Method of calibrating a stereomicroscope and a stereomicroscope capable of being calibrated

Abstract

A method of calibrating the magnification of a stereomicroscope having variable magnification comprises the steps of (A) positioning an object reference measure () with a known scaling in an object plane () of the stereomicroscope; (B) providing an eyepiece reference measure () of known scaling in an intermediate image plane () of the stereomicroscope; (C) varying the magnification of the stereomicroscope using a zoom system () thereof so that an image of the object reference measure () is brought into optical alignment (coincidence) with the eyepiece reference measure () in the intermediate image plane () in order to determine a zoom position of the zoom system () corresponding to this alignment; (D) determining an actual magnification of the stereomicroscope in the zoom position on the basis of a lateral magnification defined by the scalings of the object reference measure () and eyepiece reference measure () which have been brought into alignment; (E) determining a nominal magnification of the stereomicroscope in the zoom position; (F) correlating the actual magnification and nominal magnification by computer; and (G) calculating magnifications for other zoom positions using the computer correlation of nominal magnification and actual magnification.