1. A method of analyzing particles from a fluid sample containing said particles comprising: distributing said fluid sample over an extended area with substantially no particle overlapping other particles; forming a plurality of optical still images of said sample, including said particles, over said area, with each optical still image representing a different portion of said area; converting each of said optical still images to an electronic image thereby converting optical still images of said particles into electronic images of said particles; extracting images of said particles from said electronic images; and displaying said electronic images of said particles in an ordered array by classes of visually discernible characteristics.