Morning all,
I need some kind of controller that will turn on a microscopes lamp and trigger a camera to take a single shot at a predetermined time interval.
Any suggestions
Paul
Timelapse controller
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Hi Paul,
More details would be really helpful here - for example what type of microscope? Camera? What specimens are you imaging?
For shuttering a light source - there is really only one scenario were this is required and that is with fluorescence. For brightfield applications there is no advantage to shuttering the light source unless your sample is particularly sensitive to light. In fact - turning on and off a halogen lamp (or similar) can be detrimental because of the ramp up time required. You often get inconsistent brightness when ramping the voltage on these sources which can lead to flickering in your timelapse. LEDs are a different story.
Devices like the Stackshot and MKJZZ controllers can act as an intervalometer but many modern SLRs also have this built into the camera settings.
More details would be really helpful here - for example what type of microscope? Camera? What specimens are you imaging?
For shuttering a light source - there is really only one scenario were this is required and that is with fluorescence. For brightfield applications there is no advantage to shuttering the light source unless your sample is particularly sensitive to light. In fact - turning on and off a halogen lamp (or similar) can be detrimental because of the ramp up time required. You often get inconsistent brightness when ramping the voltage on these sources which can lead to flickering in your timelapse. LEDs are a different story.
Devices like the Stackshot and MKJZZ controllers can act as an intervalometer but many modern SLRs also have this built into the camera settings.
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Paul Dowrick
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:12 am
Sorry, I should have been more specific.
We are looking to film mouse cells that have been exposed to murine Norovirus.
We will be using an inverted phase contrast system with a heated stage over a period of 48 hours.
The camera is a Nikon 7z. The cells would be damaged by 48 hours of continuous light, hence the need for a pulsed system.
We are looking to film mouse cells that have been exposed to murine Norovirus.
We will be using an inverted phase contrast system with a heated stage over a period of 48 hours.
The camera is a Nikon 7z. The cells would be damaged by 48 hours of continuous light, hence the need for a pulsed system.
Hi Paul,
Is your microscope motorized? What is the model?
Incubated time-lapse is tricky without the right hardware - if you want to not have to babysit the system you will minimally need a motorized shutter on the transmitted light path as well as software to run both the camera and the shutter. The Z7 is a tricky camera because there are few tethered software programs that support it IN ADDITION TO a motorized microscope/shutter assembly. If you are using Windows then Micro Manager is a good start (https://micro-manager.org/). Most folks doing work like this are using dedicated microscopy cameras.
What you will also experience with a stage top incubator (again - I don't know yours specifically) is focus drift. If you incubate the entire microscope it will be less of an issue but if you are only incubating the cells on the stage then you will have to account for this.
Many lab grade instruments have autofocus/stabilization systems built in - and they are a must for stable long time-lapse recordings using stage only incubators. We routinely use incubation boxes that surround the microscope as well as a secondary incubator around the stage to control temp and CO2 to 0.01% error. Incubating both the stand and the specimen on the stage reduces the need for focus stabilization.
Is your microscope motorized? What is the model?
Incubated time-lapse is tricky without the right hardware - if you want to not have to babysit the system you will minimally need a motorized shutter on the transmitted light path as well as software to run both the camera and the shutter. The Z7 is a tricky camera because there are few tethered software programs that support it IN ADDITION TO a motorized microscope/shutter assembly. If you are using Windows then Micro Manager is a good start (https://micro-manager.org/). Most folks doing work like this are using dedicated microscopy cameras.
What you will also experience with a stage top incubator (again - I don't know yours specifically) is focus drift. If you incubate the entire microscope it will be less of an issue but if you are only incubating the cells on the stage then you will have to account for this.
Many lab grade instruments have autofocus/stabilization systems built in - and they are a must for stable long time-lapse recordings using stage only incubators. We routinely use incubation boxes that surround the microscope as well as a secondary incubator around the stage to control temp and CO2 to 0.01% error. Incubating both the stand and the specimen on the stage reduces the need for focus stabilization.
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Paul Dowrick
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:12 am
Paul,
I'd echo Adalbert's suggestion of a home-built solution based around an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. It sounds straightforward to build what you need on either platform. And done well, it could handle your issue of culture flask size fluctuation, as well as any time delay needed to stabilize the light after turning it on.
For simply dealing with cycling the light on/off and taking periodic photographs, you could build the device to: Turn on the scope's light, pause long enough for the light to stabilize, shoot the image, then turn the light off and wait until time to repeat.
To accommodate size changes of the culture flask, you could make the instruction "shoot the image" a bit more involved: Have it mean "run a stepper-motor connected to the microscope's fine-focus knob, turn this knob through sufficient range to cover all potential flask size fluctuation, pausing movement ans shooting periodically such that the series of pictures will contain at least one in-focus image.
An additional nicety would be to add a dark frame between image sets, to make it easier to select one well-focused image from each series. This would require nothing more than programming the Arduino to send a pulse to the camera to fire after the light has been turned off.
For stepper motor focusing of the microscope, WeMacro sells an inexpensive, ready-made device called "MicroMate". The controller WeMacro sells for this device would not be needed in this particular scenario, as what I'm suggesting you build is already a controller. Alternatively, home-built hardware for focus-stepping your microscope (that is, a MicroMate alternative) would also not be difficult to create--some good approaches have been documented in this forum (if you are interested, ask for references).
I hope I didn't make this sound complicated--it isn't. The parts cost would be modest. Building the controller would be pretty easy (a few days work) for someone experienced with Arduino or Raspberry Pi. If your lab is an academic lab, it's likely there are students at your institution who have the requisite experience already. If you want to do it yourself and have no such experience, it might take you a few weeks, but will leave you with useful new skills.
And a nice thing about having a home built controller--you can adapt it as you discover new needs.
--Chris S.
I'd echo Adalbert's suggestion of a home-built solution based around an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. It sounds straightforward to build what you need on either platform. And done well, it could handle your issue of culture flask size fluctuation, as well as any time delay needed to stabilize the light after turning it on.
For simply dealing with cycling the light on/off and taking periodic photographs, you could build the device to: Turn on the scope's light, pause long enough for the light to stabilize, shoot the image, then turn the light off and wait until time to repeat.
To accommodate size changes of the culture flask, you could make the instruction "shoot the image" a bit more involved: Have it mean "run a stepper-motor connected to the microscope's fine-focus knob, turn this knob through sufficient range to cover all potential flask size fluctuation, pausing movement ans shooting periodically such that the series of pictures will contain at least one in-focus image.
An additional nicety would be to add a dark frame between image sets, to make it easier to select one well-focused image from each series. This would require nothing more than programming the Arduino to send a pulse to the camera to fire after the light has been turned off.
For stepper motor focusing of the microscope, WeMacro sells an inexpensive, ready-made device called "MicroMate". The controller WeMacro sells for this device would not be needed in this particular scenario, as what I'm suggesting you build is already a controller. Alternatively, home-built hardware for focus-stepping your microscope (that is, a MicroMate alternative) would also not be difficult to create--some good approaches have been documented in this forum (if you are interested, ask for references).
I hope I didn't make this sound complicated--it isn't. The parts cost would be modest. Building the controller would be pretty easy (a few days work) for someone experienced with Arduino or Raspberry Pi. If your lab is an academic lab, it's likely there are students at your institution who have the requisite experience already. If you want to do it yourself and have no such experience, it might take you a few weeks, but will leave you with useful new skills.
And a nice thing about having a home built controller--you can adapt it as you discover new needs.
--Chris S.