The DP70 Camera

Introduction ................................................................................2
How to install the camera ..........................................................2
Windows XP ........................................................................3
Windows 2000 ..................................................................... 9
Configuring inputs ...................................................................12
Image Acquisition ....................................................................16
DP 70

DP70E0605
 • The DP70 Camera

The DP70 Camera

Introduction
Olympus DP 70 is a quick, high resolution CCD color camera used for bio-
medical and material sciences applications. It has a compact design and
can be connected to all types of light-microscopes via the C-mount. When
using the DP 70 you can work with many different resolutions.
The Olympus DP 70 offers the following technical specifications:
DP70 Specifications
Dynamic range 3 x 12 bit using color mode
10 bit using black & white mode
Exposure times 22,7 µs to 60 s
Max. frame rate 15 / s (680 x 512 Pixel)
Resolution 4080 x 3072 Pixel
(separate image) 2040 x 1536 Pixel
1360 x 1024 Pixel
680 x 512 Pixel
Resolution 1360 x 1024 Pixel
(live image) 680 x 512 Pixel
Camera Mount Standard C-Mount
System Requirements To properly use DP70, the following system requirements for your computer
and your image analysis system should be taken into consideration:
Hard- / Software Required
CPU P4 with at least 1,3 GHz
Memory 512 MB
Hard Disk Storage 40 GB
Operating system Windows 2000 Professional,
Windows XP Pro
analySIS analySIS
Build 1064 or higher

How to install the camera

2

Warning Please read the following carefully before attempting installation of camera.

Requirements
Note: Please note that the PCI board has the dimensions 126 mm x 352 mm. You
will therefore require a computer with a medium-sized tower that has a free
slot that will accept this size board.
The DP70 can be used under the operating systems Windows XP and Win-
dows 2000.
 Installation Procedure - Windows XP

Installation Procedure - Windows XP

How to install the image analysis software
1) Put the installation CD into your CD-ROM drive.
 The setup menu will open automatically - unless you have deacti-
vated the autorun function. If so, start the setup.exe file via Win-
dows Explorer.
2) Using the setup menu, you start the installation of your image analysis
program by clicking on the program name.
 An installation wizard guides you through the entire software instal-
lation.
3) To make the installation, simply follow the instructions in the set up, and
each time you have made a necessary entry, click Next > to continue.
In the Input Device
(Digitizer) Selection dialog
box no check box needs to
be selected when you install
the DP 70.

3
 • How to install the camera

In the Camera Selection dia-

log box, select the Olympus
manufacturer entry and the
DP70 camera entry.

This dialog box shows you

which camera you have
selected.
4
 Installation Procedure - Windows XP

In the Automatic XY calibra-

tion dialog box you can cali-
brate the DP 70. Select the
Use automatic calibration
for the DP 70 camera check
box and select the TV
adapter magnification from
the list. Then, mark the
check boxes for all mounted
objectives in the Magnifica-
tion of the microscope ob-
jectives list. Should you be
working with a remote mi-
croscope, select the Auto-
matic calibration using mo-
torized microscope check
box.

Note: Should you use objectives with a magnification that does not appear in the
list, a manual calibration must be carried out for these objectives. You will
find instructions on how to carry out this operation in the image analysis sys-
tem's step by step manual.

5
 • How to install the camera

Installing the PCI board

1) Shut down the computer.
2) Turn off the PC, disconnect the power supply and open the casing.
3) Insert the board into a free slot.
A built-in PCI board (in the
illustration framed in white)

4) Replace the cover on the PC.

5) Mount the camera onto your microscope.
6) You may now connect the camera to your computer system.
7) Restart the computer.
6
 Installation Procedure - Windows XP

The Found New Hardware

Wizard dialog box appears.
Answer the question "Can
Windows connect to
Windows Update to search
for software?" with "No, not
this time".

8) Click on the Next > button.

The Found New Hardware
Wizard will open.

9) Select the Install the software automatically (Recommended) option.

10) Click on the Next > button.
 • How to install the camera

The hardware has been

installed.

11) Click the Finish button to return to the Device Manager.

 The Found New Hardware Wizard will be closed.
 When the driver for the DP 70 has been successfully installed, the
entry MalD Device will be shown in the Device Manager dialog box.
 The camera is now ready for use.
8
 Installation Procedure - Windows 2000

The entry MalAd Device in the Device Manager will inform you that the camera driver has been successfully installed.

