I own a Spot II and agree the non-real time focusing problem is tough
for occasional users.  We just demo'ed Optronics new Magnifire
camera.  This camera is cooled 40 degrees below ambient, has a filter
wheel in front of the chip that allows RGB images or B&W, has
firewire transfer relying on an inexpensive generic card that comes
included, does 10 frames per second so it looks like real time (but
isn't quite) when focusing or moving the stage x-y controls.  It only
costs $13,200 list.  I find it far superior to the Spot II.  I am
ordering mine next week.

Tom Phillips

>Beat Ludin wrote:
> >
> > >  >
> > >  > 1. The SPOT camera is certainly a very good all-in-one choice.
> > >  >
> > >
> > >The main problem with the slow scan cameras (like the SPOT) is focussing
> > >with high NA lenses for weak fluorescence.
> >
> > However, Kathy was asking for a hi-res camera for H/E sections, so
> > focusing through the ocular should work fine as long as the camera is
> > properly parfocalized. Sensitivity is not an issue for this
> > application - but dynamic range and resolution are. In both respects,
> > the SPOT series should beat the DVC (36bit color vs. 30bit color,
> > 1300x1000 true color vs. 1300x1000 interpolated color).
> >
>
>Agreed, and we get wonderful images with our CRI Real-14, which uses the
>same chip as the SPOT-2 and the same LCTF (but unfortunately we bought
>it 1/2 year before the KAF-1400E was released :-( ). If you have enough light,
>these cameras are great and easy to use. The only other issue then is price.
>
>--aryeh
>--
>Aryeh Weiss                          | email: [log in to unmask]
>Department of Electronics            | URL:   http://optics.jct.ac.il/~aryeh
>Jerusalem College of Technology      | phone: 972-2-6751146
>POB 16031                            | FAX:   972-2-6751275
>Jerusalem, Israel                    | ham radio: 4X1PB/KA1PB

Thomas E. Phillips, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Director, Molecular Cytology Core Facility

3 Tucker Hall
Division of Biological Sciences
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211-7400
(573)-882-4712 (voice)
(573)-882-0123 (fax)