Using a digital microscope camera ProgRes® C14plus in Biology at California State University Northridge, CA, USA, Biology Department – electron microscopy lab

The main aim of the application

• integration of Jenoptik’s high resolution ProgRes® camera for transmission electron microscopy
• to work in a brightly lit room
• to eliminate darkroom work
• to capture as many images as possible with a minimum of expense and waste
• to work in a large group setting using monitors for class use and demonstration use
• to provide the highest educational and research value possible to our students and faculty

The requirements to the microscope camera

• ability to gather good, high-resolution images quickly in a digital format
• high dynamic range
• sensitive to low-light
• easy software interface

The workstation & environment

Microscope:        
• transmission electron microscope
• light microscope Leica SP5 confocal
• light microscope Nikon 80i wit phase, DIC, polarized light

System:    
• MAC computers

The solution

The camera is powered through the USB/Firewire connection to the computer so only one cable is needed. Images can be captured very quickly and are easily annotated with arrows, letters and scale bars for use in publication. Students can then take their images home right away using a thumb drive to copy saved images from the computers. Images look great in Powerpoint presentations and as figures for articles. One very surprising and very nice feature we discovered while using the ProgRes® camera is that it allows for very low beam illumination usage. This allows us to scan and image specimens under a very low beam current which prevents any beam damage/shrinking/or perforating of specimens with the beam - something that is very common in EM labs. It also allows us to scan quickly, using the large iMac screen (live images are updated very quickly to the screen), so large groups can easily see the images and we do not have to completely darken the room which is typical of most if not all TEM rooms. This alone is a great feature! We can actually leave the door to the EM room open and students/faculty can come and go as they please without blinding users when the door is opened. We have retained film capability with this TEM if ultra high resolution images need to be taken but to date, all of our users are quite satisfied with the resolution and contrast provided by the ProgRes® C14plus camera.

The advantages

The powerful ProgRes® CapturePro software included in scope of delivery has a very easy to use and intuitive software interface. The ProgRes® C14plus provides brilliant, high-resolution images and connects easily to the MacBook Pro laptops and iMacs used by the electron microscope lab of the biological department. Multiple images may be captured rapidly and adjusted/annotated later when the microscope is off. One obvious benefit is the fact that the microscope room does not have to be darkened, films do not have to be loaded and removed in the dark and we now spend no time in the darkroom.  We envision the day when the darkroom can be converted to a image processing room with several computers and high resolution printers/poster printers can be set up. There is no need to use the darkroom or film anymore for the TEM.

The description of the application

A high sensitivity, high resolution CCD based, Mac-compatible firewire camera has been successfully integrated into the column of a Zeiss 10 Transmission electron microscope.  This allows for the rapid collection of high resolution images, suitable for publication, with a minimum of beam damage to specimens. Furthermore, the need for using single plate films, darkroom processing, darkroom printing, and computer scanning of images has been eliminated.

Special features / tricks / hints

Video port on the TEM must have a good responsive phosphorescent screen and clean optics.

Mark Armitage, M.S., Ed.S., Supervisor Electron Microscopy Laboratory,
California State University Northridge, Biology Department, CA, USA