Installation Procedure - Windows 2000

Install the image analysis program and PCI board
1) Install your image analysis program as described in the chapter Instal-
lation Procedure - Windows XP on page 3.
2) Shut down your computer and switch it off.
3) Insert the PCI board into a free slot in your computer. See Installing the

9
PCI board on page 6.
4) Install the camera and connect it to the PCI board. Then restart the
computer.
 The Found New Hardware Wizard dialog box will appear.
5) Follow the instructions given you by the Found New Hardware Wizard.
Make the necessary entries there, then click Next > each time to con-
tinue.

Related Topics
How to install the image analysis software 3
Installing the PCI board 6
 • How to install the camera

The Found New Hardware

Wizard dialog box will open.

Select the Search for a suit-

able driver for my device
(recommended) option.
10
 Installation Procedure - Windows 2000

In the Found New Hardware

Wizard dialog box, select
the CD-ROM drives option.

The driver has been found.

11
 • Configuring inputs

The software has been

installed.

6) Click on the Finish button.

 The Found New Hardware Wizard will close.
 The camera is now ready for use.

Configuring inputs
After successful installation, you can configure the camera for using the image analysis program.

Background information
The concept of the
logical input channels
12
Logical input channels contain, for example, the information about how
large an image format is, and what is to happen with the image signal before
it reaches the image buffer. Each channel must be calibrated separately. A

channel for image acquisition via DP 70 is usually called "DP 70...".

If you use more than one acquisition method (Acquisition Methods on page
16) you can easily choose the channel to use from a list of predefined chan-
nels then acquire an image via this input channel.
If you have to set up a new input channel, you can create a copy of an al-
ready existing input channel and adapt it, or create an entirely new input
channel.

Step by Step
Input channels You can set up logical input channels to suit your requirements. You can de-
fine them, duplicate them and delete them.
 Configuring inputs

Configure Input
How to adjust the settings for input channels.
1) Select the Image > Configure Input... command.
• Alternatively, doubleclick the name of the input channel shown in the
status bar or, should the Set Input dialog box be open, click the Con-
figure Input button there.
 The Configure Input dialog box is opened.
2) Go to the Input tab.
The Configure Input > Input
tab. Every one of your
DP 70's logical input chan-
nels contains all of the set-
tings needed for an image
acquisition. You configure
an input by entering the set-
tings suitable for your pur-
pose on the Input and
Display tabs in the Con-
figure Input dialog box.

13
 • Configuring inputs

3) In the Snapshot resolution and Live resolution lists, select one of the
resolutions that the DP 70 offers you (680 x 512, 1360 x 1024, 2040 x
1536, 4080 x 3072 for Snapshot; 680 x 512, 1360 x 1024 for Live).
• Alternatively, while acquiring images, you can also select the resolution
via the Olympus DP 70 toolbar.
4) The Mirror group enables you to determine if the camera's image is to
be mirrored directly into the program during transfer. Both mirror func-
tions can be combined with each other.
5) In the Black and white mode group you determine the image's bit depth
during black and white operations. For a better image quality select the
16 Bit option.
6) Go to the Display tab.
The Configure Input >
Display tab.

7) The Over exposure group enables you to determine if and when you
should be warned of an overexposure.
14

Select the Display warning check box to have a warning message

shown if the image is being overexposed:
8) Select the Activate check box in the Automatic gain display group.
 The Fixed scaling group is not active.
 When under exposed, the image will always be shown with en-
hanced contrast onscreen no matter what the actual exposure con-
ditions are.
9) Mark the Online histogram check box.
 During image acquisition, a window showing the current histogram
will appear automatically. This histogram will be continually updat-
ed.
 Configuring inputs

Set Input
How to create a logical input channel
1) Use the Image > Set Input... command to select a new input channel or
to create a new one.
• You can also depress the [F6] key.
 The Set Input dialog box opens.
With the Set Input... com-
mand you open the Set In-
put dialog box. In it, you can
either select a predefined in-
put channel, or set up a new
input channel. Here, only
one channel has been de-
fined for the DP 70.

New Channel
1) Click the New Channel button to create a new input channel.
 The Select Device dialog box opens. All connected image creating
devices are listed in the Available Devices list.
 The DP 70 entry is selected.

