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

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

This camera can be used directly with MicroManager, which you can download and install on your computer. MicroManager can e used with just this camera or to control multiple components and functions on a microscope. 

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/