Digital microscopes

A high quality digital microscope is a variation of a traditional optical microscope that uses optics and a digital camera to output an image to a monitor, sometimes by means of software running on a computer. A digital microscope often has its own in-built LED light source, and differs from an optical microscope in that there is not always a provision to observe the sample directly through an eyepiece, but still often asked.

2D and 3D tiling
2D and 3D tiling, also known as stitching or creating a panoramic, can now be done with the more advanced digital microscope systems. In 2D tiling the image is automatically tiled together seamlessly in real-time by moving the XY stage. 3D tiling combines the XY stage movement of 2D tiling with the Z-axis movement of 3D measurement to create a 3D panoramic.

2D measurement
Most of the high-end digital microscope systems have the ability to measure samples in 2D. The measurements are done onscreen by measuring the distance from pixel to pixel. This allows for length, width, diagonal, and circle measurements as well as much more. Some systems are even capable of counting particles.

3D measurement
3D measurement is achieved with a digital microscope by image stacking. Using a step motor, the system takes images from the lowest focal plane in the field of view to the highest focal plane. Then it reconstructs theses images into a 3D model based on contrast to give a 3D color image of the sample. From these 3D model measurements can be made, but their accuracy is based on the step motor and depth of field of the lens.