15

The Select Device dialog box with a connected DP 70 camera.

2) Click the OK button to create a new input channel.

Duplicate input channel Should you want to create additional input channels, for example to have dif-
ferent configurations immediately available for repeating tasks, use an al-
ready existing input channel.
 • Image Acquisition

1) Click the Duplicate Channel button to make a copy of the active input
channel.
 The new input channel gets the same name as the channel from
which it was copied and receives a sequential number. The newly
created channel is automatically enabled.

Image Acquisition
Background information
Acquisition Methods
Your image analysis software offers two acquisition methods.
Live Mode
When using live acquisition, the image is continually transferred from the
camera to the monitor. This mode is suited for setting various parameters,
including image segments, focussing, and camera settings. The live acqui-
sition is concluded after a snapshot has been acquired. You can use the Im-
age > Camera Control... command to do numerous camera settings during
a live acquisition.
Snapshot Mode
The Image > Snapshot command concludes the live acquisition and saves
the current image to the active image buffer. With the exception of the differ-
ent resolutions, the same settings which are used for the live acquisition will
also be used for the snapshot. You can make a snapshot without acquiring
a prior live acquisition.

Resolutions
Your image analysis program offers you the following resolutions for the
DP 70:
• In the live acquisition mode (Live Mode): 680 x 512 and 1360 x 1024
• In the snapshot mode (Snapshot Mode): 680 x 512, 1360 x 1024, 2040
x 1536 and 4080 x 3072.
16

Click the arrow next to an acquisition button to select the resolution.

Automatic gain display and Fixed scaling

Note: You can also use the buttons in the Camera Control dialog box to switch the
Use automatic gain display and Use fixed scaling functions on and off.

Automatic gain display The Automatic gain display assesses the current gray-value histogram - in
real time - in order to calculate the optimal display of the live-image on the
monitor. When under exposed, the image will always be shown with en-
hanced contrast onscreen no matter what the actual exposure conditions
are.
Warning When you use the Automatic gain display, you not only alter the monitor dis-
play, but the actual image information as well.
 Image Acquisition

When the Automatic gain display is active, the image intensity for the image
on the monitor will be spread between the gray values Gmin (Left overflow)
and Gmax (Right overflow).
The image is underexposed when a certain percentage of its pixels possess
the lowest gray value possible. This percentage is entered in the Left over-
flow field.
An image is overexposed when a certain percentage of its pixels attain the
maximum gray value possible. This percentage is entered in the Right over-
flow field.
Fixed scaling Using the fixed scaling function you can manually influence how the image
is displayed on your monitor. This is how you clip gray values that are to be
ignored at both the upper and lower ends of the gray-value histogram.
Automatic gain display The Automatic gain display and the Fixed scaling functions automatically
and Fixed scaling cancel each other out. The group whose Activate check box has been se-
lected will be the one available - the other will not be available.

Step by Step
Activate button bar 1) Should the Olympus DP 70 toolbar not be visible, fade it in. To do this,
right click the image window in the standard toolbar and select the
Olympus DP 70 option.
Define destination 2) Define the destination image buffer in which the image is to be dis-
image buffer played.
Set magnification 3) Please note: You can only use the Set Magnification command when
you have previously carried out a precalibration or a manual calibra-
tion.
Use the Image > Set Magnification... command and select the actual
objective's magnification from the list, in order to carry out a proper
calibration. Close the Set Magnification dialog box by clicking OK.
Alternatively, you can enter a magnification factor that is not in the list.
In this case your image analysis program will calculate the calibration
using linear extrapolation on the basis of the existing calibration data.

Acquiring images in live mode

Switch on the live

17
mode
1) Use the Image > Acquire command, or click the DP 70 Live Mode but-
ton in the Olympus DP 70 toolbar.
 To display the live-image, the image window will be opened.
 Should the Online histogram check box on the Configure Input >
Display tab be marked, a window with the actual histogram will ad-
ditionally be automatically shown. This histogram will be continually
updated.
2) Click the Full Screen button in the Standard toolbar to have the live-
image fill the whole screen.

