Alternative Methodology Simulating Camera Lucida for Drawing Microscopic Images

Abstract

The camera lucida is an ancient equipment that is still used today to illustrate images through a microscope and stereomicroscope. Although it is not an overly expensive equipment, it can be inaccessible to some laboratories, and it has certain drawbacks that can be easily overcome with current technology. This work aimed at developing and testing a technique to replace the camera lucida. To this end, a microscope, a smartphone, a computer with a printer, and a light table made with low-cost materials were used, whose construction schemes are detailed in this work. A micrograph was obtained with the smartphone positioned in the microscope eyepiece. The micrograph was printed on an A4 paper sheet that was adhered to the light table, and, over the image, was placed a second paper sheet. With the light table turned on, the printed image became clearly visible on the blank paper sheet by transparency and could then be easily drawn. It is concluded that the technique described here allows excellent results, being an efficient alternative to the camera lucida in optical equipment.