AXIOM Gamma Camera Concept Update

Romance with the Big Camera

Looking at this "behind the scenes" image from Romance on the High Seas, one wonders how people managed to create entire feature films whilst working under the limitations imposed by professional cinema technology in the 1940's and 1950's. Today we are used to carrying around greater processing power in our pockets than the fastest supercomputer (the Cray 1 from 1979) was capable of more than 30 years ago. Times have changed dramatically!

Behind the scenes on "Romance on the High Seas" (1947)

Camera Size Matters?

In our Build your dream camera survey, when asked about optimal camera enclosure size, 69% of responders have so far stated that camera size does not really matter, 27% prefer a small camera and 4% prefer a big camera. Our motto has always been "as small as possible, as big as necessary" and now we're in the process of evaluating different options to judge exactly "how big is necessary". Space for electronics is obviously one of the most crucial factors, however miniaturization poses a difficult problem for designers/developers due to the expenses involved with fitting more parts into the same space (requiring higher layer counts on printed circuit boards) and the added complexity that is connected to working with large numbers of small components. Another consideration that must be taken into account is the ease of repair-ability. Obviously, it is important that a camera is designed from the outset to withstand heavy usage in a variety of scenarios. However, accidents do happen, and when something goes wrong or the hardware is damaged, it is equally important to us that an open source camera can be repaired easily and with minimal costs in expenses.

On top of all of this, we've also started adapting our open modules concept to allow for more modularity on both the inside of the camera as well as on the front (making it easy to change lens mount/filters/image sensor). In doing so, we've started evaluating different enclosure sizes. The original concept drafted the camera head with only 8cm (width) x 8cm (height) dimensions. After testing a series of variations, we've come across the 10cm (width) x 11cm (height) form factor as a good balance, providing both compactness and the necessary space for the AXIOM's internal components. We want to stress that this size is not set in stone, and that we're continuing to evaluate these dimensions in greater detail.