Related Topics
Configure Input
 • Image Acquisition

3) Use the Image > Camera Control... command, or click the Camera
Control button in the standard toolbar.
 The Camera Control dialog box will be opened.
The Camera Control for live-
images

Define illumination 4) Use the Spotsize list to select the size of the area that is to be taken
parameters into account for the automatic calculation of the exposure time. This
area's size can be 0,1%, 1 % or 30% of the image's whole area. To be-
gin with, the center point of this area will always be the same as the
center point of the complete image. And this area will always be posi-
tioned in the middle of the complete image. You can, however, use your
mouse to move its position to wherever you wish.
5) Clicking the Set Spot Position button, will enable you to move this area
around within the image, with your mouse. Then click your mouse to set
the area's final position.
6) To return the area to the center of the image, click the Center Spot Po-
sition button.
7) In the Sensitivity list you can choose whether the camera is to be set at
a sensitivity of 200, 400, 800 or 1600 ISO. Select, for instance, the ISO
800 entry.
8) In the Mode list you can choose whether the exposure time is to be set
automatically, (Auto and SFL-Auto modes), or manually, (Manual
mode).
The SFL-Auto mode should only be used for fluorescence acquisitions.
18

Select the Auto entry.

 The Exposure time group is not active.
In the Auto and SFL-Auto modes, the value for the exposure time
will be automatically determined by your image analysis program
and cannot, therefore, be edited.
• When the Manual mode has been activated, you can set the exposure
time by using the arrow keys situated to the right of the field.
9) Choose a specific value in the Bias list if you need to make a manual
correction to the automatically determined exposure time.
Should an object have been reproduced too darkly, choose a bias
greater than zero (1/3, 2/3, 1, 1 1/3, 1 2/3, 2), to obtain a lighter repro-
duction of it in an image. Should the object be predominantly light, you
can darken the image by using negative values. With the value 0 the
automatically calculated exposure time will remain unchanged.
 Image Acquisition

10) Click the Use automatic gain display button to activate the automatic
gain display.
 The live-image, independent from the illumination conditions, is al-
ways shown in optimal contrast. The behavior of the Automatic gain
display depends on whether or not this function's desired overflow
has been set and on which area of the image the contrast enhance-
ment is going to take place.
• The desired overflow can be set using the Image > Configure Input...
command located on the Display tab.
11) Click the AE Lock On/Off (Autoexposure Lock On/Off) button to lock
the exposure time at its currently calculated value.

12) Click one of the three buttons, Minimum Sharpness, Normal Sharpness
or Maximum Sharpness, to change the image's focus.
Minimum Sharpness: The transition from pixel to pixel, and in this way
the contours of their structure in the image, will be slightly smoothed
and thus appear softer.
Normal Sharpness: The image's focus will not be changed.
Maximum Sharpness: The image contours will be strengthened.
13) Click one of the three buttons, Use min. contrast, Use med. contrast or
Use max. contrast to set the image contrast.

White Balance (Black

Balance) operation
14) Click one of the four buttons White Balance on ROI, One Push White
Balance on Entire Image , Black Balance on ROI, One Push Black
Balance on Entire Image (and, when necessary, define an image area).
 When you perform a white balance (White Balance on page 20) the
color settings will be altered to make the image appear in neutral
gray or white.
Set focus
Focus monitor The Focus monitor enables you to keep a watch over the focus setting. You
interactively define an image section in which the maximum contrast is used
as a measure of the sharpness. Therefore this area should be limited to an

19
image segment in which the object/sample features a high contrast.
The Focus monitor consists of a dialog box in which a relative measurement
of the sharpness is indicated by a changing bar which can vary between
Blurred and Focused. The bar in the Focus monitor shows the current de-
gree of sharpness. The green line shows the lowest degree of sharpness
that has been detected, the black line, the highest degree of sharpness that
has been achieved.
Note Keep your exposure time in mind when setting the focus.
When using the focus monitor, you should set an exposure time of not more
than 125 ms! If you use longer exposure times (> 125 ms) there will be a cer-
tain amount of delay before the focus monitor changes its display. Vary the
focus settings in small steps and wait between them until the focus monitor
has had time to adjust itself.
Related Topics
Automatic gain display and Fixed scaling 16
 • Image Acquisition

