Dr. Reinhard Jorgens at Zeiss Germany was kind enough to provide us
with a procedure for determining the pinhole size in the LSM 10 (NOT the LSM 410):
 
Intermediate image plane detector pinhole diameter, Pip is given by:
 
                             Pip = 1.8 x P
 
where P is the pinhole setting (15 to 255 in the LSM 10) and Pip is in microns.
 
The detector pinhole diameter in the object plane is then found by:
 
                             Pob = Pip / Vobj
 
where Vobj is the magnification of the objective.
 
Thus, for example, a P setting of 20 and a 40x objective would yield
Pip = 36 microns and Pob = 0.9 microns.
 
I don't know if the procedure is the same for the LSM 410.
 
Dr. Jorgens address is:
 
        Dr. Reinhard Jorgens
        Division of Microscopy
        Postfach 1380
        D-73446 Oberkochen
        Germany
        (0 73 64) 20-3297 (Phone)
        (0 73 64) 20-3992 (FAX)
 
An alternative contact person at Zeiss is Dr. Bernd Faltermeier.  His
phone is (0 73 64) 20-2969, and his FAX is the same as Dr. Jorgens.
 
Again, I would stress that the above information is for the LSM 10 and
may or may not apply to the LSM 410.
 
Good luck
 
David Aziz
University of Arizona
 
*************************************************************************
 
Referenced note:
 
> Hello,
 
> Does anyone know the actual size of a pinhole of Zeiss LSM 410 system?
 
> Ever since we purchased the system this January, we have been requesting
> to Zeiss Japan and Zeiss Germany to provide us a conversion table
> (if any) from the nominal size (0-255) of the pinhole to the actual size
> in micrometer. They have failed to give us any answer to this yet.
 
> If it were difficult for anyone to provide such a table for a whole
> range from 0 to 255, the actual sizes of the pinhole corresponding
> to 20, 40, and 60 in nominal sizes are enough for us right now.
 
> Thanks in advance.
 
> Isao Uemura<[log in to unmask]>
> Dept Biology, Tokyo Metropolitan Univ
> Fax:+81 (0)426 77 2559  Voice Phone:+81 (0)426 77 2567