Evaluation of scanners and CCD cameras for high-resolution TEM of protein crystals and single particles

The modulation transfer function (MTF) and the geometric errors of two flat bed scanners, a slow-scan CCD (SSC) camera and film, have been measured and compared. The geometric errors of the SSC camera and film have been measur ed using diffraction spots from a lipid crystal. The SSC camera was shown t o have the smallest geometric errors while film had the best MTF. Even thou gh film had the best MTF, this is significantly reduced when scanning the f ilm, so that the MTF of the film and scanner combined are comparable to the MTF of the SSC camera. Microsc. Res. Tech. 49:292-300, 2000. (C) 2000 Wile y-Liss, Inc.