15) Click the Focus On/Off button to define the rectangular image area on
the basis of which the focus is to be calculated and set.
 The Focus monitor dialog box will open.
 The pointer moves to the image window and a frame will be dis-
played.
16) Keeping the left mouse button pressed, move this frame to define the
section of the image that the focus monitor will refer to. You should
choose a section of the sample for which the focus setting is especially
important.
17) Rightclick to confirm.
18) Find the focus settings at which the focus monitor shows a maximum
reading, and use these settings for the acquisition.
Switch on Black and When using the Black and white mode you will obtain a gray value image.
white mode Please note: It is not necessary to set up a new input channel to do this.
19) Click the Monochrome On/Off button to get a gray-value image.
 The live-image will be displayed in gray values.
20) Click the Monochrome On/Off button to revert to the color image.
Leave the Live Mode
21) Click the Snapshot button (on the standard toolbar) or the DP 70 Snap-
shot Mode button (on the Olympus DP 70 toolbar), or select the Image
> Snapshot command, to leave the live mode.

Additional settings you can make

Color Settings You can manually influence the color reproduction.
1) Click the Color Settings button.
 The Color Settings dialog box will open. By using their individual
slide controls you can manually influence the intensity of the indi-
vidual color channels.
2) Click the Reset button to revert to the default values.
 When using this setting, the white balance is valid for all images
that are acquired with this input channel during the current session.
3) Click OK to save these values as general standards and to close the
Color Settings dialog box.
20

 The current values for the white balance have now been saved and
will be used when the program is restarted. A manual change made
to the color setting changes the way the colors are reproduced in
the image.
White Balance When using white balance, the individual color channels are scaled in such
a way that the white or neutral gray area of the image displayed on the mon-
itor is displayed correctly as white or gray. The white balance can be carried
out either on a part of the image (ROI), or on the whole image. After you
have once carried out the white balance, you can reapply it any time to a run-
ning live-image acquisition. The altered intensity settings for the three color
channels for live acquisitions and snapshots that then follow, will be taken
over.
 Image Acquisition

This is how you carry out Acquire an image with a white or neutral gray surface and open the Camera
a white balance Control dialog box, for instance by using the Image > Camera Control...
command .
• Setting up a white balance using the White Balance on ROI command.
1) Click the White Balance on ROI button and define interactively a
square section of the image. To do this, drag the red frame into the po-
sition you wish, which should have as uniform a white or gray surface
as possible. Adjust the size of the frame by moving your mouse while
keeping its left button pressed.
2) Then click the right mouse button to adopt this size and position.
 The color settings will be altered to make the image inside the ROI
appear in neutral gray or white.
• Setting up a white balance using the One Push White Balance on En-
tire Image command.
3) Click the One Push White Balance on Entire Image button to have the
white balance calculated for the whole image.
Black Balance The black balance is used for background correction. In a section that you
define (ROI or whole image), your program will ascertain a mean value for
each color channel. These values are subtracted from all pixels in the entire
image. The black balance is to be used predominately for fluorescence ac-
quisitions in order to display the background in pure black. A discoloration
of the images occurs if the black balance is used with brightfield acquisi-
tions.
This is how you carry out Acquire an image that includes an area suitable for a black balance, and
a black balance open the Camera Control dialog box.
• Setting up a black balance using the Black Balance on ROI command.
1) Click the Black Balance on ROI button and define interactively a square
area of the image in which a signal is located that is as uniformly dark-
gray to black as possible. You adjust the size and position of the frame
by moving your mouse with its left button pressed.
2) Then click the right mouse button to adopt this size and position.
 The mean signal value will be determined for each color channel
within this area. This value will be deducted from each pixel when
the black balance is applied.

21
 Index

A R
analySIS version 2 Requirements, PC 2
Automatic gain display 16 Resolution 2, 16

C S
Camera Control 18 Set Input 14
Color Settings 20 Sharpness 19
Configure Input 12, 13, 14 System requirements 2
Contrast 19

U
D
Use min./med./max. contrast 19
Display tab 14
DP 70 Installation 2
DP70 - PCI board 6 W
DP70 Specifications 2
Duplicate Channel 15 White Balance 20
Windows 2000 9
Windows XP 3
F
Fixed scaling 16
Focus monitor 19

I
Input tab 13

M
Min. contrast, Med. contrast, Max. contrast 19

22
Minimum Sharpness, Maximum Sharpness 19

N
Normal Sharpness 19

O
Online histogram 14

P
PC, system requirements 2