Microscopes, both high power and low power stereomicroscopes with internal CCTV cameras are very common these days. In theory they sound very attractive, however there are some drawbacks.Most claim to be dual purpose in that they can display an image on both TV/Monitors and Computers.In reality they are not quite the ‘one size fits all’ instruments that some claim. These video microscopes are fitted with analogue cameras that produce images suitable for TV’s and digital projectors with phono video input (the yellow jack plug). The image produced is good resolution and will fill the screen on a TV. However, to get an image on a computer the output has to be converted from analogue to digital. This is achieved either with a separate conversion box between the microscope and the computer (as in the case of our BMS Video Stereo). After the analogue image has been converted to digital the size of the image is not good (usually in the region of 640 x 420 pixels which fills approximately 1/3rd of the average computer screen). A frame grabbed still image of this digital stream will give an image of approximately0.3m in a printed image.
Nevertheless providing this is recognised Video Microscopes can be very useful. If your principal use is for visualisation with a television (the image will fill any size screen, even the large flat screens), or digital projectors (with the occasional need for computer held images and if relatively low resolution is not a problem) then these microscopes are for you.
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