Digital microscopy is the field of using digital microscopes to magnify. But why choose a digital microscope? You'll find all the answers here.
More and more businesses are looking towards digital microscopy when they want to optimize their visual inspection process.
But what is digital microscopy, what are the benefits and how do you even get started? If that’s what you’re wondering as well, this blogpost is for you.
In this blogpost, we’ll go through:
Digital microscopy is the technical field of using digital microscopes to magnify an object or area of an object that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Digital microscopy thus falls within the overall field of microscopy.
To understand how digital microscopy differs from other fields of microscopy, we need to look closer at what a digital microscope is.
We actually have a full guide on digital microscopes, but the short answer is: A digital microscope is a microscope that uses a camera to magnify a sample rather than the eyepiece typically used by traditional magnification systems.
Instead, the sample is displayed on a screen which has many ergonomic and financial benefits compared to other magnification systems and creates easier processes for analyzing and documenting your findings. But more on that later.
The key benefit of digital microscopy is the use of a camera to inspect an object rather than an eyepiece. The object then needs to be displayed on a monitor, which can be either built-in or connected to the microscope via computer or separate monitor.
Regardless of which option you choose, using a monitor instead creates a much more comfortable setup for the operator because they don’t have to bend their necks to look downwards through an eyepiece. Focusing on ergonomics can have significant impact on the health of the operator, their productivity as well as the company’s bottom line.
Other benefits include:
First and foremost, it’s important to note that digital microscopy is an umbrella term that covers different types of digital microscopes. Which one you should choose will depend on your needs. And the first step in getting started with digital microscope is therefore to identify these needs.
To find the right microscope, there’s especially four things you need to consider:
Different digital microscopes have different magnification capabilities and figuring out how much magnification you need will therefore help you determine which microscope is right for you.
As an example, a handheld USB microscope typically offers 20x-300x magnification while a more advanced digital microscope with a separate monitor, like the ones offered by TAGARNO, can magnify up to 600x.
Similarly, the image quality provided by the different types of microscopes will vary and it’s important that you keep this in mind when starting your digital microscopy journey.
As an example, a USB microscope with USB 2.0 ports will compress the image originally captured by the microscope before displaying it on a screen. In comparison, a USB microscope with USB 3.0 or a digital microscope with HDMI outputs will not compress the image, resulting in significantly better and more detailed images than USB microscopes with USB 2.0 ports.
Further, not all digital microscopes have auto focus or 60 frames per second. While auto focus ensures that the magnified object stays in focus as you’re moving it around, 60 frames per second eliminates lag as you’re moving the sample around.
With that in mind, it’s crucial that you consider how the technical specifications of different types of microscopes will impact your inspections.
More and more companies find it necessary to document their findings during visual inspections. For this process, you not only need a microscope that produces high quality images that clearly shows the identified issue that you want to document. You also need a microscope where documenting in itself is an easy process.
On some microscopes, you need specialized drivers to document findings. However, TAGARNO’s digital microscopes use generic drivers and the included Windows OS Camera app when you’re using the USB 3.0 ports.
For selected microscopes, you don’t even need the Windows OS Camera app. In these cases, all you need to do is press a button on the control box and a photo is automatically captured. It’s that easy and will make a tremendous difference if you need to document often and are used to lengthier processes for doing so.
Lastly, a benefit of digital microscopy is the features and software that you can use as part of your inspections. Depending on which features and software you choose, they can improve your efficiency, the accuracy of your inspections, consistency across your inspections, etc.
Different manufacturers will offer different features and it’s important that you identify what your goals are and find a microscope with complimentary features that will help you achieve those goals.
Which microscope is best for digital microscopy will depend on your needs. If you haven’t identified these yet, we recommend that you revisit the “How to get started with digital microscopy” section of this blogpost and answer the four questions listed here.
If you’ve already identified your needs, however, and are looking for a microscope with anywhere from 1.3 to 600x magnification, with non-compressed images and an excellent live image without any lag as you’re manipulating the sample, you’ll benefit greatly from starting your digital microscopy journey with a TAGARNO microscope.
If you also want to document your findings and use various features and software, we recommend exploring the microscopes below:
If you don’t which microscope is the right one for you, you can also read this blogpost, download a product brochure or use our product configurator.
The best digital microscopes
See the best digital microscopes from TAGARNO. This guide will tell you the pros and cons of the different microscopes and help you choose the right one.
The best digital microscopes
Download free brochure or e-book
There's many benefits from creating an ergonomic microscope workstation. Here's what to expect and how to get started.
Explore our free e-books and product brochures
Find the right microscope for you with configurator
With the TAGARNO product configurator, we help you find the right microscope for you based on 4 simple questions.
Digital microscopes solution
Fill out the form below to get in contact with the TAGARNO sales team. If you have a support question, please visit our Support page.
You are also welcome to contact a person from the TAGARNO sales team directly
