Microscope and method for obtaining a high dynamic range synthesized image of an object

A method for obtaining a high dynamic range synthesized image (21) of an object (12) from a plurality of low dynamic range input images (19), the method comprising

• illuminating the object (12) at different light intensity levels using an incoherent light source (16) of a microscope (10),
• recording the plurality of low dynamic range input images (19) using a recording device (18) comprising an optical imaging system (28) having an optical aperture and an image sensor (26) of the microscope (10), wherein each of the low dynamic range input images (19) is recorded at a different light intensity level, and
• providing control signals to control the recording device (18) and the incoherent light source (16) of the microscope (10) such that the plurality of low dynamic range input images (19) at different light intensity levels is captured while at least one of a plurality of recording parameters is kept constant,
• wherein the different light intensity levels of the illumination of the object (12) are characterized by a light intensity offset, wherein the light intensity offset is given by
• Ii=Im*RHDR [(i−m)(n−1)]
• wherein Ii is the light intensity level for a recording of an individual low dynamic range input image, Im is the light intensity level for a recording of a key frame (19c, 19i), i is an index of the individual low dynamic range input image, m is an index of the key frame (19c, 19i,) RHDR is a predefined dynamic range coefficient, and n is the number of the low dynamic range input images (19).

A microscope (10) for obtaining a high dynamic range synthesized image (21) of an object (12) from a plurality of low dynamic range input images (19), the microscope (10) comprising

• an incoherent light source (16) for illuminating the object (12) at different light intensity levels,
• a recording device (18) comprising an optical imaging system (28) having an optical aperture and an image sensor (26) for recording the plurality of low dynamic range input images (19), wherein each of the low dynamic range input images (19) is recorded at a different light intensity level, and
• a controller (14) which is configured to provide control signals to control the recording device (18) and the incoherent light source (16) such that the plurality of low dynamic range input images (19) at different light intensity levels is captured while at least one of a plurality of recording parameters is kept constant,
• characterized in that the controller (14) is configured to determine a key frame (19c, 19i) from the plurality of low dynamic range input images (19), wherein an index m of the key frame (19c, 19i) is determined based on the number n of the low dynamic range input images (19), and
• characterized in that the controller (14) is configured to determine the key frame (19c, 19i) by using
• m
• =
• n
• +
• 1
• 2
• if n is an odd number, or
• m
• =
• n
• 2
• if n is an even number, wherein m is the index of the key frame (19c, 19i), and n is the number of the plurality of the low dynamic range input images (19).