The Hirox System is a dedicated digital microscope, there is no provision to observe the sample directly through the lens, except with a digital camera. Once that design decision has been made, the system was optimized for the characteristics of the imaging sensor – a flat, 2D array with a known readout rate, response curve, pixel size, etc. In a conventional microscope the optics of the eye have to be figured into the design parameters and that requirement may be different from and potentially conflict with those that would produce optimal images with an electronic imaging sensor.

Because the Hirox System has been designed only for digital imaging, no compromises have been made to accommodate the eye’s optics. However, the system is, in fact, often able to take advantage of sight physiology and visual signal processing to provide unique observational capabilities, i.e. 3D Rotational Microscopy.