Development of metrological support for color calibration of digital microscopy systems

D.S. Makhov, O.A. Samorodova, N.P. Muravskaya, A.V. Samorodov

Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow, Russia
dennismak@yandex.ru 

Al’manac of Modern Metrology № 1 (33) 2023, pages 98–106

Abstract. The article is dedicated to the color reproducibility in images obtained on various digital microscopy systems (DMS). This problem can be solved by color calibration with a special slide. According to the previously formulated requirements, a slide prototype for DMS color calibration was developed and manufactured. Several color calibration algorithms were tested to choose the best one for minimizing the color difference. Color calibration algorithms were based on polynomials of different degrees with and without cross terms for CIE Lab color fields’ coordinates. This comparison was made with the color slide prototype and two DMSs based on Meiji MT4300 and Olympus BX41 microscopes. The comparison proved the polynomials with cross terms of 3rd and 4th degrees to be the best for DMSs based on Meiji and Olympus microscopes, respect­tively. The minimal color difference with respect to the true color fields’ coordinates was 0.75 ΔE* and 0.66 ΔE* for Meiji and Olympus, respectively. The results indicate the suitability of the slide prototype for DMS color calibration since it is possible to achieve a color difference below the visually distinguishable threshold of 2.2 ΔE*.

Keywords: color calibration, color reproducibility, color calibration standard, digital micro­scopy standardization.

Full texts of articles are available only in Russian in printed issues of the magazine.