Ease of Preview
Consumer cameras may require looking through the camera viewfinder
to compose the picture, or at best viewing a small LCD screen
where fine focusing is a challenge. Some manufacturers, realizing
the limitation this imposes in a lab or studio setting, have
implemented a video signal out from the camera, so that a video
monitor can be used for realtime viewing and focusing. Aside
from the limitations of purchasing a video monitor and the
extra space required to make it available for use, there are
some serious drawbacks to this method of operation. The PAXcam
gives a live preview at better than video rates right on the
same computer monitor that is used to capture and work with
the digital still shots, and at higher resolutions than afforded
by a video signal. In addition, the color, exposure, and contrast
adjustment on the computer monitor is the same for the preview
and the captured stills, while separate image adjustments must
be made for a video view from the consumer camera vs. its captured
digital view.
Ease of Downloading
Consumer cameras, and even some other cameras ‘designed
for microscopy’, suffer from workflow issues involving
memory cards that need to be downloaded, or the lack of a
mechanism to associate real data with image files as they
are stored. Consider the following two schemes for getting
images into the computer, using a PAXcam vs a camera from
another manufacturer:
| Camera with
Memory Card |
|
PAXcam |
|
|
