Nikon's ground-breaking AZ100 Multizoom, which combines the versatility of a stereo with the resolution of a compound microscope, is now available with motorised focus and zoom controls
When combined with Nikon's Digital Sight series of control units, the new AZ100M can be remotely controlled by either a hand or a foot switch.
Selecting the latter, leaves the operator with both hands completely free to load samples and move the stage.
There is even a Photo Release switch for remote image capture control on Nikon Digital Sight cameras.
Motorising the focus means the new microscope can be used with the optional extended depth of focus (EDF) function of Nikon's NIS Elements software to generate all-in-focus 3D images.
This is achieved by seamlessly combining sets of images with different focal planes.
The AZ100M also incorporates the AZ-NPI Intelligent triple nosepiece.
This continuously communicates objective magnification information to a PC or to Nikon's digital camera controller DS-L2/U2.
As a result, if the user changes their objective lens while measuring a component, the control unit automatically maintains the correct measurement calibration, thereby ensuring the camera captures the best quality images that retain their true dimensions.
Pioneering in concept, the AZ100 series combines the wide field of view, great depth of field and long working distance of a stereoscopic microscope with the high-resolution brightfield imaging found in an advanced research microscope.
Like the AZ100, the AZ100M boasts an 8:1 zoom ratio, a magnification range of 5x - 400x and can work with brightfield, darkfield, episcopic and diascopic-based differential interference contrast, simple polarisation and fluorescence illumination techniques.
In the biomedical sciences, the AZ100M Multizoom is particularly well suited for cellular research including; developmental biology, such as systems biology, the study of the interactions between the components of a biological system, and how these interactions give rise to the function and behaviour of that system, regenerative medicine, embryology and the physiological studies of cells.
