What is Digital Microscopy and Why Should I Buy A Digital Microscope?

Microscopy is the field of investigation in which objects too small to be easily viewed, or objects that are impossible to view with the unaided human eye, are studied. Objects being studied can range in size from millimeters (1 mm ~ 0.04" = 4 hundredths of an inch) to nanometers (1 nm ~ 0.00000004" = 40 billionths of an inch. Objects can be living or inanimate and can range from bacteria and algae to minerals and crystals.
Microscopes are optical devices that are used to magnify these objects. A microscope can be as simple as a hand held magnifying glass or as complex as a multi-million dollar research instrument. Microscopes come in a wide range of forms (standard, stereo, digital) and use many different illumination sources (light, electrons, ions, x-rays and mechanical probes) and signals to produce an image.

Using these tools, a microscopist explores the relationship of structure and properties of a wide variety materials in order to more fully understand the reasons why a particular item behaves the way it does. It is a fascinating discipline that can be applied to a diversity of sciences including biology, chemistry, earth science, physics and engineering.

Digital microscopy is the latest technology advance in the field. Essentially, a digital microscope is a standard light microscope that combined with a digital camera and software, allows microscopic images to be displayed on a computer screen where they can be shared with others, and captured and saved to the computer’s hard drive where they can be studied, measured, and manipulated.
Digital microscopy adds to the tools of the scientist. One of the greatest advantages of some digital microscopy software is the ability to very accurately measure on the microscopic scale. The system is calibrated by capturing the image a precise object (dot or scale) and entering both the size of the object and the magnification of the objective. The software can then calculate the number of pixels on the screen that represent that object. Other specimens can then be measured by entering the magnification of the objective in use and then moving the curser across the part of the image to be measured. The measurement can be saved right on the image and exported to a spreadsheet for further analysis.
Of course a digital microscope is an excellent way to quickly record results. Images can be used in reports and presentations or shared with others over the internet. In the classroom this allows students to quickly include images in lab reports. It allows teachers to use an image from a laboratory investigation in later assessment; or to have it available for students who missed that lab.

One of the most powerful uses for digital microscopy in the schools is for special needs students. Students who have trouble seeing through the eyepiece of a microscope can do their viewing on a computer screen.

A number of companies offered digital microscopes and digital microscopy accessories. These include Science Kit and Boreal Laboratories (http://sciencekit.com/category.asp?c=427251), Edmund Scientific (http://scientificsonline.com/category.asp?c=421256), Wards Science, and Sargent-Welch. Science Kit is the company that has pioneered digital microscopy in education. They carry their own line of Boreal Digital Microscopes and offer a digital microscopy workshop that is well regarded.