The camera itself can be standard, integrating, or cooled, often with a manual or motorized zoom lens. The sample to be imaged is placed on a UV or white light box within the benchtop darkroom. For lower-cost, basic imaging systems, the image is viewed directly on a black and white monitor before printing on a thermal printer. More advanced systems employ features such as frame grabbers and sophisticated software packages for use with IBM-compatible or Macintosh computers. These systems allow image analysis, such as molecular weight calculation and quantitation, as well as image archiving for database and proteomics applications.
Researchers can buy systems fully configured or customized with various options and components.
The systems built around scanners usually consist of the densitometer and its controlling computer. The computer also runs the software for image analysis. These include wet and dry gels, film, and membrane blots. Of course, the imaging systems vary in their complexities and capabilities. The LAS-1000plus captures chemiluminescent, fluorescent, luminescent, and colorimetric images and performs densitometric analyses.