Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

(1) Since confocal images are generally short of photons, the option of acquiring more photons by opening the pinhole and then deconvolving the image set to restore the quality, seems attractive.
Given that image quality requires both resolution and contrast is this strategy viable ?.

(2) Since deconvolution ideally requires a Z series that covers the likely size of a PSF and, if only single image is really required, is it better to acquire the Z series and deconvolve or to use the same acquisition time to improve the quality (acquiring more photons) from a single image plane ?.  This choice arises when the fluorophore of interest bleaches rapidly in single photon confocal imaging.

--
Dr Jeremy Adler
Dev. Biol.
Wenner-Gren Inst.
Stockholm University
S-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden

+46 (0)8 16 1568

--