10 years or more, but that is no longer the case. The dizzying pace of developments in molecular labeling, contrast techniques, optical improvements, and detector breakthroughs mean much shorter effective lifetimes for detectors. When coupled with budget limitations and even reductions, the thinking about price and performance ratios has to be revised as well.