A Guide to Using a Digital Microscope Camera

Digital microscope cameras are a must for microscopic image capture, storage and editing. Since improvement in their design and technology began, image capturing in all fields of study have never been the same. Digital images provide so much more compared to analog images – sharper pictures, more defined lines, clearer backgrounds, more accurate colors and minimal distortion. No wonder digital microscope cameras have become an indispensable tool in image capture microscopy. Here is a guide on how to use a digital microscope camera:

Choosing your camera.
With the kind of technology available in most digital microscope cameras today, it might be tempting to get the camera with the best features. However, you must first consider the kind of optical system your microscope has. The digital microscope camera will only take as good a picture as the microscope and if they are not compatible, not even the high resolution power of your digital camera will do.

Remember that the significant lens in this setup is that of the microscope’s since the digital microscope camera runs on a CCD chip or the charge coupled device, a sensor that converts the analog image from the microscope to the digital image the camera produces. Of course, you can always rely on software later but that sort of defeats the purpose of using a digital camera since editing the image will take more work. If the optics of the microscope is good, so will the image the digital microscope camera will capture.

Consider the configuration.
There are minimum configurations required for the capture and editing of digital images taken by digital microscope cameras. This includes a Pentium processor of at least 120 MHz (more, if large files of images are expected to be captured and edited), at least 1 GB of hard drive for storage, 540 kb cache memory, minimum 2 MB video and about 20 MB RAM. With the kind of capacities most computers come equipped with these days, these requirements shouldn’t be a problem.

Check your computer’s operating system if it is capable of running the software for the digital microscope camera. This is important if you want to be able to use your camera to store and edit digital images and to ensure you won’t have any problems in speeding up the processing later.

Mounting the digital microscope camera
Operating the microscope – any microscope, for that matter – isn’t the biggest challenge in a microscope system. It is the mounting of the accessories such as the digital microscope camera that can present a bit of a problem. To ensure that you can use the system effectively, check the type of mount available in your microscope.

Some digital camera experts recommend a C-mount on the microscope because this is the type that works best with a digital microscope camera. It is also the mount that allows a digital camera to be mounted easily, regardless of the direction, so it can be used with almost any type of microscope, including inverted types. Larger mounts can also offer the capture of a larger viewing area, allowing you to take a picture of the whole image.

Mind the light.
When using a digital microscope camera, it’s important that the microscope’s built in illumination is enough. Generally, microscope light is either direct light or reflected light with a control mechanism to regulate the intensity. Before capturing the image, ensure that there is sufficient illumination.

In this case, this is usually a brighter-than-usual illumination to the naked eye. This is important because photographic images require bright light, something that your eyes will not appreciate. If the light is easy on your eyes, you’re probably doing it wrong. Dimming the light to prevent eye strain will result to a dim picture, which will in turn, result to more editing work.

Although you can try to enhance a bad image with computer software, remember that there is a chance that you can only do so much. Sophisticated software used for enhancing dim digital images is quite expensive and unless you want to spend more in this area, it’s best to try to stick to providing a bright light when capturing images instead.

Also, there are two problems that usually come up when capturing images using a digital microscope camera: glare and color. If the specimen is reflecting too much light, you can correct the problem by using polarizing density filters. To correct the color, you can use corrective filters or adjust them on the settings on your computer.

Focusing
Now that you have the lighting in place, begin viewing the image using the microscope. Adjust all the magnification and eyepiece settings and make sure the image is clear. Next, make more adjustments on the C-mount if necessary. Try to achieve the sharpest and clearest image possible. Once you have set up everything on the microscope and on the digital microscope camera, you can begin capturing digital images.