Page 298 - Fundamentals of Light Microscopy and Electronic Imaging

POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A CAMERA 281

• Determine the S/N ratio (see the text and exercise in the following chapter).
This is the most important test that can be performed to judge image quality.
It is imperative to perform this test for a camera that is to be used for sensi-
tive quantitative imaging.

Image acquisition/processing/analysis software
Because the convenience in using a camera is largely determined by the computer
platform and software, it is very important to examine the acquisition-processing-
analysis software. The software used to demonstrate a camera may not be the
most convenient. Whatever the selection, the software must have an extension
called a camera driver, which is required to operate a particular camera.

• Is the image acquisition menu convenient and easy to use, and does it control
the basic parameters of exposure time, binning, and gain?
• Is basic image processing available (histogram adjustment, gamma scaling,
contrast, sharpening adjustments) and are these easy to use?
• Is basic image analysis available (segmentation, data extraction, particle
counts, measurements of shapes and geometric parameters) and are these
easy to use?
• Does the software allow you to write customized scripts that might be
needed for special automated acquisition-processing-analysis operations?
• Can images be saved in TIFF, PICT, and other universal file formats so images
can be imported into other programs like Photoshop for further processing
and printing?