Which is more efficient Image or Canvas when drawing pixels

How-to
1

My question is which is better for displaying an image made of pixels.

I am building a laser microscope and was wondering if it would be more efficient to plot pixels live to the canvas as the coordinates are scanned by the laser or if it would be better to use an array of the data and store it as an image which is then reloaded once a second or so.

My thinking is that I don´t really need to redraw the whole canvas after each pixel and could maybe save draw cycles doing it the that way. Or should I still use the canvas and limit the draw cycles to groups of pixels by checking the length of an array?

I will be using an ESP32 and 3.8" TFT for the preview and then save and transfer the image to a PC either live or on completion.

2

Canvases and images are almost identical under-the-hood; the canvas is just more convenient for drawing on. I’d just use a canvas.

3

Thanks. and great work you guys did on this. It looks amazing and I am so happy that there are people that are so dedicated working on this.