Patent ID: 8436320

Claim:
A fluorescence detecting apparatus comprising: an excitation light emitter for emitting: a first excitation light for exciting a fluorescent material within a measurement object to define an exposure condition and a second excitation light for exciting the fluorescent material within the measurement object; an illumination light emitter for emitting first illumination light onto the measurement object; an image pickup device for sensing light from the measurement object; and a controller for controlling the image pickup device, the excitation light emitter, and the illumination light emitter, wherein the controller is operable to: cause the excitation light emitter to emit the first excitation light within the measurement object to define an exposure condition of the image pickup device, based on an image pickup result to be obtained by sensing light from the measurement object irradiated with the first excitation light by the image pickup device, so that a fluorescent portion of the measurement object excited by the second excitation light has a proper exposure in the exposure condition, set a light amount of the first illumination light to be emitted from the illumination light emitter depending on the exposure condition so that the measurement object illuminated by the illumination light has a proper exposure in the exposure condition, and cause the excitation light emitter and the illumination light emitter to simultaneously emit the second excitation light, and the first illumination light of the set light amount, to cause the image pickup device to sense light from the measurement object irradiated with the second excitation light and the first illumination light.