555Zeiss Axioscope 5 – enjoy Zeiss’s customary high quality standard with mirrorless system cameras (DSLMs) and digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs)
The Axioscope 5 was launched in 2019 as another high-quality upright laboratory microscope in Zeiss’s lineup. Thanks to its modular design and extensive application options, it can be tailored to a variety of research environments and individual requirements. The Axioscope 5 comes in seven different tube versions, which makes it a highly versatile and customisable instrument.
With our LM digital adapters, the latest DSLR and mirrorless system cameras can be attached to the Axioscope 5 quickly and easily. Compared to standard C-mount microscope cameras, these DSLRs and DSLMs have a much larger image sensor (APS-C or full-frame in most cases).
Shown below: the image sensor of a full-frame camera
These large sensors provide outstanding image quality and are exceptionally light sensitive. Because the market offers a huge array of cameras from different manufacturers, consumers can get the camera that is best suited to their specific application: either an inexpensive entry-level camera, an all-round camera or a high-end performer. All these large-sensor cameras are highly powerful tools and offer an excellent price-to-performance ratio.
Mounting diagram: digital camera with LM microscope adapter on a Zeiss stand
Although the Axioscope 5 is primarily advertised together with the Colibri 3 LED light source and the two standalone microscope cameras Axiocam 202 mono and Axiocam 208 color, it is also well suited for use with other camera systems. For tasks where high image quality is important, we generally recommend cameras with a large sensor, such as digital SLRs or system cameras with APS-C or full-frame sensors.
With their wide dynamic range and high light sensitivity, these cameras deliver outstanding image quality. The market for commercially available DSLR and mirrorless system cameras offers an extensive range of different makes and models to choose from. Shooting in 4K or even 8K becomes increasingly possible, and even budget cameras have HDR modes and are capable of recording high-quality time lapse and slow motion footage. The recommended cameras do not require active cooling and are usually equipped with a high-quality movable screen. Saving images in uncompressed RAW format to a large SD card or an external hard drive is no problem at all. Even Wi-Fi connectivity seems like almost the norm these days. These cameras can also be controlled remotely from the tablet/smartphone, with the images being transferred directly to the PC’s hard drive and stored there.
Fast shutter speeds of up to 1/32,000 of a second make it possible to capture even moving objects with pinpoint clarity.
Our LM adapter solutions with built-in plan achromatic precision optics open up a whole new world of imaging possibilities because they make it possible to attach almost any camera to the Axisocope 5.
LM adapter highlights:
- Equipped with precision optical system
- Wide-field optics with large field of view without peripheral darkening
- Modular design, enabling the adapter to be used on multiple devices
- Focusable adapter solutions enable an optical alignment of the image observed through the eyepiece with that of the phototube
- Integration option: additional optical filters can be integrated into the adapter
- Extensive range of accessories
For use on the Axioscope 5, the camera is attached to the phototube of the microscope (52 mm external diameter) with our LM adapter solution. All available phototube versions have the same dimensions.
Range of phototubes:
Item No. 425512-0000-000 or 45514-0000-000
Item No. 425520-9010-000
Item No. 425520-9020-000
Item No. 425520-9030-000
If the head of the microscope doesn’t have a phototube, we also offer an adapter solution for the eyepiece tube. It works by removing one eyepiece and putting the camera-adapter combination into its place. The image quality is as good as that achieved using the phototube solution.
Item No. 425520-9000-000 or. 425520-9090-000
The Axioscope 5 has a transmitted light LED unit to provide powerful illumination with high colour fidelity. It also comes with a light intensity manager that produces uniform brightness at all magnifications because it automatically adjusts lamp brightness when the magnification is changed.
As with all Zeiss laboratory microscopes, the Axioscope 5 supports a wide range of contrasting techniques: brightfield, darkfield, phase contrast, Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) and polarisation contrast.
The Axioscope 5 can also be complemented with the optional fluorescence LED illumination Colibri 3, which offers four configurable wavelengths to choose from. The user can either individually control and switch between channels for UV, blue, green and red or use all of them simultaneously.
The Zeiss Axioscope 5 is a flexible instrument that is primarily used in biomedical research, human and veterinary medicine, microbiology, plant sciences and botany as well as forensics. It can be equipped with the high-quality Zeiss Infinite IC2S objectives. The following objective lenses are recommended: Plan-Apochromat, Plan-Neofluar, N-Achroplan.
Photography:
Fitting the microscope to digital single-lens reflex (DSLR), mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras (MILC ), digital single-lens mirrorless (DSLM) or C-mount cameras is easy with our LM digital SLR adapters, which feature a plan achromatic optical system. Our products make it possible to capture top-quality microscope images. To help you select the adapter that is right for your camera, we have set up an online configurator on our website. You can also email us – ideally with attached photographs of your microscope.
Modern DSLR and single-lens mirrorless (DSLM) offer the latest technology and are generally very well suited for microscopy applications. Most of them can be controlled remotely via PC/Mac. Because of their high sales volumes, they offer an excellent price/performance ratio compared to special-purpose microscope cameras.
Features of top DSLR and single-lens mirrorless cameras (DSLM):
- Large, powerful full-frame sensors (36 x 24 mm)
- Sensor resolution of 61 megapixels or 240 megapixels with Pixel Shift technology
- High light sensitivity (ISO 400,000+)
- Extensive dynamic range (up to 15 aperture stops/f-stops)
- Short exposure times (1/8000 second) up to 1/32,000 seconds using the digital shutter
- 4K Ultra HD or 8K Ultra HD video function
- Live video capture on external monitors in ultra HD quality
In most cases, these cameras are significantly more powerful than microscope cameras with smaller sensors (1/2" or 2/3"). On our website you will find our current camera recommendations and a camera ranking which is specifically tailored to microscopy applications.