I have only a little experience in analysing sequencing gels,
I did that only once for a friend, but I am using quite extensively
densitometry for analysing 2DG autoradiograms of brain sections. For that
I use the NIH-Image software, on a McIntosh Quadra 950 computer, coupled
to a video camera Sony XC-77 with a frame grabber card DATA TRANSLATION
QUICK CAPTURE.
I must say that I am very happy with this set up. The camera is fixed
on a macroscope (can be fixed also on a microscope or used alone with its
own objectives). The software Image is a great thing. Extremely powerful and versatil.
It has a lot of macros procedures for gel analysis, autoradiography, morphometry.
Very easy to use. It is a public domain software updated almost every
month with new improvements and features. As I said we are using it for
densitometric analysis but also for morphometric studies (diameter and area of axons,
size of injection sites, counting of cells and so ....).
Is it the best, I don't know, but it is free, updated, friendly, and versatile.
It has also a "living-paste" procedure that allows you to align serial sections or plots,
a "stack" procedure for 3D-reconstructions, and allows use of pseudocolor with
a great number of look-up tables.
If you need more information, contact me.
Gilles.bronchti at ia.unil.ch
