It is common to observe mismatch in montage images acquired from a wide-angle CCD camera. The mismatch comes from the common distortions in a TEM column when large-field-of-view images are acquired. Such distortions increase rapidly as the third power to the radial distance. Typically the distortion is less than 1% at the edge of the film. Since the Gatan wide-angle CCD camera has a field of view much larger than film (6 times more), it is inevitable to observe distortions from the TEM.

Field of view and effective magnifications. Wide-angle cameras have a large field of view (about 6 times larger than that of film), but have an effective magnification of 20-30% of that of film. On the other hand, a bottom mount camera has a field of view of only 10%, but effective magnification of about 130-150% of that of film.

Yes, absolutely. However, mismatch may be observed in montage images acquired from wide-angle cameras, i.e. MS600W and MS600CW. No. Gatan does not offer any sort of upgrade. The hardware components have changed so much in the past, it is almost impossible to upgrade them to the current platform. Gatan recommends a trade-in option for the SSC cameras.

Yes and no. Polaroid never offered such an accessory, but there were a few third-party supplementary tele/wide lens sets sold under various importer names such as Kalimar/Kaligar or GoldCrest.

Yes. All MultiScan cameras are tested with the industry standard IEEE 1394 hardware interface on Windows 2000.

Y800: Camera based color interpolation is turned off and the raw color data stream from the CCD is outputted in the monochrome format Y800. The camera control software IC Capture.AS displays color images in their raw form. Therefore, they appear to be monochrome at first sight. This mode is not suited to visualization applications. However, should you wish to capture an uncompressed AVI file, you should use this mode. BY8: the structure of this format is equivalent to that of the format Y800.

Yes. The CCD has shown advantages in sensitivity, linearity, superior dynamic range, and with no image distortion. The main disadvantage for CCD is the lack of image pixels (film has 20-30 million pixels while 1k x 1k CCD only has 1 million pixels). However via DigitalMontage, one can obtain digital images larger than the film size. Therefore, in the general sense, MultiScan cameras can replace film.

The MetaSynth Montage Room links Image Synth presets to their sound by the name and generally expects the preset library and sound file to be in the same folder; and it expects that sound file as the default name. Because of this fact, there are a few things to keep in mind: Use Render and Save to render the preset as a sound file. MetaSynth will automatically save it into the same folder as the preset library AND will give it the correct name.

For MS600W and MS600CW: TEM AutoTune and DigitalMontage. For MS600HP: TEM Tune, HREM AutoTune, DigitalMontage, HoloWorks, DIFPACK.

It depends. If you can focus properly without AF in the 17-24mm range (the difficulty of which is not to be underestimated), the Contax, Nikon and Leica zooms all offer something more than the Canon L can deliver. If we consider resolution, the Nikon is better than the Canon from f5.6 to f16, but the Canon L is better from f2.8 to f4. All require stopping down to f8 for critically sharp corners. The Nikon is sharper than the Canon from 17-25mm; the Canon is at least as good from 26-35mm.

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This is the size of a camera sensor's active area. The smaller the dimension, the more "work" the camera will have to do to present a monitor sized picture. A 1/4" CCD will have to magnify the image more to show the image on the monitor. A 1/3" CCD will need less magnification to show the image on the monitor. A 1/3" CCD will cost more and have a better image. Both types are adequate for reaview systems.

MultiScan is the Gatan family of cameras formerly referred to as "794 MSC". The name changed because of Gatan's wish to classify its CCD cameras on a consistent basis. The chosen criterion is the effective CCD area since the resolution of a CCD camera is not only determined by the total numbers of CCD pixels, but also the size of each CCD pixel. So the CCD area is a natural measure for ranking the camera resolution. The CCD area is normalized to "squared millimeter".

The main difference is the CCD sensor. MultiScan uses a traditional CCD sensor called a full-frame CCD. It is necessary to use a beam shutter during data readout. DualVision uses a CCD operating at a higher speed that eliminates the need for a shutter. Furthermore, DualVision cameras do not need cooling water connection, which makes the installation simpler.

SlowScan (SSC) cameras are the first generation CCD cameras that Gatan made. The main difference is that (1) the image data from the MultiScan cameras can be read out at different speeds; and (2) Anti-blooming (beneficial to recording electron diffraction pattern).

The main difference is that MultiScan cameras do not have video output. Only digital data is available from MultiScan cameras.

fiber-optical coupling (good for both resolution and sensitivity); (2) Choice of YAG scintillator for MS600CW and MS600HP.

Yes and no. Depending upon weight, balance and ergonomics, it may be harder for you to hold a small camera steady. Some people mistakenly believe that cameras with a smaller capture medium (sensor or film) or more susceptible to blur than cameras with a large capture medium given the same field of view just because the capture medium is smaller.