Most of these cameras have been designed by their manufacturers for general purpose imaging tasks such as surveillance, machine vision, documentation of assembly procedures, and video conferencing. For general purpose imaging they often do an excellent job. When used on a microscope however, these cameras have only their factory pre-set circuits to compensate for the many changes in contrast, brightness, color, and illumination levels that a microscope operator can create. Due to the many variables that can effect light as it is transmitted through or reflected from a microscope's sample general purpose cameras do not always produce images of adequate quality. Computerized image enhancement, as described by Dr. Shinya Inoue in his 1986 book Video Microscopy, has provided a powerful solution for improving video images from microscopes.
Available today are many personal computer-based digital image processing and enhancement products.
These typically take the form of computer add-on frame grabber boards with image analysis and image processing software, to desktop publishing programs with sophisticated image enhancement algorithms. What a majority of these solutions have in common is their requirement for a microscope operator to have familiarity with both a computer and its specialized software. Most personal computer based image processing is performed on a static, previously stored single image leaving no opportunity for the operator to refocus the image or to adjust the microscope in real time. This can present a level of frustration since frequently an important feature, enhanced by processing, is just beyond the microscope's optimal plane of focus. With these hybrid systems an operator can view their specimen at high-resolution on a monitor and then optimize both the microscope and digital processing for the best image quality.