The best thing you can do is consult the excellent Handbook of Confocal
Microscopy (Second Edition) edited by James Pawley and published by Plenum
Press. It covers the issues you raise very thoroughly.

BILL MASON

At 11:34 17/11/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi,
>I'm currently in the middle of writing an essay on confocal
>microscopy. One of the scetion which I have to include is a section
>on factors which affect resolution of the images.
>
>Please could someone give me a list of the factors with detail about
>how the factor affect the image resolution.
>
>any help appreciated.
>
>thanks
>prady
>+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
>  Pradyuman Gadaria
>  BPharm III,   University of Nottingham
>  Tel: +44 (0)115 8451936
>  E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>  WWW: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/3455
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>Dear Prady, here is a list of some suitable reference books for you. The
first
>two in particular will help.
>
>Best regards
>
>Anna Smallcombe PhD Senior Applications Specialist, Bio-Rad Microscopy
Division.
>
>     **Handbook of Biological Confocal Microscopy (2nd Edition) ed James B
>     Pawley. Plenum Press 1995 ISBN 0-306-44826-2
>
>     **Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy by Colin Sheppard and David
>     Shotton. bIOS Scientific Publishers 1997. RMS Microscopy Handbook No
>     38. ISBN 1872748724
>
>     Cell Biological Applications of Confocal microscopy ed Brian Matsumoto
>     Academic Press 1993 (Methods in Cell Biology vol 38) ISBN
>     0-12-480430-6
>
>     Fluorescence Microscopy and Fluorescent Probes ed Jan Slavik. Plenum
>     Press 1996. ISBN 0-306-45392-4
>
>     Multidimensional Microscopy ed PC Cheng, TH Lin, WL Wu, JL Wu.
>     Springer-Verlag 1994. ISBN 0-387-94118-5
>
>     Antibodies in Cell Biology ed David J Asai. Academic Press 1993.
>     Methods in Cell Biology Vol 37. ISBN 0-12-064520-3
>
>     Fluorescence Microscopy of Living Cells in culture. Part A. ed Yu-Li
>     Wang & D Lansing-Taylor.Methods in Cell Biol Vol 29. ISBN
>     0-12-684-754-1 Part B. Methods in Cell Biology Vol 30. ISBN
>     0-12-684-755-X Academic Press 1989
>
>     Fluorescent and Luminescent probes for Biological  activity. A
>     practical guide to technology for quantitative real-time analysis. ed
>     WT Mason. Academic Press 1993. ISBN 0-12-477830-5
>