"Binning" is defined as reading neighbouring pixel and combining them directly from the CCD of the camera. Binning has an advantage in the following situation and may further be used in various applications.Relative binning mode per camera is described in each camera specification.
— Low Light Operation: Combining neighboring pixel increases the area of the CCD. Increased image area achieves receipt of more light but lowers resolution. More signals within one pixel causes possible noise reduction.
— High Frame Rate Operation : Vertical Binning accelerates the speed of CCD data transfer rate by combining multiple vertical line per single horizontal line of the CCD resulting a significant gain in frame rate.
Vertical Binning
Vertical binning combines CCD pixels neighboring vertically to a single pixel increasing light sensitivity of the camera. Since CCD acquire data horizontally, multiple lines are acquired in case of vertical binning which results significant speed gain. Thus the vertical resolution is reduced and due to the increased CCD area over exposure may occur which may require adjustment.
Horizontal Binning
Horizontal binning combines CCD pixel neighboring horizontally to a single pixel increasing light sensitivity of the camera. However due to the nature of CCD transferring each horizontal line at a time there is no speed gain in horizontal binning. However light sensitivity increase may occur, due to the increased CCD area similar to vertical binning and horizontal resolution is reduced
Full Binning
Full binning mode can be obtained by combining vertical and horizontal binning. First horizontal pixels are combined followed by a vertical conjunction of these pixels. This would increase light sensitivity by a factor of 4 in case of 2 x 2 ( Horizontal x Vertical ) binning. However as described above, only vertical binning would result speed gain while horizontal binning gives no speed gain thus speed gain results as similar to vertical binning. Resolution in this mode would be reduced both horizontally and vertically.
