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Calibration

The system is calibrated by ITG staff, and  

new users get these initial calibration 

settings at first login and startup. 
The calibration is done using transmit-

ted brightfield method.
Calibrate only the objectives you plan to 

use in your experiment.
Recalibrate only if you notice drastic 

errors in software contour placement 

between  objectives.
Oil is not needed to Grid tune lenses.

Setup

1.  Log in to the computer.
2.  Load the Stereo Investigator or Neu-

rolucida software. (Shortcut on desktop 

after training) 
3.  Load the calibration grid slide. Select 

the 10x objective on the microscope 

and in the software.
4.  Push in the  push/pull rod to deflect 

light to the binocular tube. 
5.  Move the small 25

m

m grid into center 

view and focus.
6.  Mouse click on the right top corner 

in the software image window to mark 

a the reference point. This will help find 

the small grid when you are ready to 

calibrate higher power objectives; just 

select move to reference point and the 

software will drive stage to the location 

of the small grid. Another option is to 

count 8 squares in from top or bottom 

of large 250

m

m grid, and then move left 

or right until small grid is found.
7.  Move to the large 250

m

m grid and se-

lect the lowest power objective you plan 

to use in both the microscope and in the 

software. Align for Koehler Illumination.

Grid Tune Calibration

8.  Select Tools > Grid Tune Current Lens
9. Tell the software the box size:
 

Large grid =250

m

m

 

Small grid =25

m

m

10. Drop the anchor at intersection so 

vertical dashed line is to the right of the 

vertical grid line. The horizontal dashed 

line should be just above the horizontal 

grid line. The horizontal and vertical 

Parcentric Parfocal Calibration

Move to reference point or find the up-

per right corner of small grid. 
Do not move the stage during parcentric 

parfocal calibration.
Start with highest power objective focus 

on corner of small grid. 
1.  Select Tools > Parcentric Parfocal 

Calibration.

dashed lines should lay on the edge of 

highest contrast of the actual grid im-

age.
Check the layout of the dashed grid 

lines along one vertical column and one 

horizontal row; ensure they mirror the 

placement of the dashed lines passing 

through the origin or anchor point. Ad-

just dashed lines if necessary. Right click 

and select finished gridtuning lens.
11. Repeat on all other lenses to be 

calibrated. Note the default config does 

not have the 100x oil or 50x oil on the 

microscope though they have basic 

calibrations set in the software.

2.  Discard all unnecessary lenses. NL 

and SI both use video lenses. Select OK.

3.  Follow software prompts. Do not 

touch stage X-Y controls or move joystick 

X-Y during Parcentric Parfocal steps.
Once completed a dialogue will appear, 

ensure all boxes are checked (default).

Summary of Contents for AxioImager A1

Page 1: ...Instructions for Zeiss AxioImager A1 Microscope for Stereology Basic operation instructions as of 10 1 2009 The Stereology Workstation By Jon Ekman...

Page 2: ...fluorescence viewing Press the RL Key Set Reflector Turret to 2 Eyes DUAL 470EX 560EX 515EM 620EM Adjust the Incident Iris Stop Slider until light intensity is adequate Find Focus preferably on a dye...

Page 3: ...crews 3 5 Open luminous field diaphragm 1 to edge of field 6 Adjust contrast using condenser aperture diaphragm slider 4 In most cases adjust aperture diaphragm slider to mark matching the NA of the o...

Page 4: ...oscope and in the software Align for Koehler Illumination Grid Tune Calibration 8 Select Tools Grid Tune Current Lens 9 Tell the software the box size Large grid 250mm Small grid 25mm 10 Drop the anch...

Page 5: ...o ing a pilot study will ensure that quality data is generated by obtaining the best estimates of total cell number Step 1 Set up the subject 1 Number of sections to count De fault is 1 new sections c...

Page 6: ...eing counted NOTE Section Thickness measurements Guard Zones Step 8 Define Dissector Options Set Guard zones so that an over or under estimation of cell totals does not occur Do not count cells that f...

Page 7: ...of Results The first items to appear in the results window are the parameters for your study Marker will show the estimated total cell numbers Do not be alarmed if some of the results are 0 Here is t...

Page 8: ...with setting exposure Gain and other camera specific options 6 Adjust Exposure and white balance using More button in the Camera Set tings window another window will pop up with the basic Olympus Pic...

Page 9: ...3 Plan Apochromat excellent quality cor rect for spherical aberration and corrected for chromatic aberration in red blue and green wavelengths 4 EC Epiplan Enhanced Contrast Univer sal objectives for...

Page 10: ...as the Z drive in the windows environment ITG is equipped with gigabit ethernet and saving to the Z drive is relatively fast Also this permits easy access to the data from any computer in the world u...

Page 11: ...hers 1998 Michalet X Kapanidis A N Laurence T Pinaud F Doose S Pflughoefft M and Weiss S The power and prospects of fluorescence microscopies and spectrosco pies Annu Rev Biophys Biomolec Struct 32 16...

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