Establishing an imaging system to support a microscopy laboratory Original Research Article

When establishing an imaging system to support a microscopy laboratory, it is important to seek information from individuals who have knowledge of video, audio and computer equipment. The type of camera system purchased may depend upon the type of microscopy performed in the laboratory. Fluorescence microscopy will require a camera that is capable of operating at very low light levels. A digital camera will provide higher resolution than a video camera capable of only 470 or 750 lines of horizontal resolution. The operating platform (e.g., DOS, Windows, OS/2, Macintosh, UNIX, VAX/VMS) chosen for the imaging system may depend on the platform already existing in the laboratory or upon the programming expertise available. With any of these systems, purchase as much central processing unit (CPU) power and memory as is affordable, especially if 3-dimensional modeling is being planned. Once images have been obtained, they can be printed or shared with other researchers using network tools such as Mosaic.