Axiocam ERc 5s Operating Instructions - Carl Zeiss

Control elements, indicators and connections
1
2 3
4
5
Front of camera:
1 LED indicator
2 Manual acquisition
3 AWB: Automatic
white/gray balance
4 Receiver for IR remote
control
5 Card slot for SD/SDHC
memory cards
1
2
3
Back of camera:
1 USB port for data
transfer and power
supply
2 DVI signal via HDMI
port for monitor, TV
or beamer
3 S-Video connection for
recorder or monitor
Definitions
SD memory card: Digital storage medium for recording image data and
other information. On SD cards an amount of 4 GB of data can be stored;
up to 32 GB on new SDHC cards (HC=high capacity). SD cards should be
formatted on a PC to FAT32 format.
C-mount adapter: The C-mount is a standardized mounting thread
for camera lenses. In microscopy the C-mount is used to connect digital
cameras. So it is guaranteed that the image produced by the microscope
objective is large enough to illuminate the small camera sensors.
AWB (Automatic White Balance): The purpose of the white balance is
to calibrate the camera to the color temperature of the incident light and
thereby prevent color cast. However, the automatic white balance that is
normally used does not work, or does not work sufficiently well, in the case
of technical surfaces or macros. This is because these objects often do not
have any defined pure-white or color-neutral surfaces that the automatic
white balance can take as a basis for the calibration. Instead it uses the
average values of the individual red, green and blue (RGB) color channels
for reference. It is therefore necessary to perform the white balance
manually using defined color-neutral objects.
Parfocality: According to Professor A. Köhler, the focus plane set should
be retained when eyepieces or objectives are changed on the microscope.
Ideally, the object should appear just as sharp as it did before the eyepiece
or objective was changed. Today, this also applies to the phototube for the
acquisition of images using a digital camera: the sharpness of the camera’s
images should correspond to that of the image you see when you look
through the eyepiece. It is possible to set the parfocality of the camera even
with the help of a reticle in the intermediate image of the eyepiece or with
the help of an adapted monitor.