When discussing microscopy, many assume that it’s all about magnification. However, in today’s world of digitization, it’s no surprise that microscopes too have undergone a digital transformation. In fact, there’s now a wider range of microscopes available to choose from – including digital microscopes. You can even use software for digital microscopes to take your inspections, product quality and efficiency to new heights.
This post will take you through:
Digital microscope software refers to features on a digital microscope that go beyond just magnification and what can be controlled on a regular webcam like zoom level, gain and iris. Further, the features must be controlled on the microscope itself or a processing unit, but not on a separate computer. A digital microscope, or its processing unit, thus needs to have an embedded computer before being able to offer digital microscope software.
This also means that digital microscope software is only available on selected digital microscope models, like TAGARNO FRONT, MOVE, TREND and PRESTIGE, while products like USB microscopes are not considered to offer digital microscope software.
As mentioned earlier, digital microscope software refers to features that go beyond magnification and basic digital camera settings. However, once we’ve passed that threshold, there’s an almost endless variety of digital microscope software available that you can choose from. Let’s have a look at some examples.
Compared to traditional microscopes with an eyepiece, it’s incredibly easy to take photos of your work with a digital microscope. Thanks to the digital microscope software, all it takes is a press of button on a control box and the photo is saved. You’ll also be able to choose which image format to use, store metadata tags data (EXIF data) with the photo, name the photo as you’re saving it, reopen it directly on the microscope, and more.
If you’re inspecting uneven samples, you can even use digital microscope software to increase the focus depth of the digital microscope and create one ultra-sharp photo where the entire sample is in focus at the same time.
With traditional microscopes, settings need to be adjusted manually. This sample preparation time is not only a highly specialized process that requires extensive knowledge about the microscope as well as the sample at hand. It also takes time away from doing actual inspections and relies on the accuracy of the individual operator.
Using digital microscope software, however, you can save your most used settings as a preset. By recalling the preset, the digital microscope will automatically adjust itself to the settings saved in the preset, significantly reducing sample preparation time, and creating consistency across all inspections.
Instead of measuring a sample with a caliper, you can measure it directly on the digital microscope using highly accurate measurement software. You can even highlight faulty areas of the sample and add annotations before saving a photo for documentation purposes.
With digital microscope software, you can count specks and impurities in a sample automatically. This is a much faster and accurate process than counting them manually. Plus, the data from the analysis can be exported and analyzed further to detect early signs of production trends or issues.
With an Open API, you can integrate your digital microscope with other systems or applications to exchange data as part of performing or documenting your work.
This makes it easy for software developers and programmers to enable data exchange and collaboration between multiple systems without the involvement of the digital microscope manufacturer. Using an Open API is therefore a cost-effective way to create a customized solution.
Considering the wide range of digital microscope software that you can choose from, the advantages will vary greatly depending on which software you use and what your starting point is.
If we start with a feature like presets, you’ll be able to eliminate manual and time-consuming processes, in turn improving your efficiency. Similarly, if you’re using the software for digital microscopes to take high quality photos of your work, your business will benefit solely because of the improved quality of the documentation material.
With more advanced digital microscope software, however, you can improve the traceability of your samples and create a better foundation for discussions with remote colleagues or supply chain partners by forwarding the captured photos and using these to discuss any identified issues. The improved documentation material will thus allow you to adjust your production more accurately and/or quicker than you are used to.
Other advantages of using digital microscope software include letting the software do the analysis for you to create more accurate inspections and analyses. The improved accuracy can in turn improve your overall product quality and reduce claim rates.
Lastly, you can use the digital microscope software to create a customized setup without asking the original manufacturer to develop it specifically for you. Instead, you can cost-effectively create your own setup that matches your needs seamlessly.
A key benefit of using digital microscope software is its generic applicability. In other words: It can be used on a wide range of samples and across industries.
However, due to the specialized nature of certain industries and processes, you can find a list of relevant digital microscope software for different industries below.
During quality control in electronics, and exit control especially, comparing PCBs to images of golden samples is an excellent way of giving a product the final GO or NO GO. With the Image comparison app, you can create your own image library of golden samples and display them as an overlay or next to your current sample for easy comparisons.
With 3µm accuracy, the Measurement app can perform highly accurate measurements directly on the digital microscope and is a great alternative to operators manually measuring samples with calipers. Choose between a wide range of measurement tools and add annotations before saving a photo of your completed measurements.
Take your image documentation game to the next level with the Focus stacking app that’ll increase the focus depth of the digital microscope to create one ultra-sharp photo where the entire sample is in focus at the same time.
For Repair and rework in Electronics, use DXF overlay app and its built-in search bar to quickly find a specific PCB component instead of wasting time trying to find it manually.
The Color analyzer app will automatically calculate the average color value of a sample, thus offering more accurate and indisputable analysis results than when performed manually by an operator.
Instead of manually counting specks in flour, use the Speck counter app to automatically count specks and bran in any sample, such as flour. This eliminates the subjectivity of the operator and introduces a quicker and more objective take.
To perform mandatory inspections of trichinella parasites in pork meat, use the digital Trichinoscope with a dedicated Trichinoscope app from TAGARNO. The Trichinoscope app creates a systematic walk-through of the entire sample, ensuring that no trichinella parasites go unnoticed.
Measure and verify the size of samples directly on the microscope with the Ruler app. When activated, a ruler will be visible as a heads-up display. Choose the direction and color of the ruler for maximum visibility. The Ruler is factory calibrated and has a 0.5% accuracy.
Instead of manually measuring fish pellets, use the Particle analyzer app to automatically identify and measure their size and shape. The analysis results can be exported for further analysis.
Use custom inspection graphics as a heads-up display to guide you during your inspections. Customers typically use the PNG reference app to verify sample sizes or sort batches and find defects in products.
If you do not see your industry above, we suggest that you explore our digital microscope software overview. Here, you’ll be able to find all digital microscope software available for the TAGARNO digital microscopes.
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