Dec 4 2007
Nikon Instruments, Inc. today unveiled the latest entry in its Digital Sight line of cameras for microscopy, the DS-Ri1 camera, designed for high resolution color documentation applications. It is an evolution to the DXM1200 series of cameras, retaining several of the DXM1200's key features while adding several improvements in connectivity, color rendition and performance.
The DS-Ri1 features fast focusing up to 19 fps and is even faster with its binning or region of interest modes, and it provides extremely rapid acquisition in full-frame pixel stepping mode. It has advanced capabilities that provide for multiple gain states, binning operations and cooling to minus 10 degrees Celsius below ambient temperature. The DS-Ri1 is one of seven camera heads and two controllers for a total of 14 combinations in the Nikon Digital Sight series, allowing users to choose the camera(s) best suited for their applications.
"Nikon's DS-Ri1 builds upon the DXM tradition of an ultra high quality digital camera for advanced imaging and documentation, while moving ahead in providing simple PC connectivity, functionality and performance," said Stan Schwartz, vice president, Nikon Instruments, Inc.
The DS-Ri1 is the ideal camera for brightfield or cross-over applications where high resolution, great color fidelity and large pixel count images are important to an end-user. The DS-Ri1's native format is 1280x1024 pixels with 6.45um pixels. In high resolution pixel-shift mode, the DS-Ri1's new algorithms boast a 4076x3116 pixel format, creating effective pixels of 2um, making it ideally suited for low magnifications and enlargements.
Because of the large native pixel size and supported cooling, the DS-Ri1 can tackle simple fluorescence imaging and documentation, while the pixel-stepping mechanism allows for huge, high-resolution brightfield images. Additionally, the new DS-Ri1 supports 12 bit per channel output for 36 bit color images. This camera is ideal for low magnification systems like Nikon's SMZ series stereomicroscopes or Nikon's new AZ100 microscope.
The DS-Ri1 interfaces directly to DS-L2 and DS-U2 controllers, connecting to PCs via USB2 interfaces for simple installation and easy configuration. The DS-Ri1 offers "Scene Mode" support for DS-L2 standalone. Popularized by Nikon's Coolpix camera series, scene modes help set standard camera settings ideal for different types of imaging. On the PC side, the scene mode option is accessible but can also be disabled for high-bit depth, "raw format" imaging at up to 12 bits per channel.
The DS-Ri1 is fully functional and controlled with Nikon's industry acclaimed NIS-Elements software through a familiar camera GUI control screen shared by the DS series of cameras, adding powerful, camera-specific controls for the DS-Ri1.