Shutter Control on Leica DM5500B

[Richard Wheeler-2]

Hi All,

I am trying to configure micromanager for use with our Leica DM5500B microscope and I am having some trouble configuring the shutters so that they can be automatically controlled... I have, so far, not been able to get either the trans- or epi-illumination shutters opening and closing when turning the live view on, capturing an image, changing illumination path, etc. It always requires manual intervention on the scope itself to get the shutters set correctly.

Our hardware is a Leica DM5500B (serial over usb interface) with a Hamamatsu Orca camera (firewire/DCAM). The controlling computer is a 32-bit Windows XP machine running micromanager 1.4.6 (September 2, 2011). I have been able to get micromanager to recognise and control the camera and the microscope with no obvious problems. Simple tests for the camera (capturing an image, live display of the image, changing exposure time, etc.) and the microscope (changing the filter cubes, condenser wheel position, etc. via the computer) all seem to work correctly. Therefore I think the problem is something in the configuration of the shutters in micromanager, though I could be wrong!

Micromanager recognises three shutters in the microscope:
Device,IL-Shutter,LeicaDMI,IL-Shutter
Device,TL-Shutter,LeicaDMI,TL-Shutter
Device,Transmitted Light,LeicaDMI,Transmitted Light

When setting up a new configuration file using the configuration wizard it asks for a default shutter. Which of these should be the default? And does the shutter state need to be put into the configuration for the light path settings? E.g should the settings for phase contrast illumination include IL-Shutter closed and TL-Shutter open in addition to the filter cube and condenser wheel settings?

Many thanks in advance,

Richard Wheeler
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSA(R) Conference 2012
Save $700 by Nov 18
Register now
http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsa-sfdev2dev1
_______________________________________________
micro-manager-general mailing list
[hidden email]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/micro-manager-general

[Nico Stuurman]

HI Richard,

> I am trying to configure micromanager for use with our Leica DM5500B microscope and I am having some trouble configuring the shutters so that they can be automatically controlled... I have, so far, not been able to get either the trans- or epi-illumination shutters opening and closing when turning the live view on, capturing an image, changing illumination path, etc. It always requires manual intervention on the scope itself to get the shutters set correctly.

These are good tests.  Do you have the autoShutter checkbox checked and the appropriate shutter selected in the dropdown box?  In that case, the shutter should atuomatically open when you snap an image.  If it does not , there is a problem.  Leica has a very strange strategy concerning control of shutters that also tends to differer between the different models, so it is well possible that there is a communication error.

> Our hardware is a Leica DM5500B (serial over usb interface) with a Hamamatsu Orca camera (firewire/DCAM). The controlling computer is a 32-bit Windows XP machine running micromanager 1.4.6 (September 2, 2011).

Please do try the latest nightly build. There have been fixes to the Leica DMI IL shutter since the latest release.  If the problem persist, please use the "Report a problem" feature (under the "Help" menu).

> I have been able to get micromanager to recognise and control the camera and the microscope with no obvious problems. Simple tests for the camera (capturing an image, live display of the image, changing exposure time, etc.) and the microscope (changing the filter cubes, condenser wheel position, etc. via the computer) all seem to work correctly. Therefore I think the problem is something in the configuration of the shutters in micromanager, though I could be wrong!
>
> Micromanager recognises three shutters in the microscope:
> Device,IL-Shutter,LeicaDMI,IL-Shutter
> Device,TL-Shutter,LeicaDMI,TL-Shutter
> Device,Transmitted Light,LeicaDMI,Transmitted Light

Only use the first two in experiments, the last one controls light intensity and is very slow (and error prone).

> When setting up a new configuration file using the configuration wizard it asks for a default shutter. Which of these should be the default? And does the shutter state need to be put into the configuration for the light path settings? E.g should the settings for phase contrast illumination include IL-Shutter closed and TL-Shutter open in addition to the filter cube and condenser wheel settings?

No, that is the wrong approach.  Use the Core-Shutter property instead.  This sets the "active" shutter.  Together with the Autoshutter checkbox these should accomplish what you want (at least, once the shutters work as expected).  Also see:

http://valelab.ucsf.edu/~MM/MMwiki/index.php/Micro-Manager_Configuration_Guide#Configuration_Presets


Best,

Nico



------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSA(R) Conference 2012
Save $700 by Nov 18
Register now
http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsa-sfdev2dev1
_______________________________________________
micro-manager-general mailing list
[hidden email]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/micro-manager-general