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Digital Imaging Basics

Benefits of Digital Imaging

Documentation

Digital documentation of your data has several benefits over traditional photography. First, the cost of the image on thermal paper is as little as a few cents each, saving you up to 90% of your current instant film budget. Second, the ability to optimize the photograph is often easier with digital imaging. Previewing the image on a video monitor permits adjustment of focus, cropping, f-stop, camera integration (similar to exposure time), brightness and contrast before the print is made. Third, multiple identical prints can be made from the captured image, allowing sharing of data and maintenance of backup prints. Finally, digital documentation systems establish an upgrade path to more sophisticated capabilities such as image archival and analysis.

Disk Storage

Here is another area where digital imaging can be a real benefit to research documentation. Since the data is digitally captured, saving the exact image to magnetic media (such as floppy disks, hard drives or optical drives) is amazingly simple. Image databases give the user the ability to search on dates, key words, data type, and in some cases defined patterns. Further, the image can be retrieved almost instantly for reference, analysis and production of an identical print.

Analysis

Once an image is digitally captured, it can easily be analyzed quantitatively. This data may be generated using a desktop computer and analysis software. Dedicated software can perform many of the routine and complex tasks associated with extraction of data from an image of a gel, blot, autoradiogram, TLC plate or similar sample. Ask us about our latest software programs and how they can benefit you.

Which Digital Imaging System is Right For You?

Are you looking for a simple, quick and economical way to digitally photograph your data?

The FOTO/Analyst^® MiniVisionary combines a still video camera with a fixed-focus or zoom lens photographic hood option to provide you with the simplest, most compact, and least expensive digital imaging option available.

Would you also like to analyze your data on a PC or Macintosh computer?

The FOTO/Analyst^® Apprentice is our least expensive digital imaging system. A megapixel digital camera and economical photographic hood make it a great entry-level system.
The FOTO/Analyst^® Express combines the simplicity of fixed-focus or zoom lens hood digital photography with the power of computer driven acquisition and analysis. Unlike the digital camera of the FOTO/Analyst^® Apprentice, the Express features a CCD camera for live images to frame and focus in real time.
The FOTO/Analyst^® Investigator offers the capabilities of thermal prints, diskette storage of images, and computer-assisted image analysis. When combined with TL-100 or 1D analysis software, this system gives you the tools for sample quantitation, molecular weight determinations, integration, calibration, and more.

Are you working with chemiluminescent samples?

The FOTO/Analyst^® Luminary teams a cooled CCD camera with a light-tight benchtop darkroom to maximize detection of chemiluminescent blots and other ultra-low-light samples. A motorized zoom lens and dual UV and white light epi-illumination make the Luminary one of our most versatile imaging systems.

Live Image vs. Integration

In the world of CCD cameras, the only exposure time you can obtain with a live image is 1/30th of a second. This short exposure time (or frame) is adequate for a variety of white light samples including protein gels and autorads. A live image, however, is not sufficient for most DNA gels, which are visualized and photographed over a relatively dim UV light source. A feature called integration compensates for this low light situation by allowing the CCD camera to obtain, in essence, a timed exposure.

Two hardware components are necessary to perform integration - an integrating camera and a controller (with a circuit board called a frame grabber). For this reason, there is a substantial difference in price between systems that provide live images and those that integrate.

Digital Imaging Terms

Noise

Background noise created by heat generated in the CCD camera appears as random white spots on your image.

LUX

This term is often used when describing sensitivity. The sensitivity of an electronic imaging system for a life science laboratory is more appropriately defined by the amount of ethidium bromide-stained sample that can be detected with a system.

Data Storage

Many digital cameras store image data in JPEG compressed files to save storage space. Unfortunately, these images no longer contain all of the information necessary for accurate quantitation with image analysis (software programs).

Most FOTO/Analyst^® systems allow storage of images in nine different file formats. The default is TIF. This format retains all the information for accurate image analysis.

Resolution

Boards: Frame Grabber boards provide the critical analog to digital conversion and export to peripherals such as thermal printers. The board may be a separate component which sits in your computer or may be incorporated in the controller of a system. The board is often a limiting factor in resolution.
Printers: There are several models of printers available. Although the resolution specifications for the printer might be high, it is important to analyze the resolution of all components in the system. The high printer resolution might be limited by a lower camera or frame grabber resolution.
Cameras: As camera bit depth and resolution increase, so does the price tag. The CCD Camera selected for use in FOTO/Analyst systems offers the best resolution for the price. Remember, color cameras offering 24 bits are truly 8-bit cameras. Three bits are needed to represent each color red, green, and blue.

Film-Based Imaging vs. Digital Imaging

Type	Cost per Print	Sensitivity	Resolution	Dynamic Range
Film-based Imaging	A Polaroid print costs $1.00-$1.50.	Adequate for most white light images.	Film has orders of magnitude better resolution than even today's best CCD cameras.	A Polaroid print has many more shades of gray between white and black than a CCD camera.
Digital Imaging	A thermal print costs about 10¢.	The image sensor in a CCD camera is much more effective at collecting light than film.	Adequate for most types of gel imaging.	256 gradations between pure white and pure black with an 8-bit CCD camera.

Type	Linearity	Color Capabilities	Analysis Capabilities
Film-based Imaging	Film has a logarithmic response to light.	Color prints and negatives are available.	Prints can be scanned for digital analysis.
Digital Imaging	A CCD camera has a linear response to light. A band with twice as much sample, appears twice as bright. This is important for quantifying data.	CCD cameras acquire black and white (grayscale) images. Color CCD cameras are very costly.	Images can be written directly to disk for digital analysis.

Choosing Your Darkroom

Hood Mount Systems

Photographic Hoods provide the least expensive darkroom alternative. The same photographic hoods that you use with your traditional, fixed-focus, hand-held camera can also be used with the FOTO/Analyst^® Apprentice™, FOTO/Analyst^® MiniVisionary and the FOTO/Analyst^® EXPRESS systems. We also offer photographic hoods for use with zoom lenses.

Column Mount Systems

For labs that enjoy the convenience of a dedicated darkroom, Column Mount systems are available for utilizing your existing equipment, including large-format transilluminators.

Benchtop Darkrooms

The FOTO/Eclipse^® is a space-saving darkroom enclosure that houses the CCD camera, zoom lens, transilluminator, and filters in a compact unit. A sliding tray and front door interlock provide convenient and safe operation. Integral side lights allow easy focusing and even illumination of opaque samples such as blots. A convenient filter holder allows simple exchange of filters when changing applications.

FOTO/Luminary™ Benchtop Darkroom

The light-tight FOTO/Luminary™ Benchtop Darkroom is designed for imaging ultra-low-light samples including chemiluminescent blots. The Luminary also features motorized zoom lens capability and dual UV and white light epi-illumination for photography of gels stained with a variety of fluorescent dyes. Like the FOTO/Eclipse^®, the Luminary includes a gliding transilluminator tray and front-loading filter storage.