Conventional and inexpensive digital cameras1 can also be used for leaf image acquisition. Precautions must be taken so that calibration can be done accurately and rapidly. To facilitate this task, we offer the Portable Imaging & Calibration Kit (PICK) for digital cameras.
The PICK allows to acquire images of leaves and other biological samples (needles, roots, ...) in fields with a camera for their analysis in Regent's programs (WinFOLIA, WinSEEDLE, WinCAM, ...). The latter can be done in field or in laboratory.
It contributes in different ways to obtaining good images suitable for precise automated analysis. The background provides good contrasts with biological samples. The translucent non-reflective cover holds them firmly against it to avoid shadows and distorted measurements. Calibration targets allow to make a fast and precise calibration in just one click or automatically (to get measurements in units of your choice (mm, cm...).
The camera is held above it using a tripod (not included) with or without an extension arm and uses the ambient light. To avoid fuzziness due to the depress of the shutter we recommend to trigger the camera using its timer, a remote control (an option for many camera models) or, if your camera has WiFi, using a phone or tablet.
It comes with two backgrounds. One is optimized for color and morphology analysis (disease quantification, area per color, leaf or object area...) using the Pro version of Regent's software, the other for more basic leaf (or object) area and morphology analyses (grey levels analysis) using any of its software.
The PICK is a good complementary item to our scanner based systems which works in the office.
1 Almost any model can be used. We do not sell or recommend digital cameras. |
