Extension of the possibilities of a commercial digital camera in detecting spatial intensity distribution of laser radiation

Performance capabilities of commercial digital cameras are demonstrated by the example of a Canon EOS 400D camera in measuring and detecting spatial distributions of laser radiation intensity. It is shown that software extraction of linear data expands the linear dynamic range of the camera by a factor greater than 10, up to 58 dB. Basic measurement characteristics of the camera are obtained in the regime of linear data extraction: the radiometric function, deviation from linearity, dynamic range, temporal and spatial noises (both dark and those depending on the signal value). The parameters obtained correspond to those of technical measuring cameras.