Camera scanning

The camera cannot read a vial label

Cryovial labels are unusually small, curved and often frosted. A hardware scanner will usually outperform a tablet camera, but a few physical adjustments can help.

1. Let surface frost clear without warming the specimen beyond the lab’s procedure.
2. Hold the label roughly 10–15 cm from the lens and keep its printed bars or code square to the camera.
3. Use even light and keep other labelled vials outside the aiming frame.
4. If it still will not read, type the printed value instead.