Image Acquisition

In this chapter we begin construction of a custom-built microscope for epifluorescence and transillumination imaging of cell culture samples.

We begin by explaining the basic components of a microscope and their layout. Then, we start the practical work by interfacing our microscope's camera with the computer, installing the necessary drivers and capture software. As you will see, a working camera will be essential for aligning the microscope's optical components.

Following this, we assemble our camera and tube lens into a simple, fixed focal length imaging system for imaging far away objects. We will align the camera and lens such that objects at infinity¹ will be imaged onto the camera.

Finally, we set up Micro-Manager to control our camera. Using Micro-Manager will allow us to design and execute complex microscopy acquisitions that we otherwise could not do with the camera's capture software.

1. The meaning of this phrase will be explained later in this chapter. For now, you can think of it as meaning objects that are far away. ↩