Olympus launched the latest version of its highly successful Olympus Stream software family for industrial and material science microscopy applications. Building on the renowned functionality of previous iterations, Stream 1.7 with High Dynamic Range (HDR) enables you to capture perfectly illuminated images, even when high material contrast occurs. All cameras have a limited dynamic range, meaning that they can only capture so much contrast within a single shot. Applications where the in-depth analysis of contrasting materials is required, such as the quality control of products built using a mix of light-reflecting and light-absorbing components, can therefore be problematic. The new HDR algorithms of Olympus Stream 1.7 produce final images with optimised contrast, so that you can visualise the brightest and darkest areas of a specimen, in a single image. This makes it ideal for applications where you need to analyse metallurgic microstructures, printed circuit boards, or composite components.

Speeding Up The Process

As an integral part of the Stream 1.7 software, HDR automatically acquires a series of images at varying exposure times. It then merges sections of the different images together, producing a final image in which both the bright and dark sections of the sample are optimally exposed, ensuring every important detail is visible. The whole process takes mere seconds, and when combined with the Extended Focal Imaging (EFI) and Multiple Image Alignment (MIA) functions, you can capture a broad range of images, while significantly simplifying and speeding up the entire process.