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 Sadly I haven't done head-to-head comparisons, but we've been happy using
the 60x silicone objective you mention, and we've also been happy with our
Olympus 60x 1.2 water objective on a different system. We've used the
silicone for single cells, tissue samples, and embryos, and gotten
excellent results >50 microns deep. We've used the water objective
primarily in single cells 10 microns thick or less.

 For both objectives I've found the correction collar to be fairly
important, and the setting that gives best results is not always what you
would expect from the specified coverslip thickness. For the water
objective, the tilt of the coverslip is extremely important (as described
here:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15369482 ).

 If you really care about high resolution, demo several of each objective,
and pick the one that has the best PSF. We've noticed substantial
performance variation for supposedly identical objectives. I think you can
also ask Olympus for a "PSF-grade" objective. I think this just means they
pick out a good one for you. I'm not sure there's enough silicone
objectives to be choosy, but it's worth a shot. Neither of our objectives
is "PSF-grade", so I can't say how much better they are.

On Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 2:47 AM, Jacqui Ross <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

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> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
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>
> Dear All,
>
> I'm currently trialling 2 silicone oil immersion lenses from Olympus
> (30x/1.05NA and 60x/1.3NA) for live cell imaging on our Olympus FV1000
> confocal, which is on an upright fixed stage microscope. So far, they both
> seem excellent and offer the higher level of resolution I'm looking for.
>
> I am particularly interested in how these lenses compare with high NA
> water-immersion objective lenses. At the moment, we have long working
> distance water-immersion lenses or standard oil immersion so I don't have a
> high NA water-immersion objective lens to do my own comparison.
>
> If anyone has personal experience with both types of lenses, I would be
> keen to hear their view.
>
> I'm particularly interested in how the 60x/1.2NA water-immersion lens
> compares to the silicone oil immersion 60x/1.3NA, since I would like to buy
> one or the other.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Jacqui
>
> Jacqueline Ross
> Biomedical Imaging Microscopist
> Biomedical Imaging Research Unit
> School of Medical Sciences
> Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences
> The University of Auckland
> Private Bag 92019
> Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
>
> Tel: 64 9 373 7599 Ext 87438
> Fax: 64 9 373 7484
>
> http://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/sms/biru/
>