Re: NIS elements software

Posted by Keith Morris on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/NIS-elements-software-tp4025804p4031863.html

Hi all,

We use NISElements Basic Research with the optional EDF [extended depth of
focus] module. It's naturally pretty ideal for a Nikon microscope, although
we use it with a manual inverted Nikon Eclipse TE2000U so it only controls
the two B&W/Colour cameras, not the objectives nosepiece/filter wheel/focus.
The NISElements free version is very very limited [our Basic Research
version is actually the expensive £2k+ fully featured one]. Software modules
can be added, e.g. one that allows split screens between stored and the live
images. The basic research package has a lot of image analysis features and
so is fairly complicated [but you can ignore all that]. Capturing
fluorescence via a B&W camera is also a bit convoluted with our old v2.3
[c2008] if you want colour LUTs applied [so many stick with IPLabs that’s on
the same PC].

NISElements is great for colour bright-field and works with many cameras
[well our Nikon and Hamamatsu CCD cameras anyway]. We have NISElements v2.3
which is a 1.5 year old version. Nikons support seems similar to Zeiss and
Olympus around here [prompt replies to emails etc..]. We don't have a
maintenance contract. The £600 EDF function works well but it's only for
very thick samples, e.g. things like embryos, tissue slices, ladybirds etc..
where's there's a lot of out of focus info - the focused bits of a widefield
Z stack get all compiled into a single 2D image [no 3D], fun but rarely used
with flat cells and thin tissue sections that don't really have much out of
focus info. I don't use NISElements image analysis stuff much as we have
MetaMorph v7.5  [2D quantification] and Volocity v4.2 [3D deconvolution and
4D time lapse]. Our NISElements does crash on very rare occasions, but it
doesn't affect users much, and we are investigating the Windows XP install
rather than the software. It's dongle controlled [unless the limited
freebie] so it's one install per licence. Generally very happy with
NISElements Basic Research, and its image handling [capturing, live zoom,
image database, saving and loading] seems pretty good.

Regards

Keith

http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/nikon-microscope

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Keith J. Morris,
Molecular Cytogenetics and Microscopy Core,
Laboratory 00/069 and 00/070,
The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics,
Roosevelt Drive,
Oxford  OX3 7BN,
United Kingdom.

Telephone:  [phone]
Email:  [hidden email]
Web-pages: http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/molecular-cytogenetics-and-microscopy


-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Tim Feinstein
Sent: 18 November 2009 17:06
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: NIS elements software

Dear Valeria,

My lab has used Elements to control a Ti-E for widefield and confocal (A1)
imaging for about a year, and so far our reaction is mixed.  The software
feels well-designed and intuitive, and modularity made it easy to find a
package that suits our needs.  However, bug-checking has been an issue.  The
edition of Elements-AR that we received in January, one of the first written
for Windows Vista, had glitches that sometimes forced us to find
work-arounds to get ordinary tasks done.  One cause may be that Vista
handles peripherals particuarly badly; we have an unusual number of
scope-associated peripherals installed.  

With a very few exceptions, Nikon has fixed our issues with updates.  The
latest edition for Vista should therefore work fine.  The XP edition that
came with our demo scope also worked flawlessly.  I cannot comment on
Elements in Windows 7, but based on experience we plan to let a few rounds
of bug fixing proceed before we upgrade.  

None of these software issues change our impression that the hardware,
especially the perfect focus system, is top of the class.  

All the best,


Tim

Tim Feinstein, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
University of Pittsburgh Dept. of Pharmacology

On Nov 18, 2009, at 9:36 AM, Valeria Berno wrote:

> Hi
>
> did any of you have experience with NIS element software from Nikon?
>
> Any complain?
>
> quick check in order to take a decision for a widefield microscope....
>
> thanks in advance
>
> Valeria
>
> Berno Valeria, PhD
>
> EMBL- Mouse Biology Unit
> Campus A.  Buzzati-Traverso
> Via Ramarini,  32
> 00015, Monterotondo Scalo  (RM)
> Italy
>
> Tel:  [phone]
> Fax: [phone]
> email: [hidden email]
> www.embl.it