Essentially, a digital microscope is to a traditional optical microscope what a digital camera is to an analogue camera. For example, the entire system of a digital microscope is geared toward reproducing the subject or image of a specimen directly on a monitor. The optical systems designed to work with the human eye are generally omitted, although there are exceptions to this rule. And digital microscopes have at least one other thing in common with their camera relatives - the vastly extended range of functions, which is growing continuously. The best example is the VHX-6000 digital microscope from KEYENCE, which has just been released on the German market.

The VHX-6000, premiering at HANNOVER MESSE 2017, boasts a whole host of new functions, with multi-lighting as a standout option that enables users to view objects that are illuminated from various angles. With the VHX-6000, it takes just the touch of a button to get perfect results and view features that previously would have been impossible to see. Even if it later turns out that a different type of lighting should have been used to view specific features, the process does not need to be repeated, as the lighting can easily be adjusted retrospectively. A wide range of lighting technologies such as brightfield, darkfield, transmitted light, polarizing light and differential interference observation complete the system. The VH-ZST dual zoom lens, for example, which has a 20x to 2000x magnification range, supports KEYENCE Mix lighting, which combines brightfield and darkfield.