The Image Analysis lab is located in Rooom SN-3097 of the Science building.  There are 2 acquisition set ups in this room.  The first is a macro system consisting of a camera and light box.  The second is a micro system consisting of an Olympus BX51 microscope. The microscope is caple of both bright field and epifluorescence imaging.

Each system is equipped with a dedicated PC which is loaded with Acquisition and Analysis software.

Macro System                                                                                        


The  photo at left shows a microscope slide placed on the light box under the camera. The field of view is manipulated by raising and lowering the camera.  You will have to manually refocus the camera whenever you change the focal length.  At maximum magnification, a coronal rat brain section  will fill the field of view. For higher magnification , the microscope  is needed.

It is a fairly simple system to use.  Turn on the camera and remove the lens cap. Turn on the light box. Turn on the computer and  click in the  desktop icon for the acquisition software, Qcapture.  Click on Acquire/Video Digital to get the control panel . The control panel allows you to"preview" the output from the camera  and "snap" pictures. The quality of the pictures will improve as you become adept at adjusting focus, aperture, white balance , exposure time...
When focussing, watch the nuber displayed at the bottom of the preview panel. When this number reaches it maximum value the focus is probably optimal.












The picture at the right shows the output from the camera and lightbox above. The  camera has been lowered so that a single coronal section of rat brain almost fills the frame. 3 panels can be seen on the monitor. the panel at the far right is the control panel . Towards the center is the preview panel and on the left is the snapshot panel (the image that is ultimately saved). The control panel allows you to set the white balance, exposure time...
Below is a close-up image of the camera lens showing where to make adjustments for focus and aperture.








Micro System
At left is a photograph of the Olympus BX51 moicroscope with camera.  The slender black  rod to the right of the eyepieces selects whether the image is sent to the eyepieces, the camera or both. You must select one of the latter  two options to view the image on the computer monitor.

The position of controls for the bright field light source power and  brightness are indicated.


The camera is a very expensive instrument.  If you are not familiar microscopes, seek instruction.




The acquisition software for the Olympus microscope is similar to that for camera. Double click thet Image Pro Plus icon on the desktop. Select Acquire/Video Digital Capture. The control panel is almost identical to the one above.  The focus indicator at the bottom of the preview panel performs like that in the QCapture software.