widening access to digital light microscopy

Many legacy light microscopes are limited to viewing samples by eye and therefore miss out on the opportunity to utilise imaging processing, which can benefit from a wealth of open-source resources. 

We have developed openEyecam, a simple, cost-effective kit  (components <~£200) to replace the eyepiece with an adapter and a digital camera. 

Image data acquisition can be controlled using MicroManager, a widely  used open-source microscopy platform that we use to control hardware in all our openScopes instrumentation. The acquired images may be saved in a convenient file format, e.g., JPEG or OME-TIFF, and can then be analysed and processed further using many open-source or proprietary software tools. 

These components were selected for low cost and have been tested together for this application However, they are reasonably generic and may be substituted by other components available from local/global retailers. 

1x C to CS mount adapter (5mm spacer with C-mount thread): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005382163574.html

1x USB3 Type-A to Micro-B cable: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006143640800.html

1x C-mount to eyepiece adapter with 0.5x or 0.4x magnification: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32815578346.html

Micro-Manager compatible cameras we have tested

1x Basler 108275 colour CMOS camera, 3845x2160, 45fps: https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/products/detail/basler-inc/108275/13245661 

This camera requires a reasonably powerful computer to run at full frame rate.

OR

1x Player One Astronomy Mars II C colour CMOS camera, 1936x1100, 110fps https://www.specialistcameras.co.uk/player-one-mars-c-ii-imx662-usb30-colour-camera

This camera has a smaller sensor and will run faster on a lower specified computer.

These cameras can be used directly with Micro-Manager, which you can download and install on your computer. Micro-Manager can be used with just a camera, or to control multiple components and functions on a microscope. 

In order for the camera to be recognised by Micro-Manager, you must first install the manufacturer’s own software development kit (SDK) for controlling the camera. The versions of Micro-Manager and the SDK must be the correct ones in order to make sure they can communicate with each other properly. The versions we recommend are as follows:

For the Basler 108275 camera:

You will require the Basler Pylon SDK, specifically version 7.1.0, which can be acquired here (you may need to search further down the page to find the correct version): https://www.baslerweb.com/en/downloads/software/?downloadCategory.values.label.data=pylon 

Micro-Manger nightly build 2.0.3_20240714: https://download.micro-manager.org/nightly/2.0/Windows/MMSetup_64bit_2.0.3_20240714.exe - this will be compatible with the Basler 7.1.0 SDK

For the Player One MARS-C II camera: 

You will require the PlayerOne camera driver, the PlayerOne camera SDK and the PlayerOne filterwheel SDK, and to copy some files to the Micro-Manager folder. Detailed instructions are available here: https://micro-manager.org/PlayerOne

The camera should be compatible with any recent nightly build, but has been verified to work with Micro-Manger nightly build 2.0.3_20251208 https://download.micro-manager.org/nightly/2.0/Windows/MMSetup_64bit_2.0.3_20251208.exe 

For both cameras:

Once the manufacturer software has been installed, you can then plug in the camera and you should test that the camera runs using the manufacturer software – this will verify the suitable device drivers are installed and working properly. 

An instructional video showing the installation and setup of a camera is available at https://youtu.be/F6I2HmyDNZU

There is a huge range of imaging processing software tools available and we list here just a few that we have used. Note that ImageJ and napari are open-source image processing platforms that enable users to take advantage of a range of plug-ins contributed by the wider microscopy community that provide various functionalities operating within stable environments that are familiar to users across the world.

FIJI (ImageJ): https://fiji.sc/

napari: https://napari.org/stable/

Icy: https://icy.bioimageanalysis.org/