Filter FAQ's

What does a neutral density filter do ?
ND Filters are used to lower the intensity of illumination without changing the color temperature of the light.

Used primarily for photomicrography and video microscopy, the ND filter helps camera sensors from being overpowered and therefore reproduce more realistic or dynamic colors.

My microscope came with a blue filter, what is it used for?
Called a "daylight blue filter", when installed in your microscopes filter tray, the filter helps provide a more pleasant field-of-view for the user to look with. Blue filters absorb the yellow to red light range resulting in light that is more like "day light:".

These filters should not be used with "daylight color" film as Kodak Filter 80A and other "conversion filters" are designed to work with companion films or imaging platforms.

A green filter was included with my microscope, why would I use that ?
Clear Green Filters markedly improve image resolution with achromat or plan achromat optics. Using monochromatic light eliminates chromatic aberration and phase contrast objectives give their best contrasted images in green light.

GIF's or Green Interference Filters look somewhat yellowish in appearance, are more expensive but deliver the best green light imaging at 546nm for phase contrast work.

Also, the human eye sees the green spectrum the best.