IN THIS CHAPTER
Working principle of CCD and CMOS sensors
Mosaic filters in front of the sensor
Pixels, resolution and sensors
Collect more photons by choosing the right camera
adapter
Chapter 11
Digital Microscope Cameras
Seeing is believing … but sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes there are
norms and regulations, telling you that you need to document your findings
properly. Or perhaps you need proof for a criminal investigation that
must be shown at court to help decide if somebody is guilty or not. Or you are
just so proud of your microscopic image that you want to show it to all your
friends and colleagues. Maybe even apply for the Nobel Prize with a nice little
project? In all these cases, you must somehow take a picture of your findings,
keep it and archive it.
What You Expect From a Microscope
Camera
Camera technology is as diverse as your imaging and documentation tasks. Which
microscope camera you choose for your job depends heavily on the application
you want to document. That’s easy if you have the one and only application, day
in, day out. But if you need a camera for multiple applications, then your choice
will be different. Thinking about what you want, you may come up with a small
footprint, high megapixel count, high read-out speed, and low noise. Sorry to
disappoint
you. You will never find all that, together, unless someone comes up
with a way to break the laws of physics. Unfortunately, you will always have to